Wang Wang's Update (2nd)

Remember Wang Wang, Bradley’s friend?

Wang Wang’s condition seems to have stabilised, now that he has a safe place at the vet clinic to recuperate.

Wang Wang's left eye has a cataract, possibly caused by an old injury left untreated

His appetite has improved. He enjoys the home-cooked food prepared by our volunteers and he very much cherishes the love and attention showered on him by us when we visit.

Wang Wang is not out of the woods but this sweet boy is determined to fight on. That stoic face of his tells us that he would not give up. Hence, we would try our best for him even with our limited financial resources. We are grateful to the vet clinic for agreeing to board Wang Wang at their premises as we have yet to find a foster for this sweet boy.

His tumour doesn't seem as raw now

Wang Wang received his first jab on 20 December and is scheduled to receive his second jab today, leaving him with two more chemo jabs a week apart. The tumour on his penile region seem less raw and fierce, and perhaps has receded a little since his first jab.

We hope that once he has completed the cycle of four chemo jabs, he would recover from this condition and we can then focus on the mass in his liver and spleen, which the ultrasound scan had picked up previously.

We would not be able to save street dogs like Wang Wang without your help and generosity.

We are not sure how much time Wang Wang has but we do know we will do our best to make him happy and comfortable. Living his final days in the cage at a vet isn’t exactly the best option, and the staff tell us that he howls at night because he is sad and lonely. Imagine from having freedom on the streets and fellow doggie friends, to being caged 24/7, Wang Wang would definitely not understand our good intentions.

If you can foster him, please contact us. Wang Wang is very friendly and affectionate. Your home should have no dogs as his condition is contagious to other dogs. All he needs is nutritious home cooked food, his medications, some love and a roof over his head to spend his final days. He can be left alone while you are at work.

If you can foster or help with Wang Wang’s vet bill, please e-mail hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg

Thank you

A Christmas Story

As you drape tinsel around your Christmas tree, as you deck the halls with boughs of holly, do you feel that your cozy home could use a little more cheer, and be a little more jolly? Could the missing elements be... a wagging tail, a wet nose, and warm loving kisses from a happy dog?

Blake

Bobby

Cassie

Daisy

Dawn

Harper

Elmo

Happy

Jerry

Kate

Matthieu

Mishka (Asher)

Oscar

SiDa

Sunny

Walter

Cody

What do these doggies all have in common? They're looking for a home!

This Christmas season, consider giving one (or more) of these rescue dogs a chance. A chance to have a place they can call home, a chance to belong to a loving family, and a chance at joy.

Our 17 dogs have all faced various difficulties and suffering before they were rescued. Life had not been easy for them. It's still not easy for them. Being rescued and nursed back to health is only half the battle won. The other half of the battle is finding a forever home. Some of them have waited for almost two years. Some have never had a foster family. Some have never ever stepped into a home; Some of them have never even received a single enquiry at all! It's baffling.

But there's just something about dogs. These miraculous creatures never give up!

Even in the darkest of times, there's always a little part of them that remains desperately hopeful, searching for a helping hand, waiting for a warm embrace. Will you take their glimmer of hope, and turn it into radiant beams with love's pure light? Will you make their days merry, and bright?

Take a chance. Ask us about these dogs. Come and meet them. If you meet them, look into their eyes. See what they've been through, and see their strength and determination. They have love to give. They're just waiting for the right family to come along and see them for the angels they are.

Our Christmas wish is for these dogs to have a home of their own. We wish for all dogs everywhere to have a magical Christmas, full of love, tummy rubs, and delicious treats. And finally, for ourselves, we wish to be able to continue bringing happiness to the dogs on the streets, the dogs without homes. We wish for enough funds to buy food to feed the strays, and to be able to pay our vet bills and save more dogs in need. If you can help to make any of our wishes come true, we'd be forever grateful to you!

Through the years

We all will be together,

If the fates allow

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.

And have yourself a merry little Christmas now!


Written by Elena Lin

I Know I’m Dying (Wang Wang)

Strays often have a tough life. They live life day by day and all they look forward to, is their next meal, which may come the next day . . . .or many days later. Food and survival is very important to them and they have a very strong instinct to survive.

Wang Wang, a stray dog that lives in a car workshop area, had this growth on his penile region apparently since May. Sadly, the workers were not well versed in the dog’s welfare and didn’t bother. It was only a few weeks ago that we found out about  Bradley’s plight  and heard from workers that both Bradley and Wang Wang’s penile region were sore, bleeding and severely infected because the dogs fought amongst themselves for the same female dog and had their private regions bitten off. Well, the workers were right about the fact that they had fought for the same female dog, who may have since died as she no longer appears for food.

Wang Wang at the factory

What Bradley and WW (Wang Wang) have are significantly different. Although on appearance, we had thought that Bradley’s TVT was a lot worse,  but after seeing the vet, Bradley’s tumour is limited to the penis area and once amputated, and after 4 rounds of chemo jab, he would most likely be given the all clear. So Bradley’s issue remains largely a sexually transmitted disease.

Mr Mohan checking Wang Wang

Poor WW, his is too complicated to be saved. . .  . .His is worse than Bradley’s or Bobby’s.

With the help of a feeder, she had managed to trap him and put a leash over his head. Workers had termed him fierce and aggressive and didn’t want to play a part in helping to trap him. We had initially taken him to a vet on Friday afternoon but after waiting an hour, they told us they could not ward him as they had no space. So we spent the next few hours desperately trying to find another vet that would admit him. By then, it was nightfall. Poor WW had been in a tiny carrier for hours but yet he waited patiently, thinking that we would be able to save him.

At the vet, I met a longtime friend and an inspiration to many of us in the dog rescue world, Mr Mohan (from Animal Lovers League), who helped us with WW. The vet looked at WW and shook her head . . . all she could say was . . . .why didn’t you bring him in earlier . . . . This made me feel terrible. I wish I did too, because now, it’s too late to save him. WW is dying. The Vet ordered an ultrasound and some blood samples taken. They muzzled him, as was the norm with all new rescues, but they really didn’t need to. WW was too weak and too sweet to even do anything, all he really wanted was a pat on his head, some love and someone to tell him everything’s gonna be alright. As he stood up, blood dripped from his penis. As the vet tech held on to his front leg to draw blood, WW’s body started leaning sideways. He was too weak to stand on three legs. The vet tech had to hold him up by his scruff to keep him upright.

A huge tumour on his penis

WW was tested Negative for Parvo virus and distemper. He was also negative for heartworm and tick fever. Vet estimated him to be about 7 years old. She then recommended we do an ultrasound to find out more. Sadly, the ultrasound results showed a mass that might indicate suspected cancer tissues or cells, which had spread to his spleen, pelvis and liver. Then the vet recommended we put him down because she didn’t think he would have very long to live and felt there wasn’t very much we could do for him. That wasn’t what we wanted to hear, so we asked that they let him stay a night and while we created Plan B.

The following day, we transferred WW to another vet, his 3rd vet in two days. We told the vet that we wanted to help him as best as we could without him being in too much pain and discomfort. Here, we did a chest X-ray to see if the suspected cancer cells had spread to his lungs. Fortunately it hadn’t.

This 3rd vet then agreed to ward WW for just the night, and to administer his very first Vincristine jab. Vincristine is used to treat cancer and dogs with TVT. Poor WW, luck didn’t seem to be on his side, again he had to be transferred to another vet who was willing to house him for at least a month, while he received all 4 chemo jabs, once a week. If what he has is TVT, the growth will regress by the 2nd jab. If there is no regression, then it is not TVT. So we just have to wait with bated breath in the next two weeks.

According to the vet, they can’t be very sure what WW has but he had a mass in his spleen, 10cm big! Did it originate from TVT, a sexually transmitted disease, that developed into cancer cells because it was left untreated and eventually spread to other parts of his body, or did he have skin cancer or sarcoma. We will never know for sure until a biopsy is done but at this point of time, we don’t think we should subject poor WW to anymore pain or GA as he may not pull through.

And so this morning, for the fourth time, poor WW had to be transferred to the fourth vet and here is where we hope he will remain till we find a foster for him to live out his days with love, care, food and some happiness.

Having been a volunteer for the past 9 years or so, often I feel I have seen it all. I don’t profess that I know a lot about dogs or their illnesses but with strays, it’s usually quite the same; accidents, broken bones, sterilization, TVT, dog fights, maggots wounds etc. It’s never easy to make a hard decision and besides, who are we to make such calls. When a dog comes to us, it is simply because they know they will be saved. How then can we tell them sorry, it’s not your day today, we don’t have enough money to help you because we need it for Bradley. We have been blessed many times with fellow animal lovers’ kindness and generosity, allowing us to save and help many dogs we never thought possible.

Look at how swollen his stomach / spleen is 

When I opened WW’s cage to take him out, I expected him to growl and bare his teeth like how the workers had warned us. Instead, he came to me, head bowed down, for a little pat on his head and some assurance. In his heart, he knows he is dying. He is just hoping against all hope, just like us, that a miracle will happen.

To foster or help with Wang Wang's vet bills, please email hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg 

Ah Mei Has A New Life (Arya)

Ah Mei has been adopted! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!

A dog fight had torn Ah Mei’s left eyelid and she would have gone blind if left untreated. Thank goodness we got her in time. After a successful operation to reconstruct her eyelid, which allowed her to close her eye properly, the vet informed us that the muscle in her left eye was damaged and that she would never be able to close her eye fully. Also, she would need eye drops for life. This left us in a dilemma; if she was to go back to the factory after discharge in accordance with our original plan, her left eye may deteriorate and who would apply her eye drop for her daily? We made a last ditch appeal for Ah Mei and thank goodness a foster came forward in the nick of time.

After Ah Mei was discharged, things were not smooth sailing. Due to stress caused by moving to a new environment, she had diarrhea, her immunity went down and tick fever, which was probably in her, surfaced. This meant another stint at the vet. Thank goodness she recovered rapidly and her kind foster visited her at the vet almost daily.

Finally, after a string of unfortunate events, its seems Ah Mei’s luck is finally changing for the better. Her foster, Mona has confirmed her adoption and renamed her Arya.

Ah Mei (Arya) and her new mommy, Mona

Dear Arya, congratulations and we will always remember you as the huggable teddy bear who is ever so good natured and smiley. Your love for walks and penchant for food as well as your affectionate nature has endeared you to many and all of us will miss you lots! We are ever so happy that from now on, you will be safe from bad weather and will always go to bed with a full tummy. Despite your lopsided left eye, your new mummy loves you lots and you will always be perfect and beautiful in her eyes. It must be true love, like a fairy tale come true. May the both of you live together happily ever after!

Thank you Mona for giving Arya a forever home and we hope that all our fur babies who are still waiting for their forever homes will find their families soon too.

Would you like to welcome a furry bundle of joy into your home and fill it with happiness? Email hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg or visit our blog's adoption page to see the list of our dogs waiting for homes, and receive unconditional love and lots of slobbery kisses.

Wang Wang

I don’t know if this is good news or bad news. Previously, we updated that there were 4 dogs with TVT and only 2 were left. Last week, we saw only one and managed to catch him. His name is Bradley and thanks to all your support and help, he is on his way to recovery. We thought all the other 3 dogs had perished from the cancer, after all, Bradley was in such bad shape that he probably won’t be able to survive another month.

The good news is we found the second dog.

Another TVT dog, his penis has fallen off

The bad news is, his condition is as bad as Bradley if not worse. His name is Wang Wang. Bradley was found with his penis hanging by only one strand of muscle. Wang Wang has no penis. It has rotted and fallen off. His genitals area is one mass of rotting flesh with maggots crawling everywhere. He is in such pain that he cannot urine without crying or sleep without whimpering.

Thats all thats left of his penis which contiues to rot

We had been at a loss when we first got Bradley. We couldn’t bear to let him hurt for even one more day, but how were we going to afford the bills? The question of costs is always on our minds as we do not know how long the treatments will take and we are still drained from the extended stay of our dogs at the vet last quarter. Every other day, it seems that we are always asking for money. When Bradley’s feeder first approached us, we asked if she could check with other rescue groups if they can assist, but she did not receive any response. How could we know of a dog suffering and yet turn a blind eye and walk away? The least we could do was plead for your help and support. There was an outpouring of help that lightened our hearts and it’s with this hope I write this.

Penis and whats left of it

Will you help Wang Wang too? He continues to roam the streets in pain  . . .

Email hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg

Updates On Bradley (Post-Surgery)

Bradley's emergency operation was scheduled at 1.30pm this afternoon (9 December), but before the operation could proceed, his blood count plummeted and he had to undergo a blood transfusion. The operation went smoothly and Bradley's genitals or whatever was left of it was removed together with the numerous disgusting maggots. He was also sterilized during the surgery.

Bradley was still sound asleep when we visited him

Look at all his stitches after amputation 

Bradley will now pee from an opening like Bobby and this means he can finally pee without crying in pain. He will be put on 4 courses of chemotherapy injections to kill of any remaining cancerous cells and the first chemo jab will be administered tonight.

A new opening has been surgically created for him to pee 

Get well soon, dear Bradley

Thank you so much for the outpouring of support and encouragement which gave us the courage to save Bradley. He will most likely be staying at the vet for another 4 weeks while his wound recovers and his course of chemotherapy completes. This will of course translate into huge medical bills which we can ill afford, but nevertheless our hearts are light from knowing Bradley is now finally safe. Good night dear boy, sleep tight for probably the first time in many months.

If you will like to contribute to Bradley's vet bills, please email hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg

A Stray We Named Bradley

We are glad to say that we finally managed to trap and send Bradley (that’s what we named him) to the vet.

A stray named Bradley

I had rushed to the vet to wait for his arrival and when he arrived, I told the clinic that it was an emergency and that they had to see him first. They immediately took him into the treatment room. He was quite heavily sedated because the feeder had given him some sleeping pills in his food earlier on, or else she would never have been able to even get close to him. When they opened the top of the carrier, he was a little groggy and made no effort to escape. The vet tech managed to put an e-collar over his head, to prevent him from biting in case he tried.

Eyes that seem resigned to his fate

They then lifted him out of the carrier and put him on the floor, so that they could examine his wound. When they flipped him over, everyone in the room gasped in horror and went “Oh my God.”

Just arrived at the vet

In my 9 years of rescuing, this has got to be the worst case of TVT  I have ever seen.  Our eyes turned red as we stared at his horrific pain, trying to imagine how he had even survived for the past few weeks.

His penis was black, which meant that the nerves and cells were already dead.

He had maggots crawling out of his wound; huge, fat ones.

The cauliflower like flesh you see in the photographs are typical in dogs with TVT.

His penis was held on only by a muscle

How has he been peeing, you wonder? He hasn’t. His pee just leaks and drips out from all the holes that the maggots and tumors have created.

It gets worse.

His penis was rotting and had almost fallen off. The only reason why it hadn’t fallen off was the one muscle from which it was dangling.

Did we want to put him down? No, that thought never even crossed our minds. Despite having lots of outstanding vet bills, HOPE has always been about saving lives and giving dogs second chances, especially when no one else would. And perhaps that’s the reason why we have the highest number of special needs dogs; blind, deaf, one-eyed, paralyzed, incontinent, three-legged, we love those best but that’s a story for another day.

When a dog gives up on life, they stop eating. But when the feeder trapped Bradley today, despite all his pain, he gobbled up what little food she gave him, just to survive and keep going. That was reason enough for us to help keep him alive too.

An emergency surgery has been scheduled for tomorrow, whereby his penis will be amputated because it no longer functions. This surgery is very similar to the one Bobby had, where an opening was surgically created in his scrotum to enable him to pee.

We are unsure of Bradley's age or his health, but he was terribly dirty and the nurses are considering giving him a bath before the surgery tomorrow.

The vet says that he would most likely stay for a week. Just one week’s stay at the vet and the surgery are estimated to cost between $4000 to $5000. But based on our previous experiences, it usually takes almost 3 weeks to fully recover as the surgery is rather major. If we are returning him to the factory, then we would need his wound to be 100% recovered.

If you can help Bradley with his vet bills, please email us hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg because we can't possibly save him without your help.