My side of the coin

By Xin The Heart Warrior

24 March 2012

Today is a special day for me. ??I was invited to give an inspiring speech to a group of women from Whispering Hearts Family Service Centre.

After knowing that these group of women, mostly from lower income group and needed to find ways to earn some money to help with the finances, I decided to tell them about my mother and how she had brought us up by selling mixed vegetable rice at a stall with us helping her at very young age.??Without my mother’s determination, life would probably be different for my family and I.

By sharing my childhood story, I want these women to know that they are someone else’s mother too thus it is important that they stay strong and positive so that their children will grow up in a nice environment.

I ended the speech by telling them to be an inspiring mother so that one day maybe 20 years down the road their children will be at somewhere giving the same speech I?am giving today.

I also told them about May, a lady who is just 2 years younger than me, born with Cerebral Palsy condition and also been through equally challenging life if not more yet she never gave up.

After the speech, they had a catwalk competition. ??Looking at them enjoying the simple fun I almost cried.

Nevermind rich or poor, that’s never the determining factor for one’s happiness in life.

At this end we have a group who have so little and although struggling, they want to feel happy and they are helping themselves.

At the other extreme end we have grumpy people queuing in front of branded goods store living in shallow mindset believing in artificial achievements.

Life is never fair and it’s never about it. ?It is what we want to make out of it.

On 20 Jul 2011, Ruth asked if I was willing to write about our recent adoption of a female dog. I agreed readily even though I do not know what to write. After all “she” was only with us for a couple of weeks, I had no idea what should I focus on writing.

Finally today I found the inspiration to write something, so I went to Noah’s Ark Blogspot to have a look and below was part of the very first article I picked to read.

“This Chow Chow was abandoned by its owner. She is 10 yrs old and her name in Yuki. Her irresponsible owner opened the gates and let the dog out. When the dog was picked up by SPCA, the owner told someone to lie that he was out of town and to put the dog down. Fortunately we got wind of it in time and Yuki was bailed out from SPCA and is now living in a boarding facility, waiting for someone to love her again. After some tender loving care in her foster home, this is how she looks like today. The next 3 pictures show Yuki cleaned & groomed. According to the Vet, she is in perfect health and is now with a fosterer.”

How Yuki looked when she was abandoned

Coincidentally the dog in this very first article I picked “How Could You?” is the one my husband and I just adopted through Ruth.

After moving into a “Kampong”, the first thing my husband and I did was to adopt two dogs, Trevor a Golden Retreiver from SPCA and Fat Fat a Mongrel from the landlord.

Together with Coco an English Cocker Spaniel we had with us since 2001, we magically reached the maximum number of dogs allowed within 1 week from moving into our new place

Never had we thought of adding one more since 3 is the limit.

Two weeks after we moved in, my in-laws came for the house warming and my husband casually described the type of dogs he liked to his sister.

My husband loves dogs with a grumpy face (a Nepolitan Masttif being his favorite).
We actually went to SPCA for Athena (the Mastiff with SPCA in Jun 2011) but she had tick fever so she was not suitable for adoption so that’s how we got Trevor instead.

After hearing my husband’s description of the type of dogs he likes, my sister in-law went home and started searching the Internet.

A couple of weeks later, she sent us a mail with a link that’s when we saw Yuki for adoption.

Advertisement we saw : Yuki for Adoption

We were both so excited and I contacted Ruth immediately. We invited Ruth to our place for a house visit within the next few days and Yuki came to our place for good within a week from we first saw the advertisement.

The first day Yuki ignored us, preferring to sleep alone in the living room so we let her be.

Yuki's first day at home

The next day we invited some friends over and a friend brought this.

A party to welcome Yuki

Another day passed………….I was in the study room doing my work when Yuki came to pay me a visit.

Yuki climbed up the sofa bed to accompany me

It only took her two days to get used to living with us and she climbed up this bed (with my permission) to be with me.

Life with Yuki is a joy!

We brought Yuki to the vet for a check up and that’s how she looked in the car. HAPPY!!!!!

Yuki going to car ride! Yippee!!!

One day I was at work and I received an MMS from my husband. This was what he sent.

Yuki Bear Bear

Yuki is definitely a dog with a heart.

Despite being cruelly abandoned by her previous owner and having to go through the stress of moving from shelter to fosterers to eventually our home, just like most dogs, she still never stops loving.

She loves us humans in her own quiet way, following us in and out of the room, walking double steps to the gate to see us off, standing there looking at us with her tender loving eyes, lying in our room snoring softly enjoying the cold air………..every now and then, she will try to get her crumply body lifted up, and walk briskly to us to ask for a little pat and a little sayang.

Yuki is so lovely that I don’t understand which part of her became a nuisance to the previous owner.

(For that matter, Trevor and Fat Fat too are so lovely that we often wonder why Trevor ended up in SPCA and Fat Fat confined to the back yard for 7 years)

It probably only takes a split second to buy, and definitely another split second to dump.
However by the time Yuki found us, or we found Yuki, it was a good two years after she was being cruelly abandoned.

I always believe in fate and fate has brought Yuki and us together.

Nothing was a pre-planned move…….. the house moving, the email from my sister in law, the adoption of the fourth dog and the surfing of an article to read on Noah Ark’s website…………..Yet everything that had happened pointed Yuki to us.

Oh yes, we did apply to AVA for a license for a fourth dog which they approved after visiting us.

Ruth told us she was almost going to give up searching for a permanent home for Yuki, a 12 years old Female Short Coat Chow Chow with just a slight joint problem which can be resolved by a simple jab once in two months costing only S$25.

Yuki is an old dog, that’s why she is not always the first choice for adoption.

Because of Yuki, my husband and I decided we would continue to adopt only older dogs.

We love them all the same; they are as cute as puppy if not even cuter, without the teething problem and the toilet training nighmare.

Yuki, you are my Pooh Pooh Bear.

Yuki, you are my Pooh Pooh Bear!!!!!!!! <3<3<3

A about three weeks ago, my husband suggested we go to SPCA to adopt a dog.
I was of course very pleasantly surprised.

Upon arriving, we realised the Bull Mastiff, Athena, we were there for has tick fever. I was worried at the possible high medical cost and that it will affect Coco and Fat Fat that are currently with me. So we decided not to adopt Athena.

Going back to the shelter area, a beautiful 7 years old Male Golden Retriever, Trevor, caught our attention. We went into his cage to interact with him. The first thing he did was picked up a tennis ball and gave it to me, then he sat down without me even have to ask.
I fell in love with him immediately.
When my husband asked if I need to see another GR to compare, I told him I won’t want to have to choose.

A day later, we brought Coco to interact with Trevor, all went well so Trevor came home with us.

Trevor knew the commands sit, down and paw paw. He never messed up even when he was with us in an apartment for the last week of our stay there.

When we arrived the new place, Trevor loves it. He ran happily in the garden chasing his tennis ball.

Everyone who saw Trevor asked me why did the previous owner gave him up since he is almost faultless. I said I don’t know as I did not ask the staff at SPCA.

A week went by, Trevor had diarrhea. We brought him to the vet, found out that his blood count was low and that he was having fever. Because Athena had tick fever, we had Trevor checked too. But blood test result returned negative.
After the medication, Trevor seemed to get better so we left it.

Then we suddenly realised Trevor will stare at the wall once a day for like a few minutes and right after that, he will start to climb on the coffee table and sofa. Then he will go back to his normal self after we stopped him.
It seemed odd but we did not think much about it.

Another week past, on Tue 21 Jun 2011 while we were working in the study, Trevor was sleeping in that room and when he woke up we saw his eyes were rolled up. Its definitely not right so we sent him back to the vet again.
The vet was worried of his high temperature at 40.1, hospitalised him and told us a full test will be lined up and that they suspect it could be autoimmunue disorder.

I decided to call SPCA to see if I can get any past medical history of Trevor. After all he is such a sweet boy why would he be dumped at SPCA??

The staff told me Trevor was given up because the owner had no time for him!!!!!
Yes you did not read wrongly, no time for him even though he is such an obedient dog.

According to SPCA, Trevor’s previous owner is usually not at home so Trevor is often left alone at home.
There is no known medical history.

Right now, he is still with the vet as some of the tests are only available tomorrow.

We read up the internet, from the symptoms staring at wall, low blood count, high fever etc etc, the articles we found were not promising.
We don’t have any clue what to do, the only option we are left with is test for every possible problem.

My husband told me to be prepared for the worst and to remember always that we are giving him a good time since the day he is with us.

I know I have done what I can and that I will continue to do what I can do.
But I cannot help but ask, why dumped him when he is so obedient? Do they really not know any medical history?

Why can’t people who have no time for their pet not buy one but just go to the zoo or the pet shops to look at the animals when they want to see one?
Why own them and not even care to find them a good home after the joy of having the pet is gone?
Why dump at the void deck or shelters when they can start with not buying?

Save the money, save the life and their misery.
If you have no time, don’t buy, its not rocket science.

Trevor coming home with us