No, Bianca has not popped in from the Eastenders set to help us at the shelter, its new volunteer Claire(more of her later)
Well, the morning started with trouble.Gail has no car at the moment and has to be picked up to come into work.Sue went to collect her and on the way in they came across a traffic accident; a young girl had overturned her car and was injured so they called an ambulance for her. Visibly shocked they arrived at work hoping for a quiet day.No such luck! Within an hour we had admitted a young stray cat whose finder has kindly had him neutered and a litter of tiny kittens whose mothers body had been found nearby. They urgently needed warming up, their little bodies were cold.A heat pad was warmed up and kitten milk made up for them, Gail patiently fed them all and a new volunter Claire who had come to help for the first time, offered to foster them for us. This is where foster homes become so important, kittens this young need constant care and without the antibodies from the mothers milk they are extremely prone to infection. Apparently Claires partner told her not to come back with any more animals to add to their household so he will no doubt be pleased she is returning with 6! Fortunately he is as much of an animal lover as her and he is all talk(according to Claire) Claire pictured here handfeeding one of the babies.Its a good start to her first day, she has really been thrown in the deep end.Hope it doesn't put her off helping us again.
Another kitten has been found at the side of a busy road and is coming in to be fostered by Mei.This one has runny eyes and is about 6 weeks old so we cannot risk putting him/her into the kitten room until we are sure he/she is healthy enough.
My lovely(not) neighbour Horrid Hawksworth was giving himself an apoplexy yesterday, shouting "shut Up" at the dogs from over his fence. I walked over to where he had been standing and yes I could hear a couple of our dogs barking but it was not loud enough to bother anyone normal.What I also could hear is his geese screeching loudly and the equally loud noise of an agricultural vehicle he was using. He is lucky neither I nor the neighbours on his other side are like him.UNLIKE him we have more important things to stress about and we all accept we live in a rural location with animal and tractor sounds all around us on a daily basis.
Laddies new owners have emailed me to say he settled in well overnight.Pictured here is Laddie looking more than a little camera shy with his new people. Since being rescued from his previous home where he had been living in a shed and tied up all day with no exercise, it is no wonder he has become such a happy dog. He is now full of joy and I am sure he will give his new owners much fun and companionship.
Shani the potbellied pig which I had planned to take in, I had thought was going to a home but it failed to materialise so I am just waiting for the owner to organise a date for bringing her in. I am a bit concerned and apprehensive in case the two oldies here do not take to her but the Liverpool shelter did have a space there so there is a back up if there is a major problem. Today is cold (where did the warm spell go?)with an icy nip to the air and this is when I start to think about the pigs who feel the cold and need extra bedding to keep them warm. Each winter their wellbeing is a worry. I do wish animals like these were not bred in the Uk, they are poorly equipped physically to combat our poor weather conditions. That notwithstanding ,these two have managed to reach old age without succumbing though each year I wonder will it be their last. Dear old Pigwigs. (pictured here last month)My last comment brought to mind when I said something similar to a pig we had in Liverpool - we had taken in a stray young pig which we named Sid and going into his pen to feed him, I bent down and murmered "There you are Dear little Pig". He then promptly bit me! From then on he was known as Sid Vicious. In all fairness to Sid, he was probably scared and he was not to know I meant him no harm.He continued to live at Freshfields for many years.
I have received an email from the Great Dane Rescue who are delivering Paddy to me the week after next.They have given me the number of a Vet who can tell me more about dealing with his health problem.Not sure If I already mentioned it but the reason nobody wants him is because he has something called Wobblers Syndrome.It is a malformation of the vertebrae, the correct name for it is Spondololithesis and one of the the symptoms is an uncoordinated gait(or wobble)It is more common in large breeds like Danes and although some dogs can continue to lead a reasonably normal life for years after diagnosis, in some the condition will deteriorate. Therefore I do not know if Paddy will be with me for long, I hope so but with this condition one has to expect this may not be the case. If I can give him a home life for the time he has left(which MAY be a few years)then that makes him happy and the gap left by Molly will be filled by a very needy dog.
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