A visitor from India.

Another 4 kittens rehomed and 10 years old Tiddlewinks (not my choice of name, honestly) so not a bad day at all.
Today we also had a lovely visitor from India .Renu Rai runs an animal welfare shelter and clinic in Mumbai,India which is called Freshfields and to which this charity is affiliated.One of our volunters Nia has been over there to see the work done for the street dogs of Mumbai and came back very impressed and full of praise for Renu and her team of helpers.I hope to go there myself in the not too distant future.I would love to see India though at the same time would dread seeing the poverty and the starving animals. At least many of these have a daily meal thanks to this very determined lady.400 street dogs are fed every night with a meal of rice and scraps and many are sterilised at the clinic.I think we have it easy in the Uk compared to welfare workers in other countries.Renu is fighting a real battle over there, there is much anti dog feeling and she has few helpers to assist her, someone even broke into her shelter and poisoned the dogs there! I cant begin to imagine how she must have felt and how she feels on a daily basis with so little support from the local council and the public.Pictured with me is Renu and her daughter and grandchild with Dilys our Sunday volunteer whose daughter Nia spent time at the Mumbai shelter.Notice William getting in on the act and Holly one of our resident cats is just behind him, she loves visitors and always follows them about.
Its when I meet people like Renu that I wish I had loads of money,it would be lovely to be able to help her with sterilisation of the local strays. When only so much can be done with such limited funds (she pays for most of it herself)it means there will be so many more mouths to feed in the future. It is incredibly frustrating that there are so many wealthy people in most impoverished countries and so few do anything charitable to help.
Anyway we all had a good chat and compared notes on the different problems in our respective countries and how animal welfare is always so low on the list of any councils/governments.There is always a common bond between those who do rescue work,no matter what we look like we are familiar to one another simply by the strength of our feelings and by shared experiences.It is also good to meet others who share a similar lifestyle which has to be said is quite out of the ordinary.
A little jack russell was brought here and he is being fostered by Vanessa, so far nobody has rung up for him, will this be yet another unclaimed stra? The ridiculous thing is that many of these dogs are found wearing new collars so are not really strays, it seems that they must belong to people who dont care if their dogs return or not from their daily constitutional and do nothing to find them. This terrier even has a name barrel with paper inside but nothing written on it- what is the point of buying one and not filling it in?
So another weekend comes to a close,Mei is doing the last dog walk of the day,I can hear her calling for Bonnie who once again has disappeared but will be found munching at some ill gotten gains.If there is even a sniff of food about, Bonnie will track it down and devour it.Last week she went next door and returned with a box of yoghourts the milkman had left on their step!!!

More kittens and Collies

Neither dog was claimed, Sam the younger one pictured in the last blog has a home already, he has been reserved by a lady in Derbyshire who is collecting him next weekend.I have had a lot of interest in him so maybe the other people will take other dogs.A farmer brought 2 collies here yesterday, 5 years old siblings Jess and George who show no interest working, I asked him for a donation but he had nothing with him but promised to send something - I wont hold my breath.As he was leaving he said his friend had a dog he no longer had any use for, would I take that one too.I really had to fight to stay calm and civil.The outer me was polite and said his friend should ring me, the inner me was shrieking words of abuse which I am unable to type here in case my blog is taken off the site for containing offensive material!!!!
Anyhow I already have a possible home for these two, all being well they will be going to live together, with other rescued dogs on a smallholding in Yorkshire.They have no idea how their lives are about to change for the better.I had them out for a walk this morning and they cowered every time I stopped to speak to them.Oh well, in a few days they will be different dogs, they will hear no harsh words here and they have a bright future ahead of them.
A beautiful litter of kittens has been brought in from a caravan site, they are such characters and full of joy and mischief.It was hard to get a photo of them as they are so lively and outgoing, every time I opened the pen door to take a photo they all came tumbling out.I dont think they will be here long.
Just one adult cat has been homed this week, Scully a 10 years old male was chosen to join a family consisting of one human and 3 rescued lurchers(all cat friendly) and I have had a call today requesting an older cat of which we have a few so it looks as though the adult cats are starting to move as well as the kittens.One lady took 3 of our adorable kittens this week.I cant explain what a relief it is when our animals start to go to homes, when weeks go by and nobody comes to view them it becomes a bit scary and very worrying.There are so many urgent calls to take in animals and if the cats already here are not moving then we have no room to take more.A tiny bedraggled kitten has been found and taken in to our Porthmadog shop so Mion once again has come to the rescue to foster him.What would we do without her?She is truly brilliant, she cares for so many orphaned kittens and has so much patience with them though I know that the downside for her is that she finds it hard parting with them when the time comes for them to leave.
Its time for me to do the afternoon feeds for the cats now, the multitude is already gathering around the yard waiting impatiently for me to appear at the office door. Anyone would think this is a cat sanctuary!! I am on a go slow today as I tripped and fell very badly yesterday and have a bruise the size of a rugby ball on the side of my head . It is like having the worst type of hangover without having had anything to drink.Not that the cats care, its dinner time no matter what else happens and they must be obeyed. Cats Rule.

2 stray dogs admitted.

Belated photo of the converted stables at the Open Day.Within a half hour of opening, this area was completely packed.We used these stables for the refreshments, a cafe and book shop!The book shop did incredibly well, there were customers in there all the time.As an avid reader myself it was a great temptation to hide myself away in there and I must admit the following day I did lock myself in there for a browse.
The dog collected yesterday is a young cross labrador/collie.I have reported him to the police and the dog warden but as yet nobody has come forward to claim him. He is a lovely friendly happy dog (pictured here in a rare moment of inactivity though that was more down to Rosie holding him firmly than by choice)! we have named him Sam (due to lack of imagination) and he is enjoying life in the house with Molly and pals. He is a bit of a handful with a tendency to prefer to be on the kitchen units rather than on the floor.This creates somewhat of a problem to me as my daily attempts to housekeep and emulate a Stepford wife invariably ends up with me piling the ironing in a large pile on one of the units with the intention of moving it a little nearer to the ironing board in the not too distant future.Now it is all back on the floor so has to be washed all over again. A lesson learned possibly?And before anybody says "thats funny I didnt know she was married I am not, I just thought Stepford PERSON sounded sounded wrong"
Another collie was brought in during the evening, this time an older female, neither dog had any identification on them so it will be a Waiting Game. Will the owners turn up or will they not?Its anybodys guess.
The other Sam we are assessing appears to have taken a particular shine to Mei, I come second in his popularity poll and the rest of the staff are not even down on his list!.I feel he does probably have a possessive streak and is a one man dog so he is going to be a very difficult dog to place in a home.
2 more kittens have been taken into one of our charity shops so will be fostered by Mion until we have a space here.

A stray collie and more kittens find homes.

Over the weekend 5 more kittens were homed.This is wonderful, we were able to give shelter to another litter of five today.Someone also turned up with a young white and tabby cat claiming it was a stray, somehow I felt he was their cat.I dont know why people lie, it doesnt make any difference to me whether the cat is a stray or their own pet, either way it is unwanted and potentially homeless.Is it guilt maybe?
Its a cold wet day today and I have been reading the blog written by Janice who runs the pig sanctuary in Maple Ridge Vancouver, they have been struggling with a heat wave!!! At this moment in time I cannot even imagine what that must be like though with animals there are of course some disadvantages.Even on our infrequent sunny days we have to put sunscreen on the pink noses of some of the horses and our pink pig especially can suffer from sunburn very easily.The water has to be used constantly to top up the mudbath for the pigs when the heat becomes too much for them and this keeps them cool and happy.
I forgot to mention in a previous post that I DID take Mei to hospital, she has a torn ligament and has to wear a splint on her wrist for two weeks.Unfortunately as she is right handed and the injury is on that side she is unable to do much manual work for the time being.
Blue the old pony with the dental problem is looking really good now, he has gained weight and is eating well again.Finn, One of the youngsters out at summer grazing is becoming a little wild due to lack of human contact.Although the staff visit to check twice weekly(the staff at the hotel keep an eye on them also)unlike the other three who were virtually hand reared, he has not had the same human contact so needs more handling.We will be taking the four back at the shelter in the next 6 weeks so there will be more opportunity to handle him on a daily basis.They are all due now to be gelded but we will have that done when they return to the shelter, whilst there is a possibility of flies buzzing around it is not a good time to have the operation.
Pictured here are the three at Caernarfon(the ones reported to RSPCA!!!!)Callie the dark bay is now 36 years old and is the bossy boots of the three, she is very protective over Freddie and will chase Ken away.Ken(the grey in the front) has somebody interested in him as a companion to another horse and I think he will be happier in that situation.Callie and Freddy have been close to one another for several years and theirs is a frienship excluding all others.Whilst we were p[icking the ragwort in their field, I kept my camera to hand as p[arts of the field are a haven for butterflies including the little blue butterfly pictured here which was the only one I managed to photograph before it flew away. I thiunk it is a common blue but none of my books show the colour of the underwings so Im not too sure.
I have taken in a little terrier cross whose owner wanted put to sleep.I feel responsible because I put the owner in touch with the person who owned Sam and had thought it was working well until the phone call to say that he was terrorising the adult daughter(a possessive trait perhaps?)Anyhow the Liverpool shelter kindly arranged for him to be collected from his wirral home and delivered him here to Wales where I will assess his behaviour.
I have just had a call from a woman in Porthmadog to say she had found a young collie running about, having agreed to take the dog her husband told me in no uncertain terms that they were far too busy to bring him to me and would not even take him to the police station or our charity shop which is just a short walk from where they were. What exactly do people expect? Obviously for me to drop everything and race to their aid.Anyway Trish from our shop is going to walk up and try to find them.I hope she finds the dog, if not them.
Two more kittens have gone today, we really are doing well now and it is so heartening. Sharon the receptionist at our vet rang to say a ginger cat had been taken in as a stray but had tested positive for FIV.I have no more room for such a cat as I still have the 3 FIV adults and two kittens in one pen.Luckily Liverpool has agreed to take him so will need now to organise a temporary pen for him here and then to arrange transport to Freshfields in Liverpool.
Just had a call, Trish has the stray collie so am off to collect him.

Dids and Buster will be coming back.

Six cats went in to be neutered yesterday and another 2 are going on Friday. We have had help from the Cats Protection League to help with neutering but the grant they give us at the beginning of the year has been used up already.This means from now till next January we pay almost full price for every cat spay/neuter.That means every female costs £34.21p and a male cat £27.37p. Most of the cats admitted here are strays so most will need neutering and without any financial help it means I will have to restrict the numbers we take in.Of course I always ask people for a donation but cant expect those who have found a cat and kindly brought it to the shelter to fork out for expenses to be incurred.The donations we get for the cats when adopted seldom cover the operation,microchip and worming/defleaing preparations but I fear that by putting up the price, it will deter people from adopting.
On top of this a litter of kittens has died from Feline infectious peritonitis which has been very distressing for us all but particularly upsetting for Gail and Rhian who care for the cats.Unfortunately there is no cure for this and animals invariably die even with immediate veterinary attention as these had.It is an awful discease but at least it is not airbound so the other litters will not run the risk of infection as with influenza .With many litters which have been abandoned there are often already problems when they are admitted and each year we have to face the fact that not all will survive, especially those which have had a poor start in life.
On a cheery note I had a lovely email from the lady who took Copper the pony, saying how well she had settled in and how delighted they are with her.There have been two enquiries this week from people wanting companion ponies for their horses so it is a possibility we may home a few more before the winter sets in. With the four being returned soon, in order to make room for them I either need to home a few on our loan scheme or find other winter accommodation for them.Pictured are Dids and Buster two of the returning horse who need to stay together.
I am off for two days now and will be back Sunday evening. On my way into Caernarfon tomorrow I will be going to the horses there to check on the ragwort situation and do a bit of weed picking again.Oh, and the dreaded time for the B12 injection has come round again so have an appointment at DR tomorrow.I will have little sleep tonight as I am full of dread already.The very thought of it is , as usual terrifying though I rather think the staff at the surgery are more terrified at the prospect of having to deal with ME again!! Seriously though - I think I am improving,its a while since I made a run for it when my name was called and even longer since I lashed out in terror when the object of my fear was produced (cant even manage to say the word)

2 More kittens homed.

Yippee, the Cardiff people came back and took two little black kittens so a total of five went at the weekend.It really cheers us all up when this happens.Heres hoping the renewed interest continues and it would be lovely if some of the adult cats go too.Pictured are the two male rabbits we have admitted, they have been neutered so they may be able to stay together as a pair.As long as they show no aggression towards each other they should be happy.Years ago I had a rabbit which I tried desperately to pair up with a companion but he persisted in attacking every female I put in with him so reluctantly I came to the decision he would have to stay on his own(not something I am happy with) The following day I discovered him snuggled up with another male rabbit which had tunnelled into his enclosure from the adjoining pen.My gay bunnies remained the best of friends and eventually they were found a loving home together.
I have just had someone come for a dog but when asked admitted the dog would sleep in a kennel and that their dogs had never wanted to live in the house.Funny that- in 32 years of taking in all sorts of dogs, including working gundogs and sheepdogs, there has NEVER been one which preferred to live outside! I make no apology for the fact that any dog I rehome goes to live as a family pet, why would I want to place one in any other type of home when most that I rescue have come from lives where they have been kept outside and I want to improve their lot in life, not simply replace one prison for another. I do admit there are dogs kept outside in good conditions, even heated sheds and runs and who are exercised regularly but I remain firm in the belief that a dog should be one of the family.
One of the outside feral cats is looking very frail, she is pretty ancient and although she has been here 6 years I have never been able to touch her, she remains totally wild.She came from Liverpool city centre, one of several rescued by a caring cat lover.This must have seemed like paradise to her when she arrived, it is wonderful for cats, there is so much for them to do and places to go and no worries of traffic.It is a pity there are not more places for feral cats to be homed safely.Unmfortunately I have so many I am unable to take any more but If I had loads of money I would buy another smallholding ,somewhere remote with land just to take in ferals and keep them safe from harm. Some of the feral cats here are pictured at feeding time.The old girl is the tabby at the front right of photo.

Pretty Copper finds a home

This week has passed in a kind of haze as the buzz of the Open Day fades into a distant memory.It has been hard to get back into the daily routine again.The photos of the Winners at the Dog show should now be posted on the freshfields website www.freshfieldsrescue.org.uk.
It was a little disappointing that not one animal was reserved on that day but today three kittens went to homes which was a real boost.having said that one little stray tortie was admitted but still, at least they have started to move.There is a possibility one or two may go tomorrow also, - a family from Cardiff visited and may return for these.Fingers crossed.
We admitted two rabbits also this week and they seem to have nice natures. I will take some photos of them anmd start advertising them.The last bunny we had (the one with the overgrown teeth(malaclusion) was given a home by one of the volunteers at our fundraising day.If this dental problem is misspelled I apologise.There are 2 more on the waiting list, its strange that months go by without one request for us to take in rabbits, then they all seem to come along at the same time.
Roy, the kelpie has gone, I am currently trying to find a home for a beautiful mastiff called Daisy, there is someone interested in her already and then there are three collies which need to be placed in local foster homes as soon as there is space.Now the Big Day is over I can concentrate on home finding once again.
The big news this week is that we have homed a horse on our loan scheme.Copper(pictured here) one of the only two Anglesey ponies now fit enough to be moved on has gone to a home in the Nefyn area.She is a beautiful pony and has been the subject of much admiration whilst she has been at the shelter.As usual I kept away from the horse trailer, I hate to see them leave here, it makes me feel guilty. It is just as well that she has gone because there are 4 of our ponies out on loan which are very likely to come back to us in the near future as the circumstances of the new carer have unforeseeably changed rather drastically.We will have to look for more homes for them, all four are fit enough to be homed though they will have to stay in pairs as they are bonded now.Heather and Padddy are shetland ponies (mother and son)and Dids and Buster are very attractive chestnuts but unsuitable for riding.I will put their photos back on the website as soon as I find the time.
Blue has now had his dental work done and should now start to eat more normally, his weight is still low but he has already gained a few pounds.He is on a special diet, prepared especially for him.All the ponies were seen this week by our farrier(another big expense) so everything is as it should be, happy horses with happy feet!