EXCLUSIVELY MONGRELS LTD: APRIL ADOPTION DRIVE

Exclusively Mongrels Limited, who rescued Cookie, are holding their next adoption drive very soon!

For those of you in Singapore, go down and support them, meet the doggies, and even consider bringing one of these special "Specials" into your lives!

To find out more about Exclusively Mongrels Ltd, visit their Facebook Page.

- And visit Cookie whilst you're at it!

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!

Follow Cookie and more of her adventures on https://www.facebook.com/cookiebeardog

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...

Follow Cookie on her Facebook page!

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!