Exposed Skull!

We received a message with a photograph of a dog with a head injury – the wound looked big and bad enough for us to engage the services of a dog trapper to help us in catching him to take him to the vet.

The photograph that triggered a wave of panic

We staked out his regular feeding grounds for the past few days and finally tonight, with the help of a dog trapper, we caught him.

Huge head wound with blood flowing down his face

Such a sorry sight

Sedated so we could take him out of the cage and flush his wounds

At the vet, when the Dr and vet tech saw him, they just stared at us – in their many years on the job, they had never seen such an injury. His skull was exposed! In my 8 years of rescue work, I have never seen such an injury too – I can’t  imagine the pain and suffering he has been through. Whatever that had hit him would have hit so hard to have caused such severe damage. Imagine the unbearable pain he has been through for the past 1 week. If it was us, we would have fainted from the pain.

He was fearful and tried to struggle to escape so he had to be sedated in order to have his wound flushed. He has two wounds – the obvious one on his head and a small puncture hole on his left hip. The smaller hole had maggots burrowing inside and the hole, although small looking, was terribly deep.

I felt so sad when I looked into his eyes, fresh blood flowed down his face, and he kept licking away the blood. Why must street dogs suffer so much? His left eye was rather small from all the pain and blood flowing down  – we cant tell if his eye has been damaged but the head wound shows his skull exposed and when the vet lifted the skin, it was hollow inside. We were told that his muscles and tissue were gone as it was very badly infected, leaving a hollow in his head. Looking at him from the front, you can see his skull indented as a result of the hollow.

His forehead is indented.

The white part you see is his skull.

On Monday we will take him to Dr Ly of ARC but for now, he will be warded at another vet as Dr Ly doesn’t operate on Sundays. He will be on drip, strong antibiotics and pain killers. Tomorrow he will have a head xray to check if his skull has been fractured, together with other blood works.

We will continue to post updates on Facebook as and when we can. We are not sure if he will survive this, if he will suffer from brain damage, if his left eye has been blinded but for now, we just want him to be comfortable till we get a second opinion on his options.

To help with his vet bills, please email us at hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg Please give us time to reply to your emails, we are overwhelmed by the number of dogs that we have rescued in the past 2 weeks, some whom are still warded at the vets.

We have named this brave boy, Champ.

Lady (Mei Mei)

A group of workers had recently noticed this dog lying motionless on the pavement for a few days, panting. As each day passed, they grew increasingly worried. Her condition didn't seem to have improved at all, and it seemed she was dying. They determined that she needed help, and got in touch with us.

Arriving at the vet with an extremely bloated stomach

Lady is actually skin and bones. The fluids make her look overweight 

When we got there, we saw a tick-infested dog with a huge and swollen belly. Our first thought was that she must be heavily pregnant, but we were wrong. What looked like a pregnancy at first turned out to be an extremely bloated stomach, full of fluids. She was so bloated that she must have had several kilograms of fluids in there.

Waiting to be warded

We could clearly feel all her ribs, and the muscles in her back legs have shrunk and wasted away, which means that Lady hasn't walked for some months. Could she have been sick for a long time? And in all this time, no one saw or noticed her?

                                                              
                                     Lady at the vet, her breathing extremely laboured.

We put her in a carrier and brought her to the vet. When we arrived, she was panting so heavily that she didn't even have the energy to stand, let alone walk. We couldn't carry her either, for fear of pressing against her distended stomach. So we gingerly pushed her into the consult room. She bared her teeth at us once but made no attempt to bite. It was purely in self defense, not knowing what was happening to her and being in a strange surrounding. We named the girl Lady.

Finally, some rest and comfort at the vet 

The vet ran the standard suite of blood tests, and we were shattered to find out that Lady had a condition known as Ascites, which means she is suffering from right heart failure due to a severe case of heartworm. The symptoms of left heart failure are coughing and labored breathing, while right heart failure causes a bloated stomach and water in the lungs. The condition is irreversible and terminal. No surgeon is willing to operate on Lady.

Feeling truly sorry for herself

Finally, a loving touch

Her case is a complicated one as she has heartworm and the adult worms have entered her heart vessels. According to the vet in consult, there is no vet in Singapore who can do this surgery to remove the heartworms from her heart so it is a matter of time before she passes on from heart failure. The vet mentioned that she is only 4 years old and may have been suffering for a few weeks to a few months. 

The vet reckons she may have just a few more days. Her breathing is terribly labored and today, she didn't even eat. All we can do now is to give her medication to make her last days comfortable.

Imagine her terror and confusion with the water gradually filling up her lungs, not being able to breathe and feeling like she's slowly drowning. How helpless she must have felt when she got too weak to even stand and walk.

When we visit her at the vet, she just lies on her side, staring into nothing, gasping for air, and you can see the years of hardship and suffering in her eyes. She looks empty, pained, and resigned. There is a lot of fear in her eyes as well, not knowing what is happening to her. The life of a stray is so heartbreakingly lonely. Nobody would have known or cared if she lived or died.

Now that we've found her, would someone be willing to foster her and make her comfortable in her last few days? We know that it is a lot to ask, to take a dog into your life that will leave it in just a few short days / weeks. But this would be the only chance for Lady to know what it's like to have a home. If no one steps forward, she will stay at the vet and die there, never having experienced the love and care of a family. She would waste away in her small cage, and there will be nothing to relieve her pain and loneliness but death.

Waiting for death to overcome her.

Please give Lady a chance at love in her final days.

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

Birthday Girl, Avery Duffy

"This year I turned 11 on my birthday and knew I wanted to have a party with all my friends from school.

Altogether there were eight girls and we had so much fun! We made water balloons and had a scavenger hunt.

When my friends asked me what I wanted for my birthday it made me think... I already have enough toys and things. So I thought what if my friends helped me help someone? When we adopted Cooper I found out that when people help animals it can cost a lot of money. I really love Cooper and know when HOPE rescued him many people gave money and now he is healthy and happy. If my friends gave me donations instead of gifts we could help too.

Happy Birthday Avery! 

Avery with her younger sister, Ruby.

One big happy family. (L to R) Avery, Mikayla, their darling dog Cooper and Ruby.

Look how happy Cooper is to now have a family to call his own! 

Volunteer, Joceline, with Avery

We were really surprised to receive a lot of money even though it was a small group. I felt really happy my friends cared. My friends also said it was a nice thing to do and maybe they would do something like that when their birthday came. It feels really good to help."

- written by Avery Duffy, 11 years old

---

From HOPE:

Cooper and Ruby

Thank you Avery!!

Avery's family had adopted Cooper last year, giving him the best possible gift of a forever home. This year, 11-year-old Avery and her friends gave the dogs at HOPE Dog Rescue yet another gift. For Avery's birthday, she raised $245 in donations for HOPE, to help us help even more dogs. We are so touched by the kindness and selflessness she has shown, and we think society needs more good people like her and her friends! 

Puppy Bruno (1st Update)

Poor baby Bruno, still in such tremendous pain. He has undergone a minor procedure under GA to shave off the fur from his face and neck, so that the wounds would be kept clean and it would be easier to apply medication, keep the wounds dry and lessen the infection. He is such a brave puppy, patiently allowing the nurses to clean him and apply medication without a single whine or protest. As a result of the shaving, his face is now very raw and swollen but we believe from now on, things can only get better. He is such a tiny sweetheart. The ticks are getting lesser although there still are some. He is eating well and drinking. He has not pooped since he was warded on Saturday, though the Vet does not seem to be overly concerned, citing the fact that he may not have been eating at all for quite some time.

Bruno is still critical as septic shock may set in but he seems stable for now. He may be warded about 3 weeks and is presently on drip, antibiotics and pain killers.

Watch Puppy Bruno's video  : 

His ears, paws and facial wounds are still wet and oozing with pus. It starts as little red dots that look like cigarette burns, and over the course of the next few days, the dots get bigger and then suddenly burst with pus oozing out, leaving it to look like puncture holes. His condition is curable, and we've started him on a weak course of steroids due to his young age. He has blood tests done every 2 to 3 days to check his blood count and protein level, which is rather low at the moment. Despite being in so much pain and discomfort, Bruno is such as sweet boy as he's never complained.

The sores (like puncture holes) starts off looking like cigarette burns

And within the next few days, it bursts with pus oozing out from the holes

His face is swollen from the shaving and cleaning 

Baby Bruno can’t open his eyes as there is a lot of discharge from his eyes, causing his eyes to be “glued” shut. His ears are still wet and mushy but it seems to be improving. His teeth are very tiny, not the normal sized for a 2 month old puppy. The Vet reckons it could be due to malnutrition and his growth has been slightly delayed.

It’s just too much pain for such a tiny puppy to be going through. He is very sweet. When we talk to him, he lifts his little head up to listen, before falling asleep again. We can’t wait for him to start feeling better and get adopted soon. It would be a blessing for the family who adopts Bruno, such a brave tiny soul.

Look how tiny he is! Puppy Bruno listening to Lisa talk to him and asking him to be brave

Once he passes this stage, he may fully recover from his condition, or he may have it as a recurring condition which needs to be managed. Unfortunately for sweet Bruno, his face may be scarred for life. We need a foster who can clean his wound twice a day, and feed 3 to 4 small meals a day as he's still a puppy. Please do help us spread the word, and if you know anyone who can help, do drop us a note.

If you can foster / adopt this precious puppy, please do email us hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg

Bruno’s Siblings

Armed with bottles of Frontline spray, our volunteers spent the morning at Bruno’s factory, deticking and checking on his siblings. They are all bigger and healthier than him.

Puppy Power!

Cute Puppy 1

Cute Puppy 2

Cute Puppy 3

Of his five siblings, two have been taken away by workers, leaving three puppies and two female adult dogs behind. Of the two female dogs, Bruno’s mommy is very wary of humans and not approachable, which would make catching and sterilizing her a tad challenging. The other female dog looks to be about 10 years or more and might be too old to be sterilized.

Volunteers, Zhiyi and Clara, applying Frontline on the baby mutt.

The dreaded ticks!

While we were at the factory, we met a sub-contractor who apparently has been feeding this brood of puppies for a while. He told us that Bruno had been weak and hiding for some weeks. He got better recently and managed to walk a bit, before getting worse again. This man, Mr Goh, was touched by our good work and generously contributed $1000/- to Bruno’s vet bills. Thank you Mr Goh for your kindness!

The 3 Mutt-sketeers! ADOPT a baby Mutt-sketeer!

Next week our volunteers will be going down again, to take the remaining three puppies to the vet to test them for Parvo virus, distemper, tick fever and heartworm as well as vaccinate them. We will continue to monitor them till they are of age to be sterilized.  

If you can foster / adopt Bruno or his siblings, please email hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg

Photo Credits : Val Chua

Puppy Bruno. A Rare Condition

Samuel emailed us a picture of a little injured puppy that looked less than 2 months old. The picture he took showed the puppy’s raw face with missing skin around his nose and eyes. It seemed like he was suffering from some sort of severe infection. He was cowering under a shelf in a factory.

The photo we received that broke our hearts. Mommy Dog was very concerned and watching over puppy Bruno.

We were alarmed! We had never seen a puppy looking like that. There was no doubt about it, this puppy definitely needed immediate medical attention. Our volunteer, Annie, hurried to the factory where Samuel was waiting.

When Annie arrived, there were several other little puppies gamboling around the area. They were the litter mates of the injured puppy. But to her dismay, the injured puppy himself was nowhere to be seen. Samuel and Annie searched high and low for the puppy, and eventually found him hiding away from all his siblings. The poor pup was obviously in great discomfort, and had such sadness in his eyes. He was too sick to even move. He was curled up quietly, waiting for help. They scooped him up and put him in a cardboard box, and named him Bruno. Together, they left for the vet.

Arriving in a cardboard box

The stench from Bruno's infections was so strong that it was overpowering and nauseating. There were dozens of ticks crawling out of Bruno's cardboard box and dropping all over Annie’s car.

Outside the Vet, waiting his turn

We had to wait more than an hour at the vet before she was available to meet Bruno. We probably killed another 300 ticks while waiting. We tried to make him feel better by offering him food, but he refused. Then we took his weight. The puppy weighed only 5kg! We also noticed that his eyes were so badly infected that thick discharge was pooling around them. We flipped his ears over, and saw that both of them were also sticky with pus. They were so raw and infected that his hearing might have been affected.

Watch puppy Bruno's video here : 

Mucus and pus dripping from his little ear

Inside of Bruno's ears (right ear). Imagine the stench and the discomfort. His hearing may have been affected.

Bruno's other badly infected ear 

And you think that was bad enough? A more thorough examination showed that his neck had 3 deep holes, filled with pus. One was on the right side of the neck and 2 were under his chin. We couldn't tell what caused them, and we don't even want to imagine the pain that Bruno is going through. We could only feel sorry for the fragile puppy, too weak to even stand on his own. He must have suffered for almost two weeks before Samuel finally got help for him. Interestingly, it was Samuel's first day at work there and that saved little Bruno's life!

Deep infected holes under Bruno's jaw

The vet was filled with sympathy for Bruno. She kept lamenting, “Poor puppy...," as she attended to him. She took some of his fur to test for mites and drew blood to test for Parvo virus and Distemper. Bruno was so afraid. He started squealing so loudly, even before the needle touched him. It took a while for us to calm him down.

Bruno was tick infested

Bruno's tests came back negative for mites, Distemper and Parvo virus, but he tested positive for tick fever. Imagine getting tick fever at this tender age! His blood tests also showed an extremely elevated white blood count, signaling a severe infection. He also had a low red count from loss of blood. He had a low platelet count and is nutrition deficient.

Although the blood tests showed a plethora of bad symptoms, the vet wasn't sure what Bruno's illness was. Her best guess was an allergic reaction, but what was his severe allergy triggered off by? So senior volunteer, Lisa, who has an interest in canine diseases and medicine, spent some hours researching. She found that Bruno looked to be suffering from a rare disease called Juvenile Pyoderma or Puppy Strangles. This disease usually affects puppies from 2 to 4 months of age, and does not show up on regular blood tests. The disease is genetic, and could sometimes affect entire litters, or just one unlucky puppy. In this case, it was Bruno. With her new found details, she will be checking with the vet on the best course of action for puppy Bruno. 

The vet is extremely worried that Bruno is down with septicemia, so we'll have to monitor him closely for the next few critical days. He is running a high temperature and will be put on IV drips and given painkillers and antibiotics. The scarring on his face may be forever.

2-month-old Bruno is still just a baby. He suffered silently through this all by himself on the streets. Now, even though he's getting help at the vet, the young puppy is still in pain and in a strange environment. He must be so confused, scared and missing his mommy and siblings. Dear Bruno, please do not give up.

Exhausted after his vet check and poor puppy Bruno fell asleep on the consult table

We pray for Bruno and hope that he will fight through this ordeal. We will do whatever we can to help him. You can do your part to help Bruno too!

We are currently trying to raise funds to cover Bruno’s vet bill so that we can nurse him back to health. We hope to also find Bruno a foster so that he can be homed comfortably once he’s discharged.

In addition, when we found Bruno, we noticed 2 other female dogs (one of which is his mommy) and 5 of Bruno's siblings wandering around. They are in much better condition, but are also susceptible to the harsh condition of living on the streets. We need sponsors for these dogs so that we can deworm, vaccinate and sterilize them. We would also like to get them Frontline spray as most of them are infested with ticks. (Even now, a few days later, there are still hundreds of ticks on Bruno!)

Puppy Bruno's 5 siblings left behind 

Please do let us know if you can adopt the remaining puppies. We currently do not have any more capacity to take in the remaining puppies but will definitely assist in getting the puppies to you if you can help give them a home. Please contact us if you can help us in any way. We certainly need all the help that we can get. You can do your part for Bruno and his family. Please kindly reach out to us, thank you.

To offer your help for Bruno and his family, please email hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg 

Written by Yun Lu