Vet talk for our volunteers

All of us at Hope Dog Rescue love animals. We could go through fire and water to relieve their pain and suffering. Just seeing the smiles on their faces is worth all that we have to go through. Even if it means crawling through mud, jumping into drains and getting through with no food and sleep during our rescue operations. We might be drenched in dirt, and weak from exhaustion by the time we walk through the clinic doors with the injured animal. But, we are always filled with hope, and a feeling of relief when the medical team receives us at the clinic.

Volunteer Kenneth helping out on one of our late night rescues 

We admit, oftentimes, we find ourselves ill-equipped to help the strays. How do we know if a limp or wound is serious, how should we carry an injured animal, when are urgent interventions needed, etc. It fills us with dread when we are confronted with an injured or sick animal. Some of us are not seasoned rescuers, but the stray dogs and cats we encounter are usually emergency cases from broken bones to badly infected bloody wounds.

Volunteer Daryl helping to shave Blackie for a procedure

So when our kind team of veterinarians and veterinary technicians asked if our volunteers would be interested in a sharing session, we were absolutely thrilled and jumped at the opportunity. For some of us, being a vet is a dream career but sadly we are not destined for it in this lifetime. Getting our kind vet to teach us is the next best thing.

ARVC staff, Dr Randy, showing our volunteers how to do a subcut

The sharing has been truly fruitful and enjoyable. We touched on several topics ranging from the different routes of parenteral medication administration, platelet factors, judging the severity of a limp, mange treatments, cat flu to feeling a full bladder, etc. We learnt, there are needle insertion angles for various types of parenteral administration of medication: intramuscular, subcutaneous, intravenous, and intradermal injection. Did you know? We had plenty to ask and thousands of questions.

The knowledge provided us with greater insights into the care of an animal and invaluable knowledge for our rescue work. Of course, we had to try out what we learnt. Poor Chloe was the guinea pig during our learning session on administering fluids via the subcutaneous route. We are pleased to say we did a pretty good job with her.

Volunteers Jean & Fadzil doing a subcut on Chloe

Everyone had a pawsome time despite the fact that we were tired after a long day at work.

We are very grateful to the team at ARVC for their time, effort and kind initiative. It is not every day that we get the opportunity to learn from veterinarians and veterinary technicians. Thank you very much to the lovely team at ARVC for supporting our work and helping us to further our cause of helping animals in need. We hope that we will be able to help more animals with our newly gained knowledge and skills.

Kai Kai the Lunar New Year Rescue

When we thought we had seen it all, along comes another rescue worst than what we have ever seen.

Brace yourself before scrolling down; it will make you so sad and so angry. This dog’s condition is much worse than the strays we have rescued and WORST than poor old Buddy and we thought that was bad. You can’t even begin to imagine his nightmare!

Eyes so infected he couldn’t open them

Kai Kai, 15 year old Shihtzu, male, unsterilized; left at home with huge wounds untreated because the family said, “he is not in pain because he can eat, sleep, walk.” How strong was the dog’s sense of survival, to be in so much pain, and yet still eat daily to survive? I would have turned violent at that moment but I needed to keep calm in order to save the dog. After lots of negotiation and discussion, the family finally agree to let us take the dog to the vet and they wanted the dog back by the end of the day and oh, please shave him while he’s at the vet. Fuming yet?

Nails so long it curled sideways

Here’s the list of Kai Kai’s problems :

• dry eyes
• multiple ulcerated and infected masses (both ears and right knee) 
• grade 4 dental disease
• chronic skin issues 
• heart murmur 
• possible mass in the abdomen 
• a few bladder stones 
• small uneven sized testicles (not castrated)
• non regenerative anemia

Huge infected tumour in his right ear. He no longer had a ear canal 😭

Another tumour in his left ear

As I carried him and ran to my car to rush him to the vet, I felt his laboured breathing and prayed that he would not stop breathing just as he was saved. In the car, his wounds were so foul smelling, I had to drive with the windows down. And mind you, this was a pet.

Where’s his eye?

At the vet, the nurses and vets gasped in shock at the sight of his badly infected masses. Our 5th rescue in just one month and this sweet little dog was the worst of the lot. We said we couldn’t help anymore dogs and will not take in any rescues for a while – we don’t have fosters, adopters, funds and we can’t keep saving them with nowhere to go and bills to pay. Our volunteers are extremely exhausted.

Badly decayed teeth

For now, Kai Kai has been shaved, all his wounds flushed and cleaned and he managed to eat a bit. The wound on his right ear was so bad, we could see his cartilage. We will be arranging for a cardiac and abdomen ultrasound soon. When we get a better idea of his heart condition and what’s going on inside him, then we can decide if he is fit enough to undergo surgery to remove his ulcerated masses. The vet reckons it would have been a year or so that poor Kai Kai had been left in this painful and pitiful condition. 

His nails were so long and over time he became bow legged.

HOPE believes in speaking up for animals and standing up for them. Many of the abuse / neglect cases, we report and support with vet reports; after which, the outcome is not within our control. In the case of Kai Kai, the owner refused to let us take their dog to the vet. We could have left and then reported the case, but that may take weeks before the authorities do something and time was not on our side. We didn’t want to delay Kai Kai’s pain and suffering and so the deal was made that if they surrendered him to us, we will not report. Some may not agree with what we did, but in this case, standing up for Kai Kai meant helping him and taking him to get the medical attention he so badly needed. 

A big wart dangling beside his penis

Badly infected left eye

Badly infected right eye

Most shocking, a huge tumour on his back right inner thigh

A huge tumour in his back right inner thigh

Unkempt and extremely smelly

We had to shave him down

Long suffering soul

After cleaning his right ear, the vet noticed we could actually see the ear cartilage 😱😱

The huge tumour on the back leg

Here's what help we need :

• Jasper – foster / adopter
• Timmy – adopter
• Tipsy – adopter

The huge tumour on the back leg

If you would like to help in any way, please email us hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg