Quote

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. Mark Twain





Friday, September 30, 2011

Purchase a Zeus 2012 Calendars In Aid of Our Animal Companions


Starring our Vagabond Dogs who once lived on the streets, while some were abused and abandoned.

These are our very lucky dogs who have found their forever home with their Masters whom they adore, respect and are forever grateful towards.

This world would be a better place if their other furry friends could have the opportunity to find love and shelter like them.

Like humans, there is poverty in third world countries, where they struggle to make ends meet worry when will their next meal be.  These dogs went through a similar plight – but they are lucky in a way because many people like you and me care for them and ensure that they don’t go hungry.
It is not easy running a shelter in Singapore, as the main cost is the rental of the boarding facility, medical fees and food.  Funds are required to keep the shelter going every day and ensuring that the animals have their basic needs.  Zeus Play House is now home to 40 dogs – the dogs that we have helped are mainly ex-breeding dogs, abandoned dogs, injured and or once abused by humans.

Every purchased calendawill help us greatly in giving them what is required for their daily needs.

Facts and Figures to Run a Shelter a Month
Rental of Boarding Facility & Caregiver - $3,000/-
Can Food (10 units a day x $2.50) x 30 days - $750/-
Dry Food (10 bags x $65) - $650/-
Medical and Miscellaneous (e.g. frontline, shampoo, garbage bags, etc..) – $1,000/-

If there are additional funds, it will go towards the following programmes:
  • Street Dogs Sterilisation
  • Street Cats Sterilisation
  • Helping Low Income Families and Seniors
  • Animal Rescue Mission



Calendars are also available at these following places:
Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Centre (Sunset Way)

Block 105, Clementi St 12 #01-08
Tel: 6776 8858

Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Centre (Redhill)
Block 113, Bukit Merah View, #01-520
Tel: 6271 1132

Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Centre (Bedok)

Block 158, Bedok South Ave 3, #01-577
Tel:  6444 3561

Mrs Fields
8 Raffles Avene, #02-04, The Esplanade

Stormville (Pet Shop)
73 Brighton Crescent

Note: Sales at Retail Outlets will be available from Sat, 8 Oct.
For mail orders, please print the attached order form and mail your order to:
8 Raffles Avenue, #02-04, The Esplanade, Singapore 039802.




 From the bottom of our hearts,
thank you for your kindness and support
towards our work for the animals.




Sunday, September 25, 2011

Adoption Drive - Give Us a Home Before Christmas....


Details of Adoption Drive:

Date:    Sunday, 2 October
Time:    3pm to 6pm
Venue:  Ericsson Pte Farm
             16 Pasir Ris Farmway 2, S(519316)

Date:     Saturday, 8 October and Sunday, 9 October
Time:     3pm to 6pm
Venue:   Doggie Style Cafe
              23 Serangoon Central, NEX Shopping Mall #04R-72

To view our dogs for adoption, please visit http://zeustopdogs.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 23, 2011

Lost & Found: Female Chihuahua

A female Chihuahua was found at 10:30am today (Friday, 23 September '11) by Pauline at Blk 30 Telok Blangah Rise.


If you recognise her and you know who her owner is, please inform her owner to contact us at mailto:dogstalk@starhub.net.sg or SMS 9199 6662 or 9199 6247.


Thank you.
Zeus Comms.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Do Cats Know How to Ask for Help?

Well.... we think Scooter the Cat, actively sought help to get off the streets and to be in a safe home environment again. Read about Scooter’s cry for help below.


I was waiting for a fellow volunteer, Irene to pass me the medication for one of our rescue dog at the shelter when Scooter walked up to me.

What struck me most was how handsome he looked. He would be considered in my books a feline hunk.

Scooter came up to me, sat down right beneath my feet and peered into my eyes with his big expressive blue eyes, almost as if it was reaching out to me. I could imagine Scooter giving me his paw if I gave him a treat.

Intrigued by Scooter’s almost dog-like behaviour, I instinctively bent down to stroke him. That was when I caught a whiff of an unpleasant odour.



Note: Scooter looks like a mixed Burmese cat. After some research on the internet, I found out that Burmese cats are very affectionate and enjoy company, being a people oriented breed who form strong bonds with their owners. Wikipedia also describes Burmese as having dog-like characteristics, often learning to play fetch and tag.

I have always had a very keen sense of smell and upon investigation, I realised that Scooter had a very nasty ear infection and his chest looked wet and slimy. That was when Irene came along. She too was instantaneously attracted to Scooter, proving what a charmer he was. Scooter followed us around and did not want to leave our sight. We fed him some food and water.

Deep down inside, I had a feeling that Scooter was asking for help. However, neither of us had a pet carrier nor could we take Scooter immediately as I had to return to work. I told myself that I will look for Scooter again the next morning. Reluctantly we left Scooter.

Irene who left later than me reported that “a big tear drop” flowed down from Scooters left eye.

I immediately called Lynda to ask if we could let Scooter know that if he needs help, to go back to the same spot that I left him.

The next morning, armed with a pet carrier, we set off looking for Scooter. To our amazement, Scooter was waiting right at the same spot for us, hiding under the car for shade. As I have little experience in handling cats, I was still thinking to myself, how I should carry Scooter. That all proved to be a non-issue as Scooter walked into the pet carrier willing!

Scooter was brought to Mt Pleasant Bedok and attended to by Dr Teo who performed full blood tests for Scooter. He is estimated to be about 5 to 7 years of age. His ear and body were covered in fur mites, which explained his slimy chest as Scooter had scratched till there was open skin. Scooter is also found to be FIV positive. Scooter also has a very bad case of gingivitis and a few of his decayed teeth needs to be extracted. That perhaps explained the big tear drop. His infected ear cum decayed teeth must have caused him much discomfort.

In order to ensure Scooter’s safety during general anaesthesia, his dental surgery will only be done in one month’s time, after we have ensured that he does not have any illness lying dormant.

FIV stands for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus. As FIV is mainly passed from cat to cat through fights, Scooter can only be adopted into a family where he is the sole cat in the household. FIV cannot be transmitted to a dog or a human, only from cat to cat. Many cats that are infected with FIV live a fairly normally functioning life. However, as the immunity is severely weakened, this makes an FIV cat susceptible to secondary infections. Hence, Scooter can no longer be a stray and needs a loving and secure home to live in. Please click FIV for more information.
As part of the routine, we requested that the vet scan for microchip. Much to our surprise, Scooter does have a microchip implanted which is extremely rare in cats. Scooter must have once had an owner and perhaps even have been bought from a pet shop? He has also been sterilized. Could Scooter have been lost, or was he abandoned by his owner?

Lynda immediately contacted AVA and SPCA in the hope of tracing Scooter’s owner but unfortunately, the microchip was not registered.

After being boarded at an air conditioned cattery at Ericsson Pet Farm, Scooter is currently fostered by an extremely kind animal lover whose life’s passion is to bring comfort to disadvantaged cats and dogs. However, Scooter needs a forever home.

Just to share that when I was sending Scooter to his foster home, I heard a deep sound, like that of a soft snore. I initially thought Scooter was asleep and snoring but I felt a sort of a vibration when I stroked his head. Only when I did sound research on the internet, did I realise that Scooter was actually purring then. That goes to show my great ignorance about cats. But this also gave me an assurance that Scooter is happy to be taken off the streets and his life has a stray has ended. What a wonderful privilege it is for Scooter to have chosen me and Irene to help him.

Scooter has a very charming, calm and mellow personality A hunky sort of feline with a dog-like personality. His fur mites and ear infection has cleared up. Besides being FIV positive, Scooter’s blood test showed no signs of other ailments.

If you know of anyone who has recently lost a cat who resembles Scooter or you would like to open up your home to Scooter, please contact Irene (Hp: 8298 8129), Jeannie (Hp: 91090 475) or email Lynda at dogstalk@starhub.net.sg

Thank you.

Written by Jeannie Yang

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Happy Hito Girl Found Love

Hito watching the USDAA Trials, July 2011.

I'd heard of Hito (a.k.a Girl Girl) since the day she was found, presumably abandoned, in a bad state, and walking by the roadside with her companion (Boy Boy). On standby to foster the two dogs should the need be, this never came up due to a series of events (her being at the vet’s, my being out of the country then, etc, etc).
Fast forward to two months later – June this year, and her rescuer asked if I would like to see her (I had been contemplating a new, third dog for some months, but none had been found suitable).

On her first visit to ascertain if my current two dogs in the house would get along with her, I was still ambivalent and unsure as to whether she was the right one. She was bright, affectionate and playful, but I was unsure if her addition would make my shy, introverted dog (Chimmi) retreat even further into his shell (he was also an adopted dog, a dog mill rescue who had the forlorn and cold experience of dog mill kennel life etched into his face and psyche).

Hito and Chimmi, her new brother – another adopted Chihuahua from a dog mill rescue project.



I realised that one evening visit would not reveal anything, so we tried an extended weekend stay at my home to watch the interactions and behaviours unravel between the three little ones. Thankfully, they all accepted one another’s presence rather quickly and were quite content to be together.




Hito and Ellie, her other (younger) brother.

And that’s how a weekend stay turned into a week, and a week became … permanent.  It’s easy to understand why her stay with us became permanent: she is one of the happiest, waggiest dogs I’ve ever met. She likes dogs, she likes people, she loves food, hearts play and is as content to lie down beside you and quietly fall asleep. The bigger question that emerged was: why did someone abandon her and her boy companion? She is such an easy dog, so affectionate and such a bundle of joy all by herself.

It’s been over two months since Hito came into our lives, and the irrepressible spirit in her is something that can make anyone smile whenever they look at her. She’s a pretty fast-learner too: we took her to Sentosa beach one day and this little power turbo paddler proved her aquatic prowess; she has also just started basic obedience training and has displayed the ability to do anything for a treat!
Hito swimming debut at Sentosa, June 2011.

She’s still a tad weary of new environments and bigger dogs, but with constant socialisation and exposure – walks and weekends at dog parks (where she cheers her agility-training brother, Ellie), we’re hoping she’ll enjoy outdoor life as much as her indoor one soon.
Perhaps because she had always been such a positive little thing in her own mind, getting Hito used to being a loved member of the family was all-too-easy. This was unlike her brother, Chimmi, who, maybe because he had spent far longer years in the confines of a dog mill kennel, took us months and months to bring out of his shell. Like Hito, when he first came to us, Chimmi refused to walk outside, he was also scared: scared of new floor surfaces, scared of stairs, scared of people, scared of … just about everything. Seeing Chimmi in the dog park today, tail held high like he owns the place, is such an amazing learning journey for both human and dog. Looking at him though, I wondered how more confident a dog he could have been if only he had a family, rather than a puppy-breeding factory environment, early on in his life.
There are more than enough dogs still waiting for such a chance today. And to anyone who has a heart and a will to make your own happy story with a new four-legged friend, look to adopt. Make a dog happy today, so that there won’t be any more “Chimmis” waiting in the sad wings of dog mill life.

Photo Credit:Dogmilllrehomers

Photo Credit: by Nicole Zhuang at the USDAA Trials, July 2011
Top picture of Chimmi in a kennel - What a difference a year makes: Chimmi in June 2010 just before adoption.
Chimmi is blind in one eye, has about four teeth left only from bad nutrition incurred during his dog mill days, but is the happiest dog in the park these days!

Written by: Lisa Marie Tan
Photo Credits by: Nicole Zhuang

To read about Hito's story please click An Abandoned Couple

We would like to thank our kind sponsors for helping Hito's And Boy Boy's medical aid.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Crystal's Recovery



Hello… I’m Crystal the kitty cat.

Dr Ang says it’s almost time for me to be discharged. I’ve been staying at Mt Pleasant Redhill for the last 7 weeks.  From the tone of her voice, I know she can’t bear to let me go. She keeps telling Aunty Jeannie to make sure that I go to a good home.  They’ve looked after me day in and day out and I’m like family to them now. I will never forget them even if I find a home. Everyone here has been so sweet towards me. They’ve tenderly nursed my wound when I was injured and in great pain.

Oh I would also like to thank everyone who helped Zeus Comms. to sponsor for my hefty medical bill.  You are my HEROES. Thank you for helping me when I’m in need, rooting for me when I was hurting. I’m ever so grateful to you.




That's me when I was first reescued.
Click caption to read about Crystal's brave tale.
  
That was my wound after my first surgery when Dr Ang skilfully cleaned up my wound
and performed a skin graft on me to hasten the recovery process.

Everyone at the vet clinic has been so sweet towards me. They’ve tenderly nursed my wound when I was injured and in great pain. My paws would automatically open and close as Carrey the vet tech cleaned my wounds daily; it was excruciating but I know it’s for my own good so I’ll endure it with all my might and would never retaliate. 


Dr Ang specially ordered this little green shirt for me. It’s meant for my wound to heal faster and of course to prevent me from chewing on it when it gets too itchy.  Coincidentally, it helped to accentuate my green eyes. 
The clinic staff knows I am very manja and would cuddle me whenever they are not so busy. They’ll even take me out to sayang me and let me roam about the clinic for a cat stretch.  They also fed me well… they say that I’m a glutton and eat like a pig!  Hee hee… I do have a huge appetite. Can you see my bulging stomach?  My little green shirt seems to be a little tight now.

I need a home now that I’m almost completely healed. Would you like to take me home please? I promise to be a very good girl.

If you are interested to adopt Crystal, please SMS Jeannie (91090 475), Nancy (9488 6419) or Lynda (9199 6247)






Footnote:  Crystal was discharged from hospital on 6 September.


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"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."- Unknown