One Small Month; One Giant Growth Spurt...

Cookie has undergone an amazing physical change in the month that she's been with us...

From the little bundle of fur that we first laid eyes on a few weeks back, she's stretched and grown in all directions... and now beginning to suggest what she'll look like when she reaches adulthood.

But judging from the size of her paws, she still has a fair bit of growing left in her! Fortunately although her growth is phenomenal, Cookie herself is gradually calming down (although she still has her occasional moments of madness), so the cats are beginning to find her a little more approachable - which is good news for everyone...

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PEACE NEGOTIATIONS...

 It's been about a month now, since Cookie joined the Clan...

A lot has happened in that time. We've had sadness, with the loss of Joey, and we've had some worries with Cookie's earlier illnesses. But life goes on, and although we all miss Joey tremendously, Cookie goes from strength to strength.

The only thing that is still lacking is the all-important vote of acceptance by the cats... Led by 17-year-old matriarch, Jelly, the four felines are taking their time with Cookie. They are still very wary of this little bundle of energy charging up and down their once peaceful territory.

The only one that is making an attempt to at least interact with Cookie is Pumpkin...

After several scuffles and a few well-aimed slaps to the face, its slowly beginning to dawn on Cookie that the first thing she's got to do to make even the slightest progress with the cats is to SLOW DOWN... She gets so excited when she see's any of them that she charges full speed towards them - and no self-respecting cat appreciates a canine missile heading in their general direction.

Out of the four of them, Pumpkin seems to have the most confidence - and patience, to handle the puppy's rough-housing and gives as good as she gets... We have the greatest hope that peace negotiations will begin with her, and the others will follow her lead...

Cookie tries to get close to Pumpkin...

Some however, we are less hopeful about. Lovable teddy-bear of a cat, Monkey, looks at us eternally with big sad eyes, as if asking, "Why? Why did you bring this thing into our home?" He's going to take quite a bit of convincing...

Monkey asks, "Why?"

Cookie still revels in stealing the cats' food and their toys, even though she has plenty of both for herself. And sometimes she has to be rescued when feline patience runs dry and the claws come out. But as the days go by, she is gradually calming down and finding her place.

Mum saves Cookie from the evil cats...

We'll have a small celebration on the day that Cookie and Jelly finally sit down peacefully together...  

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VET VISIT: THE SEQUEL

After her first week at home, Cookie went back to West Coast Vetcare for her follow-up...

Cookie: on the move!

And when we said she has a huge appetite, we were not kidding. She's put on 1.4kg in just one week!

Although she's been given an overall clean bill of health, Dr. Melvin Tan did notice that her red blood cell count was dropping... Now this could be an indication of the presence of Babesia in Cookie's bloodstream.

Babesias are microscopic blood parasites that cause disease in many animals, and they are spread from dog to dog by ticks. Although Cookie has been cleared of ticks, her first few weeks of life were spent out in the wilderness, where she would have been far more susceptible to tick bites and infections. Its pretty common for all strays to suffer the same fate, and one species of Babesia (B. gibsoni) is particularly common in Asia.

Babesia gibsoni infecting a canine red blood cell

If left untreated, it can cause the sudden destruction of blood, known as acute haemolytic anaemia in dogs. So its off to the vets again in a couple of days to get this test done. Unfortunately Cookie is not a fan of having her blood taken, but it'll be for her own good in the long run!

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FIRST VISIT TO THE VET'S!

Like all stray dogs, forced to eke out a living on the streets, from the moment she was born, Cookie was up against the odds to survive...

Already separated from her mother and siblings at the tender age of 2 months, she battled these odds in the company of her friend Amber (who was also subsequently adopted). But a life on the streets comes with its dangers and risks, especially for a puppy so recently weaned from its mother.

And so it was for Cookie - just a day after being adopted, she had to pay her first official visit to the vet's. A really bad hacking cough, difficulty in breathing and a serious case of diarrhoea - all tell-tale symptoms of Kennel Cough and Parvovirus - both extremely life-threading to a puppy.

But after a thorough once-over from Dr. Melvin Tan of West Coast Vetcare, and blood tests and x-rays, Cookie was prescribed antibiotics to help her on the road to recovery. She'll have to go back for a check-up in a week.

Apart from the discomfort of the tests however, Cookie remained cool and calm - making friends with staff and trying in vane to initiative play with another huge dog about 20 times her size. At just 2.4kg, the young lady's still got a ways to go before rubbing shoulders with the big guys!

After her first big adventure, Cookie heads back home - where the continued task of becoming part of the pack continues...

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FIRST DAYS OF FREEDOM...

Introducing Cookie - on the day she and her companion were taken from the streets of Singapore and impounded...

With an inevitable death sentence hanging over their heads, both puppies were rescued by Singapore-based dog rescue charity, Exclusively Mongrels Ltd. - giving them second chance at life and the possibilities of being adopted to a family of their own.

Cookie was just two months old when she was rescued - but she's already doing a fine impression of a bear cub! Quiet, curious and unusually laid-back, her rescuers were confident that she would find a home. In fact it took less than a week to find a potential adopter, and less than a minute for those adopters to fall in love with her...

And so begins the Chronicles of Cookie. There's a lot for this puppy to learn; her new home is also occupied by four world-weary cats and middle-aged Chihuahua-cross - so she'll have to find her place in the pack and learn the curious ways of her new human parents...

For the moment though, the world is big and waiting to be discovered!