Cody Gets a Forever Home

Cody is finally adopted!

After half a lifetime of waiting for his angel, our dear Cody has  finally found his forever home! We are so happy beyond words because  he couldn’t have found a better home. For that, we are eternally grateful to his new pawrents for giving him a chance.

In his new home, Cody has since settled in very comfortably, going for  walks and drives, as well as dog friendly cafes. In short, Cody is  living a life he did not even dare to dream of previously.

We would like to thank all the kind angels who helped Cody in one way  or another, and for saving his life.

Five years ago, Cody was part of a pack of strays near the northeast area.

While there was a regular feeder that would feed them every evening,  there were vast developments, and limited space. The strays were,  unfortunately, forced to fight for food and territory.

Cody was one of dogs that was attacked resulting in a gaping wound on  his rump. His feeder saw his injury and contacted us for help, which  we did. Our initial plan was to trap Cody, treat his wound, sterilize  and release him back.

However, as Cody’s wound took almost 3 months to heal as he had a very  bad skin condition, we did not want to release him as it would have  been too risky to release him back. We were concerned he may not have  survived after spending many months indoors.

Besides his skin condition, Cody was also diagnosed with heartworm. He  was so sad and weak, and kept to himself all the time. It seemed as  though he had given up on life.

Things only started to look up for Cody 10 months after his rescue,  when volunteers spent much of their time and effort to get him treated  and rehabilitated.

This poor quiet boy had spent almost 6 long years waiting for a place  to call home. As Cody is not one who would show affection readily, he  was always overlooked at adoption drives. It did not help that he had  some health concerns with a spleen condition and sensitive skin that  requires care. He gets enquiries but it never gets beyond that.

We felt terribly sad for him each time he gets uprooted after having  settled in a place. Over the years, he had a look of stoic resignation  towards his fate.

But now, there is hope again, and we LOVE a happy ending like Cody’s.

Once again, we would like to thank everyone who has helped Cody find  his happily ever after – from his new owners, to all the volunteers  who gave him their time.

Written by: Felicia Tan

Jolly update (I)

It has been about three weeks since Jolly was found abandoned outside a HDB unit (you may read about it here.)

This was Jolly when we first laid eyes on her 

We have since brought her to the vet a couple of times for review, and we are glad to see she's doing better now than when we first met her! Jolly is estimated to be about 10 to 12 years old and has a healthy weight of 3.8 kg. She’s a very small sized Shihtzu.

During her second visit to the vet, we managed to find out more about her health conditions. The vet thinks there's no need for dental but has prescribed dental gel to be applied twice a day for her gingivitis condition. She is also given three types of eye drops for her red eyes and these have to be applied four times a day.

Jolly at the vet for her review 

We believe she still has her sense of hearing, albeit weak, as she can't pinpoint the sources of loud noises. However, when we tried to call her loudly, she panics and scrambles to hide herself. It makes us wonder if this could have reminded her of her abusive past.

We also found out that she has mild collapsed trachea which explains her occasional loud breathing. As for that long scar across her chest,  three vets have confirmed that it was to remove her mammary tumours (breast cancer) and now she has two other lumps in her breast. Although there is no cause for concern yet, we will need to monitor that closely.

We thought life could only get better for Jolly now that she's safe with us but sadly, that was not all to it.

Even though Jolly had completed her course of antibiotics prescribed at the very first visit to the vet for bladder stones and urinary tract infection, Jolly's fosterer observed something out of the norm. 

Cute little grandma

Jolly would constantly squat every few minutes to pee and poo.  However, nothing came out most of the times when she squatted to poo. This was an unusual behaviour and the fosterer suspected something may be blocking. So we made an ultrasound appointment with a more experienced vet.

The ultrasound proved that the fosterer's suspicion was right. There is a huge mass in that small body. The mass measures 9mm x 5mm, pressing against and blocking ¼  of Jolly's bladder, which explains why she keeps having the feeling to pee and poo. Poor Jolly could not clear her system due to the blockage.

We have made an appointment with our favourite vet this week, and we hope to arrange for a surgery to remove the mass soon.

Poor old Jolly should be enjoying life at this ripe age but all we see is a very sad dog who spends her days hiding, sleeping or staring blankly ahead. While she loves her food, she is not greedy and will walk away when she's full. We can only hope that Jolly will be fine and recover well after the surgery, as she really deserves all the love and happiness after everything she had gone through.

And above all this, Jolly is the sweetest. She goes to sleep after eating and she will walk to the pee pad to pee. She is happiest when you carry her and will just fall asleep in your arms.

Writer: Shi Hua

Nano Tribute

Nano was rescued by Hope in 2012 – when his owners returned to China and left him behind.  He was blind, underfed and unkempt.

Fortunately for him we found a foster in Michelle McDonald, who was then living in Sentosa as her husband was posted to work here in Singapore. Nano was extremely well loved and well taken care off. He adapted well despite not being able to see.

 

When Michelle and family had to leave Singapore to return home, they were so in love with Nano that they took him back with them to USA.

 

All these years we have kept in touch with Nano's family – he lived a life that many dogs could only dream of – he travelled halfway around the world, lovely walks, playing in snow during winter and boat rides during the summer. He was so loved.

 

As age caught up, Nano started having seizures. Over time, the seizures got so bad that medication could no longer control it and that dreaded decision had to be made.

 

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank Michelle and her family for loving Nano the way they did and giving him the best life any little dog could ask for and we hope they are keeping well.

 

*Photo credits : Michelle McDonald