Paddy meets the New Girl

First news of the day is that Teddy the disabled German Shepherd pup has been found a home, he was delivered yesterday to a lady who clearly has a very big heart especially as his future is still uncertain at this point in time. Good luck to them both. I am still waiting to hear from the RSPCA inspector who was going to investigate his abandonment.

Nell is booked in to be spayed on Wednesday and MegJR and Holly Yorkie left mew yesterday for their new home but have been quickly replaced by Lucy a 4 months old Jack Russell whose owner had a new baby and no time for her.How many times have I heard that? Try thousands and you would be close to it.Lucy is pictured here meeting Paddy for the first time. He is so good with the all the newcomers, he has a few sniffs and then they are largely ignored in favour of a snooze in front of the fire, he takes up the entire space on the rug but is happy enough to share a little of his space with anyone who cares to find any!

Vanessa was telling me this morning that she had read an article in a newspaper about an animal rescuer who had a cat returned because it did not go with the furnishings! Outrageous but it does happen - my contribution to that topic would be to relate 2 particular incidents which stuck in my mind because of their very absurdity. Not long after I set up the shelter in Liverpool, I was visited by a retired couple who wanted a grey and white cat , they had been upset over the demise of their old cat(grey and white of course) and as luck would have it we had a very pretty young cat of that colour in the cattery. I took them into the cattery and left them there to get to know the cat.I returned a few minutes later and to my astonishment they were measuring the white on his legs with a tape measure! They told me that he was not the cat for them(thank goodness) because the height of the white on his legs did not match up to the markings on their previous cat! His white socks were an inch too short! To say I was happy to show them the door is an understatement.

The second incident was with a lady who came to the shelter to request that Freshfields admit her dog .The house was too small for him she told me so I asked her to bring the dog in "Oh he's here with me " she said, opening her coat to reveal a tiny chihuahua! I kid you not. Implausible though these incidents may appear, believe me they are true so the story of the cat which did not match the furnishings is completely believable to me. I know how fussy and eccentric some people can be in their desire to find 'The Perfect Pet'. Imagine if we humans were made to undergo such rigid tests in order to find the perfect partner, how many of us would be 'Left on the shelf'?' Quite a few I suspect , I clearly am one of those who has repeatedly failed the tests and there was I thinking my singledom was of my own choosing.Silly me!

The water problem is getting worse, we are struggling once again to get water to the animals and there is no sign of this latest freeze coming to an end. Thank goodness we do at least have the stream from which we can relay water albeit laboriously. I am now entering my second phase this winter of looking like Stig of the Dump so its time to rally the friends who will allow me use of their wonderful hot water supplies.

PS: Just hired a water bowser filled with 2000 litres for tomorrow, wish I had known about these during last Big Freeze. £70 per week .We may be defrosted by then but I cant take the chance of having no water so better to be safe than sorry. I learn a little every day- now I know what a Water Bowser is, and for those who do not have that knowledge it is basically a water tank on wheels.Brilliant!

Nell the pregnant Spaniel

The cold continues and this morning the pipes were frozen so no running water again.Oh how I wish I lived in a warm climate, waking each day to blue skies and the prospect of a cheery sunny day ahead.Oh well it costs nothing to dream!


Back to reality - today more pets were offered free on freecycle . How many pets have ended up in bad homes through being given away via this online service?I consider it a disservice to animals. I contacted one or two advertisers whom I felt able to help and one woman rang me back concerning the homing of two rabbits which I have agreed to admit once I sort out appropriate housing for them. I need to contact Freecycle again and hope for a more positive response next time.This way of homing unwanted pets is totally irresponsible and worries me greatly, there are some very unsavoury characters around and giving pets away free via freecycle is just asking for trouble and could be very detrimental to the welfare of the pets concerned.


Mei has been busy Microchipping animals today, some of the kittens which were too young to do when they were adopted have been brought back to have their implants.I wanted to take a photo of her doing this but she said she was nervous microchipping in front of people anyway, let alone having her photo taken as well .Instead there is a photo of Nell a young Springer spaniel being fostered by Gail at her home in Pwllheli . Nells owners had no time for her when a new baby was born in to the family though having met Nell for the first time today, both Rosie and I think she is almost certainly pregnant. I need to get her booked in for spaying as soon as possible, she is a lovely dog but is only a pup herself - she is 9 months old and has been caught in her first season. Did the owners know this? I am pretty sure that fact could not have gone unnoticed.
I had a response to the advert for the Jack Russell Pups, the man wanted both of them and when questioned a little he told me that he ran an animal trapping business! That is not quite the sort of home I had in mind for Pippa and Penny, nor any other dog actually. A few others have emailed me and I am checking out one home in particular which sounds pretty good.Unfortunately I have not been successful with the home for Wilson the patterdale terrier who went to Liverpool, although he was fine with the cats here, he is now chasing the cats in his new home so he needs to be found a catfree environment as soon as possible.

It is always such a disappointment when a mistake is made matching up dog and person but I suppose that we have to think how many successes we have.
In truth the failures are very few which is a great testament to the homecheckers who help us out and the staff who assess the animals and the prospective adopters.
A few weeks ago I was so upset about one adoption I could not write about it.Jess a cross labrador went to a home in Milton Keynes, she was a nervous dog which the new people accepted having had a nervous rescue dog previously, for the first week she was marvellous and bonded well with Angie and Brian.The problems began when the house became filled with strangers(new to Jess) at a family gathering. Jess completely freaked out at this intrusion and had to be shut away for both her own safety and that of the visitors. I received a panic stricken call requesting Jess to be taken away and I had to think quickly what could be done. My contact in that area had left to come back to Wales and I knew nobody else who could help in this emergency.
Ater many hours spent ringing other rescues ,I finally found one local to the people and Jess was taken in there for a week until I could arrange to bring her back to the shelter.In the meantime the couple realised they had acted too promptly and were in touch with me every few days wanting to know how the dog was coping. Of course she was not coping well, she was bewildered and stressed at
the turn of events and a new environment to get used to and I could not lie about that to them even though I had understanding of the predicament they found themselves in with Jess and her fear of strangers. Anyhow they realised that they had panicked too much and were devastated at their
action which they greatly regretted and begged me to allow them to have Jess back. I was happy to agree because I knew it was a good home and that they genuinely cared for her. We discussed her problems for sometime ,I wanted to make it clear that it would not be an easy ride with Jess, she could take a bit of training to become used to strangers and indeed she is already changing for the better. I receive regular updates and I know that this time Jess has a forever home. It had a good outcome but for a few weeks it was all I could think of and I was so upset for Jess. We all make mistakes and in this case it was one which was regretted almost immediately and was rectified to the delight of all involved, Jess especially who was overjoyed to see Angie and Brian again.

Finally I picked up a call on the answerphone today asking me to take 2 reas!! The only Rea I know is Chris Rea the singer but I hardly think he will be needing shelter at Freshfields(I wish)
Well it turned out to be Rheas, of the ostrich family so I was able to give details of another shelter in the south of England whih has facilities for birds of this type and hopefully they will be sorted.It has to be one of the more unusual requests received here!

Terriers galore and a Sad Evening for Everyone.

I arrived back home on Friday evening and was still unpacking when Mei shouted to me that the old pony JOJo was down and unable to get back on her feet. I ran over to where she was stabled and between us we tried to get her on her feet but something told me that her inability to move was less to do with a sudden health problem like colic than the fact that she was ready to leave us and I suggested we make her more comfortable and leave her where she was until the Vet came out. We rang Harley to tell him what had happened and he arrived with his father, he seemed to be of the same opinion as me, that Jojo had given up, she was an old,old girl and when the Vet arrived he confirmed her heart was giving out and he put an end to her suffering quickly and painlessly. Harley was understandably distressed and we were all upset though glad at the same time that she had come to the end of her life in a warm stable surrounded by those who cared for her and in sight of her pal Sam.We allowed Sam to see her and as always this appears to lessen the grief though today he did look for her and checked all the stables before he allowed himself to be guided into his own. Tomorrow he will be fine, they had only been together a month although they had become the best of friends durng that time.

Whilst I was in LIverpool two Jack Russell pups were admitted which are being fostered by Vanessa.They are the sweetest little dogs, so dainty and fine boned.Their photo does not show just how tiny they really are - What is going on at the moment, there seem to be Jack Russells everywhere , Instead of being asked to help with collies every phone call seems to be about Jack Russells! At least this breed is popular and relatively easy to rehome. Meg JR and Holly yorkshire terrier were in the living room waiting to greet me on my return as expected and if I had not already had people interested I could have very well have been tempted by these two(the third Yorkie was found a home so was not admitted here) .It is not often that I take in well behaved adorable well trained and sweet natured dogs but these tick all the boxes and it is hard to believe that they have lost their owner, they seem so much at home here.

Mion one of our cat fosterers has brought in her three mother cats Joss tabby, Jill tortoishell and white and Jenny the dark tortie.They were all admitted either heavily pregnant or with kittens and all three were abandoned so Mion has been caring for them and now the kittens have all been adopted, mums have been spayed and it is their turn now for new homes.I hope they will go fairly easily as they all have sweet natures.

Does anybody remember the stunning pedigree British Blue Cream cat found living on a balcony of some flats in Pwllheli? Well I mentioned that she had turned out to be pregnant and was too far advanced in her pregnacy to make spaying an option but she has been through quite an ordeal. She gave birth to two dead and very large kittens and had to have a Caesarian to remove the litter.Only two remained alive and she has rejected them so they are being hand reared by foster dad Lee over in Anglesey.Poor cat -what a traumatic time she has had and even= more unbelievably, it turns out that she has had a Caesarian previously!! What kind of owner did she have that he/she would refrain from having her spayed after that? Who would want their pet to endure another difficult pregnancy? Answers on a postcode pelase and please do your best to keep the bad langage to a minimum!

I am starting to think we are fast becoming a rabbit and guinea pig sanctuary. Both Cariad(who helps part time with the horses)amd Gail have taken guineas to foster: Cariad has two pregnant mums who are about to give birth and today I have had a call to ask if we can take two adults and 6 babies! I think we need to build a more suitable facility for them though we cannot take in too many becaus that would necessitate the employment of an extra member of staff and we are already struggling to pay the existing ones. Speaking of funds, we have managed to rise above the dreadful and very scary situation we found ourselves in just after Christmas. We are not out of the woods yet(nor are the Liverpool shelter) but we are at least back to having enough to pay wages, buy animal feeds and with a bit over at the end of the week which is used to pay some of themany bills which have piled up. It is time to set some time aside and organise some fundraising events for 2011. I still need some help in this area.I dont need just ideas but people willing to organise an event or two.

Well I am absolutely freezing and my hands are starting to go numb with the cold. Lucy who sleeps in the office is snuggled into a lovely big duvet and I am tempted to join her. Lucy as some may remember is not a homeless member of staff but the 10 years old terrier who shares the office space with me and Veronica(who is still a little poorly from her flu bout) Rhian is also off sick with the same virus and Sue who was working today in the cattery has not been a hundred percent for a few weeks.Who will the dreaded flu claim next?

Is a Horse Thief about?

Just a quickie before I leave for Liverpool. There was quite a saga surrounding the admittance of the kitten ,The following day the lady who found him rang me to say the owner had turned up! When I expressed doubt that such a tiny animal could have found himself lost she launched into a detailed story of how the owners lived some streets away from her and their grandchild had taken the kitten out to show his friends and lost him! Then she said she was going to come and collect him to take back but when I asked for the owners details to discuss the welfare of Henry, she mumbled something about ringing me back with it. When she failed to do so I tried in vain to contact her, some hours later her son rang me and the truth came out. The kitten was never abandoned, after his wife left him the kitten was left alone all day in the house which he felt rightfully to be unkind so his mother offered to take Henry to Freshfields.When his wife discovered he had parted with the kitten, she was upset and wanted him back so that was why the elaborate story was invented.As it happened the home would have been unsuitable , she lived in a flat where no pets were allowed , fortunately she was made to see sense and Henry remains in our care.
I do wish people would refrain from lying, it simply complicates matters but there is often so much guilt in handing over pets to shelters that sometimes they
must feel it necessary to lie. In this case I would not have thought any less of the family for their action because it was clearly the right thing for them to do. I admit to feeling differently about those who want to give up horses because they are unable to ride them any longer. That does infuriate me and they are right to feel guilty.I make no apology for my feelings about that.It is far too common for older horses to be disposed of to make way for a younger livelier ride and for the animal shelters to end up taking on what should be the owners responsibility.

A distraught lady from a neighbouring village called last night to tell me that her two shetland ponies had been stolen from their paddock. This concerns me greatly, part from the fate of the two stolen animals, if there is a horse thief about we have to worry about our own equines.Although many are obviously old and would be of no interest to anybody, others do not have visible health issues and could be mistakenly thought of as suitable riding ponies.We do have some freeze branded which is the best possible deterrent to thieves but we need to do this with more, especially those in the lower fields which are out of sight of the house. More Cost! Freeze branding is painless to the animal but shows a clear mark which makes it easily identifiable if attempts are made to pass them through horse sales .

Anyhow I must leave now and get myself sorted for the nightmare ahead. Does anybody enjoy meetings?

3 ponies are Returned.

My great favourite Rocky was returned today along with companions Honey and Caspar and have settled back as though they have never been away. The lady who had been caring for them wanted to keep Honey but as I said to her the two little ponies have been together for a long time and I like to keep bonded pairs together. Does anybody remember the story of Black Beauty where pony friends were separated and their joy at being reunited?It was one of the saddest books I have ever read and one that remained entrenched in my mind many years after reading it. The field we have had to put the ponies in is not ideal as it is becoming waterlogged and we need to allow them access to the adjoining field ,HOWEVER , the gate to that one has come off and until Handyman John fixes it back on we are regrettably one much needed field short!

The other admittances today have been a tiny kitten found abandoned and another cat belonging to a 96 years old lady. Henry the kitten(pictured here)

is no more than 7 weeks of age and quite a frail little man but it is surprising what treatment for worms can do and within days I am sure he will be looking and feeling a great deal better .Sue who works part time here has offered to foster him which will be nice for him and he can come back when he is a little stronger. The adult cat is called Oddie no doubt due to his unusual odd eyes and is 10 years old indicating that when this lady was 80 she obtained him as a kitten. This is yet another case of a kitten which should never have been homed with such an elderly person.Poor Oddie does not really have a red eye(my poor photography again) he has one brown eye and one green and is a rather nice tempered cat albeit confused about his sudden change of circumstances.It must be a rude awakening to a cossetted cat used to sleeping on sofas and beds to suddenly find himself in a cattery situation sharing space with other cats.

Two adult cats have gone out today, Fudge and Tizer who came in together have gone out together and they will be sharing their home with two other Freshfields cats and the deaf white cat has gone today too so it does seem that the adoptions are picking up.I spoke to someone at the LIverpool shelter and they too have been busy with animals being adopted out.There must be something in the air!

Roy the Charity shop manager in Caernarfon is here today putting up another Spotlight in the yard outside the office: a few nights ago we could not find Bradley one of our permanent dogs and the lighting here was non existent making it very hard to see an all black/grey dog. We did find him but it made us realise how much we need extra light in the evening.

Finally we have been offered a special home to the disabled pup Teddy and discussions are taking place! That sounds like a high powered business negotiation but the fact is that anybody willing to take him on needs to know all the options and possibilities including the one that he may not have a bright future ahead of him and there could be tears ahead for all of us if he fails to deal with his useless leg. It is not something to be taken on without great thought being given to this possibility. I will keep updating on his progress.

I will not be writing another entry until next weekend because I am going to be away the best part of the week, when I return on Friday I will have some new house guests to greet me in the shape of 7 years old Meg jack russell and Holly Yorkshire terrier(best friends apparently) and a slightly younger Yorkshire terrier named Sky.They are all from the same home where the owner has been hospitalised and she is unable to care for them in the future. By the time I come back Paddy and Patch will have doubtless introduced them to the comforts of my sofa and I once more will be relegated to whatever seating may be left!

Good News about Lewis and a successful Adoption day

FRiday:

Teddy (left)will be going to his new foster mum Sharon tomorrow, he really will benefit from being with other dogs and in a home environment.I get the impression that has been lacking and he needs that socialisation.As with poor skinny Lewis his story has touched many people and there are many positive thoughts being sent his way.Speaking of dear Lewis I heard some excellent news today , he has settled in very well with his new people both canine and human, what a lovely ending to his sad story; Lewis was a very special dog and from being so neglected and so depressed he came on so well whilst he was with me and now his prospects are even better. I can't wait to see the photos of him in his new home and to see him once he is back to a normal weight.As soon as I receive the photos I will post them on here so everyone can see him.

Apart from Teddy I have 3 Dog Pound dogs in my home at the moment, Don a 5 years old collie and 2 very sweet young Jack russells Sally and Trixie and I have people coming to see all three tomorrow so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will all match up happily.I am always being asked what it means when I say Dog Pound dogs.Well these are strays which have been picked up by a Council dog warden and taken to a kennels where they stay for a week to allow an owner to claim his/her lost pet.If at the end of the week the animals are unclaimed they are destroyed unless homes or places at shelters can be found. Some kennel owners like Jennifer at Dolgellau put a lot of effort in to place the dogs but others are not so interested and many young healthy animals lose their lives this way all over the UK. I give priority to these dogs because I know they are in a desperate situation and often we are their last hope. Now I am down to just 3 of my own dogs I am more able to help as long as they integrate with my own.

Like so many other areas we are suffering from frosty icy weather

I am hoping that it will not get any worse, I couldn't face another session of no running water though facing that would be infinitely preferable to the terrible floods others are experiencing in Australia and Brazil.What distressing news coverage there has been,It is heartbreaking isn't it? I shall think of that whenever I start to moan about the cold weather here and be glad it is not worse.

Saturday:

Well I have said goodbye to Teddy and also to Sally,Trixie and Don, apart from being happy to see them toddling off to a better life, two of the adopters already had dogs from Freshfields and brought them along so we had the opportunity to see how they were getting on . Pictured here is Junior(now Alfie) the lurcher adopted several months ago meeting his new friend Sally today.Once again Mei managed to muscle in on the photo, for someone who professes to hate her photograph being taken she certainly manages to show up in more than her fair share! The other photo is of Mandy holding her new companion Trixie but there is sadly no photo of Don and his pal Amika who was adopted in September for the simple reason I FORGOT! Perhaps they will send one on to me and I can post it then

The one remaining Pound dog Wilson the patterdale has aso been offered a home and his homecheck has just passed ; the home is in Liverpool and I will be going to Merseyside this week for a trustee meeting on wednesday and on thursday I am attending an AKAS all day forum (which I am dreading)My attention span is poor and the thought of being sequestered all day indoors listening to employment issues makes me cringe.Nevertheless it is a necessary evil so I will endeavour to put on a brave face and deal with it. Anyhow I digress - as I loathe driving further than the local village, a trip to Liverpool is anathema to me so I will breaking up the journey at sister Sandras house in Prestatyn ; I have arranged to meet Wilsons new person there to fill in the adoption forms and to hand him over.

This afternoon there are two appointments made for cat/kitten viewing so with a bit of luck a few more lucky felines will leave us and the handsome deaf white cat featured in an earlier blog has been reserved too.All in all it has so far been an excellent weekend for the animals.Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

The Mystery of the Abandoned GSD Pup continues.

The German Shepherd pup is with me now(in my back kitchen) and Rhian has taken him to our Vet today for a check up and a second opinion. The Vet who saw him before he went to the Dog Pound thought he should be destroyed and I was unhappy about accepting that decision. After a thorough check up he has been diagnosed with a fused patella(knee joint) which he is coping with well at the moment but the next few months are crucial . Right now he is placing his foot on the ground but If he starts to walk with his foot twisted then amputation may have to be considered.A great deal depends on how strong he is and how he deals with his disability as to what the future holds for him. He is a strong minded and happy pup so all we can do is hope for a positive outcome.We are all rooting for Teddy as he has now been named ; the issue of his abandonment is still unclear but I am contacting the RSPCA inspector today and hope he will be able to discover where he came from and what happened to him after he was first taken to our Vet by an owner (yes it has been confirmed this is the same puppy) and later abandoned in another town. We know also that the owner now has another puppy, a labrador this time and no longer has her GSD pup! At just eight weeks of age,this poor little chap has been through a lot in a very short time . What a way to treat a disabled animal!

(he RSPCA welfare inspector has just contacted me and he will be investigating.)

Friends and supporters Judy and Frazer came up from Holyhead today and have chosen a cat to join their feline family. Phoebe has been here for a year and is well overdue to become one of the chosen ones. The best part of her life begins today and I could not be happier. 8 kittens have also been admitted from fosterer Mion who has done her part of the job and now we have to do ours by finding good homes for them. If we dont she will want to know why! When animals are fostered the carer always becomes understandably fond of her charges and Mion is no exception.I feel the same when I have had dogs in my home, it can be hard to part with them when the time comes.So many foster homes have been lost over the years when it becomes just too hard to part with a particular one and then we lose yet another place of safety for a needy animal. Its great to have found a happy home but a shame to lose a foster carer which are thin on the ground at the best of times. Foster mums and dads can mean the difference between life and death for a pet when we have no room at the shelter and we are particularly in need of somewhere to put dogs in emergencies.(of which we have many)

We have so many cats admitted here which have belonged to elderly people who have either died or been hospitalised and some of the cats are elderly also but many are fairly young, like Duddy who came in today.She is 4 years old and her owner is 86! A relative had bought her a kitten 4 years ago, why would anyone do that for a lady of 82? Young animals take a lot of looking after and then there is the age issue. The chances of the cat living its life out with a very elderly owner is minimal as Duddy and others like her prove. Would it not have been better to have chosen an older pet? As you can see from Duddys expression she is upset at finding herself here.She is unused to children, other cats, dogs, strangers.Everything which makes it more difficult to find her the right home.We often have people wanting to buy pets for elderly relatives and I try to put them off having anything less than middle aged but it doesnt always work and I often wonder what happened to the pet this person eventually purchased.

I dont mean that if a person reaches pensionable age that automatically they should be blacklisted for a young animal and each case is different, people are different, some 70 years old are a youthful and healthy as someone 20 years younger and some middle aged people could easily pass for 80! I sincerely hope that nobody thinks that I fall into this latter category and if they do please refrain from leaving a comment! Nevertheless anybody in their eighties purchasing a puppy or kitten is in my mind not thinking ahead and certainly not thinking of the animals needs. When my own mother was 80 she refused to take on any pet which would clearly outlive her and that is sensible.Not everybody has relatives who will take over their pets, many are not in a position to do so and others would not want to. I worry about my own pets which is why I only take in older animals. I wonder what thoughts others have on this issue?

The Liverpool shelter sent us up a van full of petfood which was wonderful, their appeal on Television had brought so many donations of food they had more than enough to spare for their poor relations. In return we have given them our industrial washing machine which was a white elephant here due to our low water pressure, We have never been able to use it and at least now it will be put to good use.PIctured here Terry from Liverpool and Mei unloading the van, we were so excited, it doesn't take much to please us country lasses, we lead a simple life out here in the sticks!