Thursday 18 November 2010

Suzy is unwell and Branwen leaves us to live in Kent.





I have sent in 4 dogs to be neutered this morning. Ben the Westie has been reserved by a lady I met by chance in our Porthmadog shop the other day.I was making a fuss of her lovely little Westie Molly and asked her if she wanted another.She turned up yesterday and the two dogs got on so well that it was a done deal. I must have had 50 people after him once he was advertised on the net and most sounded lovely homes.If only there was as much interest for crossbreeds! Still Ben needed a home also , still on the subject of Ben, both Mei and I received telephone calls from local people who said they knew the dog and wanted him, one said the owner had promised him to her? Both expressed concern that he was being neutered today and one openly admitted the owner had promised to let Ben father puppies with her dog. We were accused of being cruel to him! Where were these people when the situation became desperate? How pleased I am that he came to us and was not given to either of these women. He now has a good life ahead of him and most emphatically will not be fathering any litters of pups to be distributed round the area .
Nobody has claimed the Jack Russell, The family interested in Timmy the pound dog have changed their minds but he is so adorable he will find someone nice soon. Brian, a gentleman from Kent has just arrived for Branwen, (pictured above)the 6 years old Welsh sheepdog Veronica has been fostering. Her name will be Branwen Barge as she has joined the Barge family! It never ceases to amaze me that people will travel so far for one of our dogs and I am forever grateful that they do. Without them we would not be half as successful finding good homes. It seems that there are not so many sheepdogs in rescues in the South Of England so the distance seems to be no problem to most. Keep them coming! Veronica shed more than a few tears after they left, it is hard fostering animals, it is so easy to become attached and even when you know it is the right thing to do for the pet concerned, hearts can still be bruised. On a lighter note(I think) When Veronica took Branwen to the vet this morning to have her anal glands emptied prior to her going to her new home, an elderly lady brought in a cat to be 'microwaved'. I think she meant microchipped! Veronica and the Vet staff tried their best to hide their chuckles. I'm sure the poor lady would have been horrified had she realised what she said .

I have had a tearful call from a lady who has lost her smallholding and is concerned about the future of her two ponies, father and daughter Welsh Section A ponies. It is not immediately urgent for which I am very thankful as I have the returned ponies to sort out first. The problem is that few homes are found during the winter months, most happen in the spring and summer when the weather is better. The best I can do for the returned ones is to bring them back here for the winter and use one of the field shelters for stabling. I will not rehome Rocky again, I was loathe to part with him in the first place and this is the second time he has been returned albeit for an unforeseen change of circumstances at the home he went to. He has been extremely well cared for there along with two other Freshfields ponies but there is a limit to the times it is fair to move them on. Pictured some of the ponies in need of new homes. Left: Heather and her son Paddy,. right Rocky and above Caspar and Honey. By the way Rocky does not have an extra 2 slim legs or one extra thick leg nor is he is being attended by a headless member of staff! Rosie is hiding behind him bcause she was having a bad hair day!

My little old Yorkshire terrier Suzy has been unwell today and a visit to the Vet confirmed that she has a collapsed trachea so has been given tablets to aid this condition, her heart is not bad at all which is good. At 16 years of age she is a feisty little dog and loves her food so when she failed to coerce me into sharing my breakfast with her this morning it was certain that something was wrong with her. I use the same criteria to judge my own state of health! Hopefully the tablets for Suzy will do the trick. I couldn't face losing yet another dog at the moment, its always hard to do so but there has just been a little too much for me to deal with emotionally over the past few months.

I have arranged for 6 feral? cats to be trapped(courtesy of Billy Meade from Holyhead Cat Action Trust)The owner of the property where they are living has died and there is nobody to feed them. I have no room at all but once again Ann Cragg(wildlife lady) has offered emergency help by giving them a space there for a few weeks.I will just have to hope against hope that by then we will have some room. It would be best if they turn out to be domestic because there is little likelihood of any ferals from our enclosure finding farm homes so quickly and it is full there already. A litter of 7 babies(kittens not humans) is coming in from a farm on Sunday and as yet we have nowhere to put them.All our foster homes are full.With a bit of juggling around and some kittens going to homes over the weekend I am sure we will find space one way or another. Better that than them growing into adult feral cats and then we would have a far worse problem to contend with in the near future.

Must go now, have to collect the dogs from the Vet and it gets dark so early - I cannot drive in the dark so must set off now. I think it is also time to bore you all with more photos of Paddy so prepare for them in the next few days!

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