1407. Internship plan for RI students - July 29 - Aug 9 and Aug 19 to Aug 30, 2013 (2 weeks)

1406. Animal activism. A pregnant stray dog has a black tongue

May 7, 2013.
I reached Changi Airport from Amsterdam at 5.30 am Singapore time and arrived at the Surgery at 9.10 am to check on the administrative processes and cases done while I was on leave for 12 days. It is part of the responsibility and good management. If the leader (vet) is lazy and come late to work, don't expect the staff to be hardworking -that applies to all businesses. As expected, my assistant turned up at 9.14 am thinking I was still overseas. I had spoken to him about work attitude but some young people lack self discipline.

It should be 3.15 am now in Amsterdam and I ought to be sleeping. The first phone call I answered was from a young lady asking whether the vet does house-call and how much. I said we do house-call and the fees start from $250 but not every dog can be treated on the premises.

"A pregnant black cross female dog at the Ang Mo Kio factory is walking here and there," she said. "Can a vet do the check up? The side of her tongue is black."

I wanted to give her the dog transport man's phone number. She was hesitant as this might upset the dam. "You can accompany her," I said. "Some dogs do have black tongues from birth. Some black pigments on the tongue," I said.   

"Is the dog eating and drinking normally?" I asked.
"Yes,"
"Is she peeing and pooping normally?" I would say that the black tongue was natural since the dog did not show any signs of salivation, bleeding ulcerations and was eating.

"Yes."
"Is she active?"
"Yes," the young lady said.
"How long has the dog been pregnant?"
"2 months ago," she replied.
"Did you see the mating?"
"No, I know it is 2 months. Everybody loves her. She is a friendly dog."
"She may be giving birth soon" I did not explain that the pregnancy is 60 days as nowadays, the young lady Singaporeans are well informed by researching the internet on canine gestation.  I just read the Sunday Times dated yesterday on the Singapore Airlines flight back that there are 30 animal welfare groups as compared to many years ago. Some female Singaporeans go on animal care tourism e.g. panda parks.

"Find a big box, towels and newspapers. Put the box in a quiet place e.g. the landing between floors to provide privacy for giving birth."
It was not practical advice as this was an industrial park and no privacy in between floors would be available to give birth. The lady said so accordingly.
"How about near the Security Guard house?" I asked
"No, the guard will not permit it esp. during daytime."
Where to place her for birth?
The young lady came to the conclusion that the dog was wandering around to seek a private space.

So this young lady is an animal welfare activist. Her action reminded me when I was in the Bukit Merah Primary School. I used to bring bread and food to a nursing female dog on the first floor of the landing of the Redhll flat. That was 50 years ago. Now, there will be a few hundred young female Singaporeans taking care of the disadvantaged dogs. Men are fewer.

As for this pregnant dog, I told the young lady that a house-call was not needed. She thanked me.


 

1405. Second opinion from another travel agent?

Park Plaza Amsterdam Airport
May 6, 2013  7.18 am
Leaving for Singapore soon.

Seeking a second opinion? Not only do doctors and vets suffer from it. In this 12-day European tour, there was a "free and easy" day in Paris. Our tour itinerary mentioned about optional tours on a River Seine boat cruise and Moulin Rouge show and dinner. But our tour leader did not ask us although he said he did.

One woman asked the tour leader of another group of Singaporeans flying Emirates and staying in the same Parisian Mercure Hotel. She wanted to join the cruise and asked the other tour leader. That equivalent to a 2nd opinion!

 More info in a later post.

   

1404. How to get almost 100% acceptance of Seine River Cruise or a vet health check?

Much can be learnt if you ask how a person successfully does somerthing. Even on a group tour.

1403. Earliest date for 3rd vaccination email query

On Fri, May 3, 2013 at 8:20 AM, i@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Judy,

Kindly advise on the following for my puppy. Thanks!

1. First vaccination on 23rd March, second on 23rd April, when is the earliest date she can go for her 3rd vaccination? Btw, born on 26th Feb

2. What's your operating hours on weekdays evening? Do you do vaccination at home for dogs?

Cheers,

J

---------------------------

 I am Dr Sing Kong Yuen from Toa Payoh Vets. Thank you for your email.
The earliest 3rd vaccination is 3 weeks from the 2nd vaccination, around 16th April 2013.
Opening hours are at www.toapayohvets.com website
House calls are available at $200-$250 excluding vaccination costs. It is best to have the dog examined and vaccinated at the Surgery in case tests are needed.

1402. Is a "4th vaccination" necessary for a puppy imported from Australia?

On Fri, May 3, 2013 at 7:53 PM, n@gmail.com wrote:

hi there,

i have recently bought a puppy (pembroke welsh corgi) from a pet shop (...), and was told to go for a 3rd vaccination by 30th apr. however, i only manage to get him vaccinated today which is 2nd may, due to a bad diarrhea (which lasted more than 2 days) when i just gotten him on the 21th apr but was later recovered after i brought him to see a vet near my house.  but today i went to another vet recommended by the pet shop, and the vet advised me to go for another vaccine a month later as the puppy is a pembroke corgi imported from australia. may i know if this is really advisable and necessary? and the vaccine given was this, both 1ml each (Pfizer brand) believed to be 7in1 as told by the vet;

1) Canine Coronavirus Vaccine
     Killed Virus
    FirstDose® CV
2) Canine Distemper-adenovirus Type 2-parainfluenza-parvovirus Vaccine
     Modified Live Virus
     Leptospira Canicola-icterohaemorrhagiae Bacterin
     VANGUARD® Plus 5/L

so may i know was this vaccine given really a 7in1 and is it a good one? and does the puppy really required a 2nd vaccine of this prior to the annual vaccination? and if a 2nd vaccine is really necessary, i was thinking to go down to your clinic instead for the 9in1, which seems to be the best available.

pls kindly advise me ASAP! thank you for your time.

regards
nat



------------------------------------------------

 I am Dr Sing Kong Yuen from Toa Payoh Vets. Thank you for your email.

In reply:

1. Your "3rd vaccination" was done on May 2, 2013. Your vet recommended another vaccination a month later as the puppy was imported from Australia. You asked whether this "4th vaccination" was advisable. It depends on when this  puppy had its first vaccination and what type of vaccine was given in Australia before exporting to Singapore. If the puppy had been given the vaccination before 6-8 weeks of age as the first vaccination, a 4th vaccine is advisable as the puppy might not have been effectively vaccinated due to the presence of maternal antibodies. This may be getting technical for you.

In brief, a minimum of two vaccinations at 6th-8th week and 10th-12th week of age has been mandated by the AVA before the import of puppies from Australia and before the sale of the puppy. This should include  distemper and parvovirus vaccination given around 3-4 weeks apart.

A 3rd vaccination is recommended by Singapore vets.This makes it a total of 3 vaccinations from the age of 6-8th week, 10-12th week and 14th-16th week for optimal effect. Canine parvovirus and distemper are viral diseases that are still present in Singapore's puppies and the vaccination is effective to prevent these two deadly diseases.

2. Your vet did give the 7-in-1 vaccine. It is a good vaccine as it protects against the important parvoviral and distemper disease components.

3. Your last question is really whether your puppy requires a "4th vaccination" as I presumed it had 2 vaccinations in Australia before exporting to Singapore. As you did not state the dates of vaccination and age of the puppy when vaccinated, it is very difficult to advise. However, the answer is given in Point No. 1.

I hope the above answers your queries as puppy vaccination is a complex issue for most owners and dog breeders. As to the number of vaccinations required, it is best to communicate directly during consultation and examination of your vaccination certificate as each puppy is vaccinated at different ages and with different vaccines used in Australia and Singapore. Best wishes

1401. Geneva and Paris city tour for Singapore group

May 3, 2013
Hotel Mercure Paris Porte De Pantin Hotel

The Geneva and Paris city tour guides I met were extremely dedicated and knowledgeable about the history and culture of the city and they connect with the group by comparing the situation in Singapore.The Paris guide said Egypt donated the monument to Paris and wondered when Singapore would do so.


The Singapore tour leaders are also under pressure to get the group punctual as some go missing or is unpunctual. My coach driver's grandma is very ill and he had to leave for Holland yesterday 8 pm, being replaced by another.


Bright sunshine seemed to be rare in the last 6 months and we were lucky May 2 was sunny. 3 images of 3 hardworking tour leaders. They need to perform to high expectations of some Singaporean group members while others grumble. There seems to be no system for some tour leaders as some don't inform us early which hotel we will be staying or the optional city tours to Louvre etc on a free day in Paris.

Some pictures of sunshine in Paris and the 3 tour leaders I met. Had dinner in the 6th floor of Galaries Lafeyette. Long queues waiting to pay for the purchase of LV.  

 

1400. Labour Day at Geneva and France

May 2, 2013 12.39 pm Singapore time, 6.19 am France

Yesterday, Geneva Lake at Montreaux. A very good castle guide Eric, ex-journalist, living in Italy's Elba island. He connected with the group well with his humour. E.g. big wooden chest of old kings are the precursor of Louis Vuitton's chest.

Bright sunshine in the afternoon. Farmland images taken from moving coach. Took hundreds of image of the countryside. One good image looking like a painting is:




Poor dinner at a hotel in France. Cucumber and tomatoes as first course. Ham and veg. A piece of apple pie.The agency must be trying to cut costs but certainly this is not the way to do it. Isolated place.

Overnight at Novotel Hotel in Dijon. 2 storeys + basement.  No lift and so it is a great danger for seniors. One daughter prohibited her 80-year-olud father to go downstairs to basement room on his own, after the fall accident at Montreaux escalator. Another widow of 65 years of age, with left knee lamenss nearly fell on her face at Rhine Falls bur Julia spotted her and held her up.  

1399. PROFESSIONS: A passionate tour guide is self-motivated. 2013 Swiss Tour.

 

 

 

 

April 29, 2013 Suisse Majestic Grand Hotel. 6.01 am. Switzerland

I returned the phone call to Clara the groomer. She asked about her cousin's old Schnauzer which had peed blood and is warded at Toa Payoh Vets. It was 11.30 am in Singapore. "Most likely urinary stones if there is blood at this age," I said. "Phone Dr Daniel for more info as he is in charge." I had sms her but she did not respond and so I phoned.


Before arriving at Suisse Majestic, we went to Zermatt to view the famous Matterhorn mountain. Old folks do remember Matterhorn cigarettes and so it was significant for me. The mountain was covered by clouds and so I could saw an outline. "It is not even the highest mountain," Charles the coach driver told me. "But it has the supporting chalets and tourism facilities," I said. Support counts in the mass tourism business..

Glacier 3000 - end of ski season now. Lots of snow and strong winds. Now, no more skiing in summer in all mountains, Charles told me. To preserve the glacier as global warming melts glaciers.
 
Saw the Glacier Express which costs 300 Euros for 300 km with meals. Deep yellow fields are
rape plants, Charles told me after he took the trouble to find out. The seeds are for crushed for vegetable oil and for automobiles.

Charles is a Dutch national but has vast knowledge of Switzerland. He would like to live in Switzerland but all workers are given yearly employment passes.  He told me more about the Bern's brown bears as follows:

Brown bears from Finland. Crotia. They shoot them in Finland. Too many. Not many zoos interested. Too small unlike grizzly. Live up to 30 yrs. Eats vegetation. Old bear died old age. "10 Euros" donation enables one to have his name inscribed on the stone for the pavement or some places in the enclosure. So the fund was raised to build the new bear enclosure."

I was incredulous. In Singapore, the Zoo asked for rich donors. Not $10.00 but thousands. "There are numerous small stones, don't worry," Charles said to me.

So that was how the new bear enclosure was built. The old one is still around but solid concrete and a terrible pit which all animal lovers will never sanction. Bern is named after a brown bear shot. "Why not get a brown bear from Bern?" I asked. "Not many around. Finland has too many." Charles said. Charles is an unpaid tour guide. He is a coach driver too and drives very carefully. He told me he prefers driving up the mountain road.

"Too narrow," I said. "Too risky for cars. You may smash into one."

Once he stopped at the side and waved a long row of cars to pass him by switching on his right side lights.
"I can see far ahead from my coach," Charles meant that he could see any downhill cars from the winding road. The motorists in the cars trusted him and sped by. "You saw the sports car double blinking his back lights? He is thanking me." There is no loud horning as in other countries when the coach rounds the winding road corner. It is much more civilised in Switzerland.   

It is rare to know of a passionate Singapore tour guide who can explain the surrounding European countryside, culture and villages.

My guide can relate anecdotes of robberies (Chinese tour guide in hospital for 2 months after mugging in Paris), the fainting 19-year olds, numbering 20 in the group, who rushed around in Jungfrau's thin mountain air and having to spend one hour looking for a missing one. She was found fainted in the toilet.

After he related this incident and warned us to sleep early, one young lady (the one-year married couple) who is thin and does like to eat meat, fainted and vomited in the toilet. They managed to catch the same train but was in another coach. The high attitude sickness affected some more than others. For me, I had difficulty breathing after a short walk. For another man (married 5 years), he had headache and took Pannadol.
 

I spotted this Korean tour guide has a microphone as this is important to brief all 32 travellers in her group. I can see her pro-activeness. As for me, I will make a poor tour guide as there is much effort to entertain and educate the group.

Her photo is updated by Adobe Lightroom in 6 Feb 2024.

.

1398. Fell from escalator in Montreux, Switzerland

May 1, 2013  .
Suisse Majestic Grand Hotel, Montreux, Switzerland
5.38 am Switzerland, 11.38 am Singapore

Of the 28 Singaporeans on this packaged tour, the travellers over 40 years old predominate. There were one couple (married, one year), another one (married two years), 3rd couple (married 5 years).

Yesterday, we had to lug over heavy luggage up two flights of a narrow escalator to walk to the entrance of Suisse Majestic, an expensive hotel according to our guide. A woman in her late 40s fell backwards down the escalator and hurt her right hand and back. At the lobby, her friend palpated her head (no pain). "Wait and see if there is vomiting," another lady suggested, bringing forth a packet that I thought was the Chinese herbal patch. I asked the hotel receptionist. She said: "No hotel doctor. Take a taxi to the Emergency department of the nearby hospital." Travel can be dangerous when hotels are not easily accessible.

This morning at 4.30 am, I could not log in my iPhone 4 and consulted the receptionist. He finally figured out to log via Safari. I asked if it was OK to go out. "Very safe in Montreux," he said. I exited the revolving door. The air was slightly chilly. The street was deserted. The train station which has rumbling noisy trains now and then was across the road. "Should I risk being mugged?" I asked myself. I wanted to return. The revolving door did not open. I rang the  bell. No response. I looked for a place to flash my security card hoping to gain access but there was no such panel as in a condo with gated security. "What should I do?" The air was fresh. The sky was getting lighter. My solution came from the British as 4 well-dressed people in coats and good quality nice dresses were moving towards me after being lifted up by the same escalator that caused my travelling lady to fall backwards.

The group increased to more young couples and a senior citizen with a younger lady headed towards the hotel. The ladies were in their late 20s. One did not wear shoes, the other wore black stocking, carrying the shoes. British accent. "You are not going to knock on the glass door, Annabel," the brunette said to the fair lady with blond hair, bare feet and red dress. I studied in Britain 4 decades ago and understood a bit about the Caucasian culture after a few drinks and being happy and vocal. It was 4.30 am now.  Annabel rang the bell. No response. Anthony asked: "Did you ring the door bell? What time will you be leaving? 10.30 am? You may as well go to the train station to wait for the train!"

The trains were running. Another lady banged on the curved glass door.  "Knock, knock, anyone inside?" There was the kind gentleman in his 40s who had got the internet access for my iPhone. He came and opened the door.

So, this is Montreux for me. Is it really safe to walk at 4.30 am alone? The hotel door self-locks too at this time. So I guess I have been lucky as  I did not go out alone. Who knows? The drug addict may be around looking for victims.