16. Cavalier King Charles with a productive cough

"She has a productive cough," the lady owner would have some medical knowledge to use this medical/veteranary term. "The liquid coughed out by this runt is yellow, not as bright yellow as the colour on your magazine. A bit darker."

The puppy coughed a few times on the examination table. Nothing was coughed out. I thought this could be kennel cough, listening to the familiar sounds of a hacking sound with nothing coming out. The puppy had 3 vaccinations. No kennel cough vaccination is ever given to pet shop puppies in most cases in Singapore and this puppy had none too.

"Would the colour be that of your daughter's hair?" I asked. The daughter had dark brown/blond hair more towards a colour of yellow mixed with grey.

"No," the mother laughed. It was difficult for her to describe the colour since the puppy no longer had a productive cough. She has a fever of 39.3 deg C. I auscultated her lungs. Musical sounds were heard from the left chest. The right chest was clear of such sounds.

"Your puppy has pneumonia," I said. "Has she been in contact with other dogs? She looks all right today but she may get worse as she is thin and is of small size for her age." The mother had told me that she had purchased the runt of the litter. Definitely she had some veterinary knowledge.

"No," the owner said. "She goes for evening walks for half an hour."

Where's the source of bacteria? Her son coughed too. "Could it be mycoplasma infection?" the lady asked.

"Hard to pin point the source of bacterial or viral infection," I said. On further discussion, the maids in the estate meet together in the evening with their dogs. So, there was a source of infection for this young puppy. The puppy stays in the shower stall on the 3rd floor and would run up and down every day.

Now, she has to be confined and rest.

"How is her toilet training?" I asked.

"The puppy poops in the newspaper for the first 2 weeks, inside the shower stall where she sleeps," the mother said. "Now she goes to the grass in the garden. A lot of poo. Usually 2 times after breakfast at 7 am and dinner at 8 pm, within 20 minutes. But she poops 2 more times in between. She also wees a lot of times."

"Whenever the puppy circles, my children would shout 'Mummy, going to poo,' instead of carrying the puppy out to the grass," Mum laughed.

"The younger generation in Singapore seems incapable of doing domestic work too," I said. "My 18-year-old part-timer has no idea how to use the mop properly to clean the floor. My room smells of urine and dog faeces after she has mopped the floor yesterday. In her apartment, her grandmother and mother do the house cleaning."

The lady's father is a distinguished veterinarian in Australia. It was great talking to her. For now, she has to confine the sick runt to a small area for at least 2-4 weeks. No evening walks. Ensure that the puppy eats puppy premium food and cut down on treats. So she can put on weight.

There is the problem of an abandoned strong muscular Bengali cat coming to the house for food and rest. Would he attack this Cavalier King Charles in the garden? I advised that she get him neutered and adopted as the poor cat must be involved in cat fights. He seems to be the top cat in the neighbourhood but for how long?

"It is best not to buy a runt next time," I said to her. "Sometimes they are not healthy enough and may die before they reach one year of age due to genetic kidney or liver defects. Your poor daughter will be heart broken." As it was, her daughter was quite stressed and sad that the puppy was sick.