The little girl was outside the surgery room, standing on tip toe to watch my surgery with her father who requested viewing. My surgery door had a glass window on the top half and the girl with the squarish fair face and deep brown eyes was not tall enough. So, she tip-toed and must have banged onto the glass door.
"Come inside the surgery room," I said to the father and daughter. "If she is not afraid of blood. It is hard for me to concentrate on my surgery with all the tapping sounds." The father laughed. He was in his forties. I seldom see father and young children at my surgery and it was good to see them bonding.
The Jack Russell puppy was held by my intern with one hand. It was wriggling and trying to get out of her hand and I was afraid she would grip too hard. I was observing her as well and could not afford to be distracted. Usually, it would be best not to have any spectators during surgery. But a child might learn something and might want to become a veterinarian later if she could see what a vet does.
The child was not frightened of blood. She turned her head away as I snipped off the tail and put on potassium permanganate powder to stop the bleeding.
"I read that the dew claws (thumbs) ought to be removed to prevent injuries," the father asked.
"Sometimes, the Jack Russell's dew claws get cut or torn at the dew claws because this breed is an extremely active one. I will remove them."
"Who are you selling the puppies to?" I asked.
"It is very hard to sell puppies nowadays," the man said. "Many Singaporeans are not buying in view of the $5,000 fine for having no dog licence."
I said, "Those 400 dogs abandoned by people after the introduction of the September 1, 2007 law requiring microchipping and dog licence or a $5,000 fine are not really dog lovers or they may not be able to afford the fees."
Unsterilised dog licence fees cost around $70.00 while a sterilised one costs $14.00.
But now around 400 dogs were abandoned after the introduction of the law.
I asked the man "Why do you dock tails of the Jack Russell?"
"I sold a previous batch to the pet shop but the pet shop owner said the 3 puppies were very difficult to sell as Singaporeans do not want to buy Jack Russells with long tails."
"How much did she give you for the 3 puppies?" I asked.
"$700. I would have a better price if I had the puppies tail-docked. In that batch, the pet shop owner took the puppies on consignment and paid for the vaccinations."
For the good of the puppies, I said, "Do you know what is the meaning of consignment?"
The man had got the $700 as the puppies were sold and so he did not give the meaning of consignment much thought.
I elaborated, "Consignment means that you don't get paid if the puppies don't get sold or die. Since your 3 puppies did not die, you were paid. You gave the pet shop unvaccinated puppies. A pet shop brings in puppies from all sources. If there is a parvoviral infection of your puppies, they could have died and you would get nothing."
The owner's eyes were incredulous, "Do puppies die?"
I said, "All pet shops suffer from the problem of puppy deaths due to the puppy killer virus known as the parvovirus now and then. This virus attacks the intestines and the heart of the puppy. Bloody diarrhoea and death is quite common in unvaccinated puppies.
In your first batch, your puppies were brought to the pet shop. The vet goes there to vaccinate. As they were not infected prior to vaccination, the puppies survived. Even with 1 vaccination, many puppies still die when exposed to the parvovirus. The puppies are protected 2 weeks after the 3rd vaccination in most cases. Usually 2 vaccinations are the minimum."
"How much is one vaccination?" the man asked.
"It is $35 for the 8-in-one vaccine. It will be best for the puppies if you vaccinate them at week 6 and 8 and wait one week at least, before selling."
I think he is a dog lover and will be careful now. It is extremely traumatic for the owner and their children to see their puppies dead from parvoviral infections after caring for them up to 6 weeks old and bonding with them.
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