Buying a Puppy

There was a news item on the BBC this morning saying that the RSPCA are trying to crack down on the importation of puppies from Ireland. Apparently they are being sold in this country with all sorts of health problems. The advice from the RSPCA is to go to a reputable dealer, see the puppy with it's mother and don't buy from adverts in the paper or from the Internet.

Well we did all that when we bought Bella and Murphy but they still had problems. Bella is frightened of her own shadow and seems to be prone to skin infections while poor old Murphy has developed a really bad problem with his hips. We did everything right and still the pups have problems so god help anyone who bought one of the 'dodgy' pups.

Murphy's problems are so severe that even if he was a candidate for surgery there is no guarantee that the operations would work. We have decided that we won't subject him to the surgery and are trying instead to alleviate his suffering under the supervision of our vet, by reducing his weight and giving him strong anti inflammatory drugs. The next couple of weeks are critical and we are hoping that we can give him the best life we can for as long as we can.

(ps after this picture was taken Murphy tried to climb through the cat flat and broke it - it was the third one he has demolished in as many weeks!)