Bonnie came back bright as a button from the Vet, you would not believe that she was recovering from an operation. He thinks her growth was not a malignant one so as long as she keeps out of the sun she will be Ok. We are all so relieved, she is such a great character and is so much part of the shelter it would seem weird without her lumbering about in her inimitable way
More good news , I cant believe that Vixen(now called Sally) has gone to a home already but she has found someone to love her thanks to Marc and Joe(friends and supporters from Anglesey) .Joseph came to see us and brought a friend who had just lost his dearly loved canine companion and could not bear to be without a dog. He did not care about the dogs appearance, in his own words he just wanted to give a loving home to a rescued dog.Out came Vixen and the "deal" was done. There was no asking if we had anything else to look at, he liked her immediately and she liked him so that was that! If only all homing was so simple. A man with exactly the right attitude and believe me that is rare.I cannot remember the last time that happened. Good luck to them both. It was just the best thing to put a smile on my face - I really needed something good to happen today because this morning I had to have one of the Maggie Marthas put to sleep and felt very despondent. Even the presence of the other dogs failed to cheer me up. At the age of 22 years this little yorkshire terrier had grown very frail and there was no longer any quality to her life.Today she refused to eat again(she would not eat yesterday either) and I could no longer ignore her deterioration. The other Maggie Martha seems oblivious to her departure for which I am thankful but she still has Suzy to snuggle up with
Speaking of Yorkies, there are two mid age Yorkies in need of a home.I will probably bring them here in the next week or so but in the meantime I have taken in Poppy the 12 years old shaggy type dog I mentioned a few weeks ago. I was unable to find her a home and her situation became urgent.Her owner is still in hospital and not likely to come out and Poppy was still in the empty house for which the keys were being returned to the Council yesterday. Although it was thought she was not good with other animals, she is in fact wonderful and no trouble at all.In fact she is the sort of dog I could very easily fall in love with! Oh no, I had intended to reduce the numbers of my own dogs to give me more freedom to travel and actually have a life outside the shelter!Will this ever happen?I need to be stronger willed and learn not to melt at the first sight of a homeless dog with expressive big brown eyes and a habit of rolling on her back to have her tummy tickled.Works every time with me. A pleading expression and a sloppy kiss and I am lost. Just for the record this works ONLY with dogs
After writing about the probable future problem with huskies , I have been asked to take in a Utonagan.This is a dog which originated from crossing Siberian huskies with Malamutes and German Shepherds. Why would anyone want to do that? Well it was to breed a dog which looked like a wolf and the only reason I can see for that is to impress as with the so called dangerous dog breeds.For heavens sake are there not enough breeds in existence, what is the need for another?Will this be the latest craze? It scares me because it is hard enough to find good homes for ordinary dogs but those with specialised needs are so much more difficult to place and most breed rescues are overwhelmed already. Harry seems to be a lovely dog in many ways but has only been in his new home for a few weeks and already they are nervous of him.These are dominant dogs,like the Siberian Husky and as I have said before should never go to people inexperienced with the breed type. I will try advertising him first and see if anyone knowledgeable responds, if not I will try a foster home, at least he is good with other dogs.
There have been a few offers of homes for companion horses but actually we are running out of suitable animals to home on our loan scheme. Murphy shetland is going pending a home visiand then there are just the the three youngsters and Marigold and Melba (though they are a bit of a handful.) Most of the others have health problems in one way or another and are on medication or need specialised diets. There are some on the waiting list which I have been trying to match up with suitable owners but again most are not entirely without a health issue.Either that or they need to be homed with their companions and most people will not have the space or money to take on two.
Another old cat has been brought in because his owners are emigrating. Bart is already missing his home comforts but he has settled in fairly well for a cat used to a good home life and is eating well too..He is 12 years old , a beautiful big longhaired cat with a lovely temperament , he is used to children fussing him and has even lived with a dog - there has to be somebody out there who will appreciate him. I am confident he will not remain here too long
We have two new mums with their babies. Grey mum has two kittens with her and black mum has 5 little ones. As often happens when taking photos of animals - They MOVE. so they are not the best photos in the world.We have to think of names for the newcomers now, we have lists of names to look at when our brains can no longer come up with anything remotely original which is most of the time!
Sunday saw lots of volunteers at the shelter..Sue our Wednesday lady (and holiday cover) arrived , then Emma (her third time here helping with the cats )and then our longterm sunday volunteer Dilys arrived bringing with her a new helper. Yuri is from Peru and has lived in this area for over a year, he has worked with horses both in his home country and in the Uk. He brought his"tickling stick"which he uses to establish contact with himself and a new horse, this method is excellent for nervous animals to become used to the touch of a human and works very well.Blue although not nervous was lulled almost into falling asleep and the staff were fascinated by Yuris way of communication with the animals. Its been good to have so many new helpers here.Its taken a long time to become established in this area and it seems our constant publicity has finally begun to pay off. Our volunteer base is definitely growing.
Finally a car pulled up this afternoon and the driver brought us a dear little dog called kenny whose owner died yesterday. He is not full grown yet, a cross jack russell/cavalier spaniel and he is sitting beside me in the office as I type this. He is a real sweetheart. A lady from Colwyn Bay happened to ring at the same time he arrived and he sounds just what she wants so is on her way to see him. He is another I could really fall in love with so he needs to go QUICKLY!
Photos are of Kenny, Yuri and Blue , the two mum cats mentioned and the lovely Bart.
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