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!