A Very Old pony called Jojo Arrives at the Shelter

Thanks to everyone who has emailed and rung me about Lewis and I am pleased to say that he doing well,Each day he is a little stronger and brighter in himself and today he even came for a (very) short walk with me. His weight of course will take some time to reach normal level but with a dog as malnourished as this , it is a long and slow process building him up and it cannot be rushed. He is on 4 small meals daily which include scrambled eggs and mashed potato and he wolfs down every one as though it is the last meal he will ever have. I just wish the owner could be traced, like so many perpetrators of such crimes he will get away with it but quite frankly even if he was traced, what justice would there be for Lewis? He/she might get a fine and banned for a year from keeping dogs. Our current justice system seems to fail to take seriously animal cruelty and it is completely beyond my understanding that when someone is found guilty of animal cruelty there is not an automatic ban for life from keeping pets. Nothing less is acceptable.

Today we admitted a very old pony called Jojo. THis ancient old pony who is in his late thirties belongs to Harley who is one of the young people currently working here on one of the Government get back to work schemes. Harley has been an absolute godsend to us ,especially over the bad weather during which he faithfully trudged to work daily through snow and ice. Unlike many youngsters who seem to see this scheme as a cop out from REAL work(how much more real can it be?) and not only fail to come in every day but do not even bother to telephone to let us know - Harley has been a star even coming in at weekends to volunteer and even better than that He is a hard worker. I wish we had the money to offer him a full time job, he is one who really deserves it.Never mind our situation could change for the better and then who knows what may happen. Anyhow the point of writing about him is that he is the owner of this old pony which has been kept in a field in the village and although I know he has been well cared for and has a very warm rug through the cold winter days I have been concerned that if the weather forecast comes true and we are yet to experience even harsher weather it could mean the end of Jojo who has Cushings Discease so I offered to winter him here where he will have a stable and company of other old ponies. Today we let him settle in but tomorrow we are going to introiduce him to some of the other geriatrics.

I had to go to Porthmadog today and I popped in the charity shop to see Trish who showed me the two cats she had taken in . We keep a room above the shop for emergencies and these two were found at the back of the Red Cross charity shop a little further up the High Street. The black one has both hips out of joint and the Vet thinks she was born that way.It doesn't seem to affect her contentment and quality of life although she will have to be an indoor cat as she will never be as quick as an able bodied cat. Both cats are suffering from flu and are on treatment so this will have to be cleared before they can be admitted to the shelter. The tortoishell as you can see has the most amazing orange eyes and the black one is a sweetie though you wouldn't think it looking at his grumpy face(he was camera shy) Both young cats will make lovely companions for someone.Actually they will be best off going to separate homes as they seem very independent of each other.

There has been a problem this week with one of the dogs I have in the house.Timmy a cross collie/kelpie has proved to be an escape artist and no matter what is done to secure the garden, he finds a way out. Well my worst nightmare came true - he killed two hens and chased a sheep at the next door farm and I cannot risk such a tragedy occurring again so I have been trying to find another place for him as soon as possible. A rescue in Cambridgeshire have offered him a foster home and have a possible home for him too but we are struggling to get him down there at the moment.We also have a home in Milton Keynes for another dog and we would like the two to go at the same time so Mei and I are making lots of phone calls to try and sort it out.

The Liverpool Shelter have Granada Television going there tomorrow and are hoping they will receive some donations after it has been aired.I hope so too. If anyone would like to make a donation to this branch in Wales (A lady asked yesterday in response to the blog)I am afraid we do not have a card machine but our address is on our main website www.freshfieldsrescue.org.uk.