Cross eyed Monty Finds a Home

A little old lady from the dog pound has joined Paddy and Patch(they are both so good with new dogs coming into their space and this sweet  old girl has just fitted  in so easily. I think she could be aged between 13 and 15 years and she is in good condition apart from being in season.That poses a problem, if she has been caught by a lascivious male dog then she will have pups which at her age could kill her , if I have  her spayed she may not survive the anaesthetic.Its a quandary, I will take her to the vet tomorrow and ask advice.Also admitted today is a 6 months old springer spaniel which Gail is going to foster once he has been to the vet for a check up.I am worried about his back legs, he walks oddly and I am wondering if he has hip Dysplasia.He was bred and then sold to a man of 85 yrs who died leaving him homeless!

Finally today there has been some interest in the kittens, I was beginning to think none were ever going to leave here! Two little kitties are leaving for a life in Anglesey and there is another person coming this week to see them.I hope this will be the start of a big spate of cat adoptions.
We are all delighted about another cat finding a home - Cross eyed Monty see here on left  was spotted on the website and he has gone to live with four other felines and their carers. We all thought Monty was great and loved his unusual appearance so its good that someone else agreed with us enough to offer him a home.
Tuesday:
Little old dog now named Pippa has been to the vet and she has been given an injection to prevent puppies, she has to go back tomorrow for another.Springer Max is being neutered on thursday so we have decided he can been found have his legs/hips checked at the same time. Two more lurcher/greyhouds have been found, one on  a local beach, no ID of course, we have had to put one in a local kennels and the other  has a foster home already so there is either time for the owner to claim him or another home to be found for him He is a very pretty fawn colour and the other we have named Teddy is similar to the Dog Pound lurcher(could they be siblings?) What is going on with these dogs? Probably the nice weather has all the lurcher boys out hunting and they are probably of the attitude  if one fails to return it is no good as a working dog! Of course I am just assuming this because there is no way I could ever understand the mindset of these killers of the countryside.

Mary lamb has joined our three resident sheep and is more than happy to be with her own kind. See the photo of her shortly after they were all  introduced to each other. In the next field Caradog and Phoebe are very interested in the new arrival.  Vanessa rode Caradog yesterday and it was felt that with a little more schooling he would be suitable to go to a home with an experienced rider. What we really need is someone willing to take on the pair as they are very close to one another. They are  both far too healthy and fit to spend their lives here and we need all the space we can get for the infirm and needy animals which need sanctuary for the remainder of their lives.

The photo of dear old Noddy is not advertising his demise! The old man is simply having a snooze in the sun and is completely oblivious to any activity going on around him, like any senior citizen he likes his afternoon siesta, at the age of 38 he is the equivalent of a  100 year old human being!

I have just ordered the catering for the Open Day, I hope I get it right this year. The first year I  failed to order enough food, last year I ordered too much, will it be right this time? I know some people were unhappy about there being nothing other than vegetarian /vegan options but in truth I  but I cannot justify    serving meat at an animal shelter which also rescues farm animals and it goes against the ethics of the charity. (and my own personal beliefs) so hopefully it will be tasty enough to assuage everyones hunger pangs and that visitors will understand the reasoning behind the decision. Are there any people out there who can bake cakes for the day? I would be very happy to hear from you if you could help in this way.

A good weekend for dogs

Saturday:
What a pleasure it is walking dogs on a nice sunny day, as I walk I take in the wild flowers and the insects buzzing about and although I probably have identified them all at sometime, I seldom can remember so have to look them up yet again in one of my many books about nature. My memory is so bad I put it down to having an overload of information in the brain! I will shoot anyone who says it is my age! I have always had a poor memory and inability to retain information which is what has made it so hard writing a book about the past.Much of it was already written down in diary form but I have had to really search my memory for certain bits of information. Speaking of this, I have backed out of the current arrangement with an agent because  the publishers have asked for it to be changed to just the happy stories and that is not the story of a sanctuary. I have no intention of writing  all doom and gloom  and there are lots of funny tales but I want it to be a true story, not a shmaltzy fictitious type one. I am disappointed because both Linda and I had put a lot into it but this is not the path I want to take  and I had already made some compromises so I will once again be looking at the self publishing angle.I feel I am back to square one again.

Bella the middle aged collie went to her home today , she has gone to someone who already has a cat from Freshfields and Bella has proved to be really good with the cats here.

Sunday:

Its been a hectic day today, Blue the whippet was brought to the shelter by his foster mum to meet his new people who had travelled all the way  from Plymouth to collect their new friend. His Foster mum says he is the best dog she has looked after and they will be getting a cracking new pet, she was very tempted to keep him but knows if she did that she wouldn't be able to help others.I was so pleased she said that , we have lost so many foster homes this way.Pictured are Virginia and husband  Grahame with Blue.


Rosie the timid little collie from the Pound has also found a loving home with a couple from Cheshire, Rosie and their old dog Bruno got on famously which bodes well for their future together. She is the one I will worry about most of all because she is so nervous and I live in terror of such dogs going awol from their new homes, never to be seen again. When they are so shy they will be unlikely to go to strangers so I always stress the need to be extra extra careful and vigilant wih them.

Even Sweep the five years old collie who has had no previous interest shown in him has been reserved so it has been a very uplifting day.

4  dogs out this weekend and just one in - a 9 weeks old lurcher pup was admitted after his owner decided to give her up when his wife gave birth two days ago! Unbelievably this was her  second home, he had been with another man who gave her up for the same reason! 

No cats have been adopted unfortunately but two litters of kittens have arrived, the first litter of 3 was born to a feral cat on a farm but luckily, mum moved to a neighbours home to have her babies and now the babies will be safe and we are arranging to have the mother cat spayed as well as another female cat on the farm.

The second litter came from foster mum Mion who has been caring for them since they were three weeks old. All kittens are adoptable age so now all we need are the homes.

If you read this and see no photos check again later because I will be posting them after I have had something to eat. Its a matter of prioritising!

William is better today

I had another day off yesterday - whats the world coming to? two whole days off in a week! I went with friends to the Osprey project in Machynlleth ( there are three chicks in the nest) and then on to see the Red  Kites feeding at the RSPB reserve in Nant yr Arian, what a fantastic sight it was, over 100 of these beautiful birds swooping down in all their majesty - awe inspiring and apparently some days there are up to 300 gathering for their food. 100 was good enough for me!

On the return journey home we stopped to take a photograph of a lurcher which was in the Dog Pound and in desperate need of a place with us. He has a foster home as soon as Blue whippet goes to his new home in Plymouth on Sunday so he should be home and safe by the middle of next week. Judging from his nice white teeth I would put his age to be around a year and he appears to have a typical friendly lurcher temperament though is quite strong.there are also 2 more little dogs  in situ there so need to sort places out for them rather quickly.One is an elderly terrier female and the other a staffordshire bull terrier female. Isn't it incredibly sad that all over the Uk dogs are left unclaimed in pounds?

The farrier has been here today which makes for a very busy morning, all the new horses have had their feet trimmed and quite surprisingly Caradog the big chestnut was fairly easy to do. I had thought she may prove to be a litle difficult to handle as she is rather nervous but all went well and her feet are now in much better condition than when she arrived.

The Vet  Dafydd came out  to check on William and although he is no longer in pain, he has made it clear that he is not fit to be ridden so an early retirement is the answer for him. Such a great shame that such a handsome and comparatively young horse is 'out to grass' so to speak. Still better he is here than being passed around, at least his future is now secure and as you can see bu the photo his appetite is still good, he is pinching food from the wheelbarrow which Mei has left there for this evenings top up!
Ember and Freddy shetlands will be leaving for their loan home next week.Their new people have been busy  repairing fences round their fields
 to make sure all is ready when the boys arrive.

Mary lamb is doing well and we will be releasing her into the field with our other sheep, as soon as she has been wormed she will be joining them. She is a typically nervous animal, only those handreared tend to be friendly with humans, most have little or no contact with people at this age so whether or not she will change when she sees the other sheep unafraid with the staff,
remains to be seen. Next year could pose a problem when the time comes for her to be shorn! I can just imagine the high jinks there will be on that day.

One of our microchipped cats has been admitted today, she has been in the vet surgery for a week recovering froma road accident where she has suffered a damaged leg.She will be on cage rest for a while to see how the leg improves.We have been unable to contact the owner and have had no telephone call  to tell us she has been missing which is odd.Perhaps they are on holiday and have left a friend/relative caring for the cat? iF that has been the case the person has not reported her missing to us which gives me cause for concern.
Our kittens are going out pretty quickly at the moment but we have another litter coming in on Sunday from fosterer Mion.

Behaviourist Vicky finishes today though we plan to ask her to return when we can afford it, we have applied for a grant to pay for her to continue her stellar
work but at the moment there is not enough funding to spare for her to put in the necessary hours. In one week she has achieved much with both dogs and staff working together and it would be a shame if we were unable to carry on with this training.

Well thats todays blog finished and now I can take my dogs out for their afternoon exercise for which they will be anxiouslywaiting though perhaps I
will have a cup of coffee first - it may give me the required energy boost I badly need today. I have had the dreaded B12 injection(god I hate that word) but because it was overdue it takes a couple of days to kick in. By the weekend I will be my usual effervescent self!!!!

Ps: just heard someone in the village is feeding our ponies apples and other food, I was worried this might happen with them being in a spot where they can be seen by passersby.The problem here is that some of them have laminitis and this can be aggravated by the wrong diet plus of course we dont know what they are being given that could be highly detrimental to their wellbeing.I will put up a sign straight away.I just hope it will not be ignored otherwise we will have to bring them back to the shelter.

Dollys Story.

Mary  the lamb seems  to be doing well, she is eating and drinking but is very very shy and races to the corner of  the stable when anyone attempts to approach her.When she is a little stronger we will introduce her to the BIG BOYS Jacob and Joseph the jacob sheep and old Sam.At the moment she is too young and frail to be with them, they may bully her, especially the Jacobs who can be more than a trifle naughty.

We have moved four more ponies out to another location, this time they are in walking distance from the shelter and opposite Meis house , so she is able to keep an eye on them daily.There is enough grass for two more so Jack and Sorrell will be joining them tomorrow.
Work has begun with the moving of the midden which after a year had grown very big and we did not want to carry on heaping more and more manure on it so it has been  taken up to a top field, out of sight, and where it can be spread to fertilise that area. Then  the big job can begin, that of  redoing the track surface(it has so many holes in it)and concreting both the stable yard and the floor of the agri (barn) which houses around a dozen of our ponies overnight and through the winter months. I have ordered the rubber matting for that  already.It is exciting being finally able to undertake a reasonably big project, for years I have felt we were at a standstill regarding improvements to the shelter and although the biggest project is still a pipe dream(the cattery) I now feel more optimistic about that too. We are still applying for every grant making trust we can find and have had a few small grants bestowed upon us but every little helps and one day perhaps we will succeed with a 'biggie'.

Vicky the animal behaviourist started her week with us today and she has been making great progress already with the 'difficult ones' (and I dont mean us!)Now we all have to learn how to deal with the animals which cause us problems, it is of course no good teaching an animal good behaviour if the people who work with them have no idea how to encourage it and perpetuate the initial training.I am one of the worst culprits because I am  useless at training and give in too easily in order to have a peaceful life which of course is not the answer.So I have to do a little training with myself too.
 If I told Vicky how I used to calm my highly strung Jack Russell Dolly many years ago she would have a fit! I would be on the telephone to a friend and to get my attention Dolly would either start barking incessantly or she would attack one of the other dogs.The only thing that would stop her would be if I threw her raisins which she loved so I would be trying to hold a conversation amidst shouting manically  above the barking "Raisins Dolly raisins" and throwing a handful on the floor.  Of course that would only shut her up for the time it took her to gobble them down and then I would have to start all over again.Dolly became known to many as Raisins.At that time I had no idea that raisins can be actually detrimental to a dog and I could have unwittingly caused her to be very ill and it could even have caused her death! Dolly must have had a cast iron constitution because this behaviour (of hers and mine) continued for many years until I was on the verge of a breakdown over her and being unable to control her manic behaviour so friends Dave and Caroline  offered her a home where she lived happily until she died of  old age. With hindsight I realise  now that my own state of stress  had transmitted to her and that we were locked in a no win situation. If only there had been animal behavourists around in those days!

I have this beautiful photo sent  to me of Teddy(now Ozzie) the abandoned German Shepherd pup with the damaged leg,if you remember he was in the dog pound at the tender age of 8 weeks and later after he was adopted he had to undergo an operation to remove the leg.Well just look at him now. Seen here in his new home with his two white GSD pals, what a handsome dog he has grown into but it is of no surprise, he was a stunning puppy. Keep these photos coming, it makes all the stress and hard work of running an animal shelter worthwhile and its what keeps us all going.

A Lamb is Rescued from Drowning

I am thrilled to hear that Eric and Roo are settling happily, I have been sent photos of them in the enclosed garden in their  new home, and of Roo enjoying a rest on the sofa. The Tortoishell cat is Scrappy who is also a Freshfields cat, she has lived there for a few years now - we still have her (very)timid daughters Zoe and Ziggy. If you look carefully at her photo you will just about see Eric in hiding at the back, have a good life boys!

Pepsi and Sandy yorkies  have said goodbye to Paddy and Patch and left us for .the next phase of their life which they will be spending in  the wonderfully named Strawberry Lane  though this one is located  in Wilmslow not Liverpool.I had thought I would be glad when they went because they are such lively little dogs ( And I do like my evenings to be peaceful)but this was not the case at all. In fact I had to walk away to avoid seeing them leave.  Silly, by now I should be more than  used to saying a farewell to my temporary charges but in fact it seems to affect me more than ever, I can remember my mum telling me that as she grew older, she became more sensitive and emotional than when she was young. I am inclined to agree with her sentiments.

Williiam is able to move his leg today though is still on stable rest .A friend has suggested dosing him with a homeopathic remedy and I am all for trying anyhting which might help. Certainly I have experienced the physical and mental health of some animals improving drastically after being treated homeopathically so nothing lost nothing gained.

We had an emergency admission this afternoon, in the shape of a little lamb which was in shock after being found up to her neck in water, unable to move tosave herself from drowning. By sheer chance supporters of ours Sue and her family were walking near the estuary when she was spotted by son Rowan and subsequently  rescued. After drying her off at home they brought her to the shelter where she is now recovering from her ordeal.
.It is possible she was cut off by the tide or fell into the water and then found it impossible to climb back out, there were no other sheep around so  they must have been moved to a different area and this little one mistakenly was left behind.Perhaps she was already stuck by then? She is very weak and hungry but is already tucking greedily into the hay we have placed beside her. My main worry is that having been immersed in water for a long time, there is always a chance she will develop pneumonia so we will keep her as warm as possible today and hope for the best.
The staff have named  her  Mary.

William is in The Wars and I miss my Appointment!

Yorkies Sandy and Pepsi have been reserved and will be leaving us on Sunday to go to live with Yorkie mad people Maggi and Rick in Wilmslow. They are dear little dogs though very lively for their age and as I have always said - I prefer the placid old dogs. I am amazed at their rapid recovery from yesterdays operations, what stoical animals they are. We humans are not nearly as brave, well I 'm not anyway.In fact I was meant to have my B12 injection today and I failed to keep the appointment.How stupid is that? I will work up to going on monday.It cannot be left any longer, the dizziness is starting so as always that will force my hand!
Dear Paddy has not been so brilliant today, his back legs seem very weak, I took him for his first trip to the beach and I was sorry I made the decision because for the first time in ages he almost collapsed.Time to put him  back on Metacam I think.That always helps him when he has bad episodes.

Jeremy cat seems a little better today so we will just be keeping a careful eye on his progress. We also had a feral mum cat spayed yesterday and released her back to her home , her kittens remained  here to be put up for adoption.Although the photo shows three, there are four but one little tortie female was determined to hide away.Ther are only 6 weeks so are young enough to domesticate fairly quickly, older than this and it can be a problem unless you have a great deal of time to spend handling them and getting them used to humans. Another litter will be arriving next wednesday - it is very late in the year for us to be only just admitting kittens of adoptable age.I hope at least some of the people who have been waiting for us to get them in, still want them .

The Physio lady Gillian came out to work with William (above)and guess what - she recognised him ! She has worked on him in his previous home and even has xrays etc of his back problem.We have been told by her  that he panicked being loaded into a horsebox and in his panic he fell over backwards! A horse doing this is a terrible sight, some of you may have seen photos of racehorses toppling backwards, they are so heavy there is a great likelihood of serious damage being done and in Williams case this was exactly what occurred. He suffered nerve damage which initially prevented him from urinating etc  though slowly he recovered from this accident. Unfortunately it left him with a fear of horseboxes(completely understandable) and a recurring problem with  back pain. He also has a weakness in one of his fetlocks which causes his leg  to occasionally give way from under him.
 The owner who appeared to be a very caring person and who took me in totally  then sold him to someone who wanted to ride  and jump him, when they said they did not want to keep him, she brought him here IN A HORSE BOX and  told me that he would be ideal for a novice rider! Her lies could have resulted in serious injury to both horse and rider and I am just thankful nobody was badly injured though poor William is clearly suffering from  having someone on his back,  albeit momentarily .(thank goodness she jumped off quickly)
6pm:
 I have just called out the Vet Dafydd after Vanessa called me to look at William, he is standing on his own in the field and he is pawing the ground with one hoof, his front right leg appears rigid and he seems unable to move it at all. What next?
8.30pm:
The Vet has just been and has given William a pain killing and anti inflammatory injection. After studying him moving and dragging his front leg, he believes that it is nerve damage and is likely to be related to his other problems. He is on a weeks stable rest and will have painkillers twice daily for a week, he will return then to have another look at him. What will be the prognosis? My wish is that these episodes will be infrequent when he is totally rested and that we will be able to treat him when he has his bad times.What I will never do is keep an animal alive if suffering constant pain.That goes against all I believe in, we are here to relieve suffering not just to keep animals alive with no quality of life. I feel very sad for this beautiful horse who at 14 years is in the prime of his life but I am also optimistic for his future with us.

A Foal In Distress and Roxy Finds love Again.

Having had a fantastic day out birdwatching in Anglesey I feel so much more relaxed today so I plan to continue the blog and when I feel particularly stressed I will ask someone else to take over for a while as I did this week.Thanks to everyone who emailed me to ask me to continue, I appreciated your thoughts and it is good to know that people enjoy reading it. Sometimes I look at other peoples blogs and they have so many followers especially those written about children and the day to day life of stay at home mums, the other popular ones seem to be those who are involved in art and craft type things.maybe I could introduce some of those issues in my blog. I wonder if I publish some of my doodling will it increase my followers? I can almost hear you all sigh and hoping desperately I stick to animal tales! Dont worry, if I struggle to find interesting facts to talk about on the blog at the moment  the pages would be blank if I had to conjure up anecdotes on domestic issues.

Over 70 species of birds were spotted yesterday around South Stacks and surrounding area and I saw my first Puffin. There was just one solitary Puffin in the water but I was pleased to see even one as this was the main reason I chose to go on this particular trip.I think Roy also enjoyed his day off, for once he had nothing to do but take pleasure in the wonderful views of the cliffs and the  multitude of birds nesting on them.

On my return home Mei told me that she had been involved with an issue regarding a local horse breeder whose foal was caught up in wire and fencing which he wascarrying like a collar around his neck(see photo) Both she and Vanessa had tried to free him but he was very shy and they were concerned that their intervention could cause the mare and  foal to panic and create a worse scenario, they could not find the owner so telephoned the World Horse Welfare, however    it appeared the owner must have arrived home soon afterwards because after going back to check on the youngster, the girls saw that the treacherous wire collar had been removed.

On the left hand photo you can see how tight the wire has become,how lucky this little chap was not to have lost his life.
This incident shows how important it is to keep any field clear of rubbish where animals are grazing though I must say that there is building work going on in this road and it may very well not have been the owner who caused this potentially fatal accident.
Whilst I am on the topic of horse breeders I am so very pleased to know that at long last there is awareness being raised against a farmer who indiscriminately breeds welsh ponies, most of which end up in the local horse sales after being rounded up.Few are sold to private homes and it has long been talked about
 by horse lovers in the area who have been incensed at the conditions these ponies are kept in. Our own orphaned foal Celt came from the same farm 4 years ago. Heres hoping that this will  herald the end of this particular     persons activities.

This morning the two yorkshire terriers have gone in to spayed and neutered and they should be off to their new home this weekend. Roxy the bulldog cross who came in with them and who has been fostered by Rosie has been brought in today to meet with her prospective new family and she has won over their hearts. She will be going to live with another Freshfields dog Tess and a freshfields cat also.Pictured above with her new family and  below with new pal  Tess. Dont they look good together.She will be the fourth pet Alison has adopted from Freshfields.What a good advert she is for us.

The two yorkies have returned from their ordeal and to be honest they do not even look as though they have had operations.They were waiting for me with wagging tails, full of beans and not a care in the world! Considering they are not young(10 yrs and 11 yrs) I am amazed at how well they have coped with it.Tilly is a little less lively but again not too bad at all so she will be well enough to go with her new family tomorrow.

One of our middle aged cats Jeremy appears to have had a stroke, he is not looking so good at all so we will see how he goes today and if no improvement he may have to have a visit to the vet surgery in the morning. Poor Jeremy.

Eric and Roos new people have contacted me to say they are collecting them tomorrow on their way back home to Shropshire.There is always good news in amongst the bad.Thats what stops us all from becoming too maudlin.

A neighbour passing by on her horse rang to say one of our horses was having difficulty standing, it was Morris the arthritic bay so Vanessa has checked on him but he was probably just a bit stiff from lying down. nevertheless   I appreciated the fact that  neighbour H was concerned enough to contact us.(no It wasnt HH, AS IF!) We all need to look out for each other and we would do the same if we saw a problem with her horses .

It has turned out to be a warm sunny day here which is a great relief from the high winds and constant rain. The wild flowers are appearing everywhere so I need to get out my wildflower book again; each year I identify several species and the following year I forget them all and so it goes on.Still it keeps me off the streets!