In Which I become A Twitcher for The Day.

Monday:

Poor Candy is unwell today so we have made an appointment for her to see the vet tomorrow, she is off her food and is very quiet, she was not at all impressed by wearing her coat today either and tore it off! She will be joined by Toots one of the semi ferals whom I think needs a dental, she is drooling and losing weight.(wish I was - losing weight -not drooling!)The third animal to visit the vet will be Champ the Jack Russell who has shown a weight loss recently.We can never be too careful,  Champ is up to date with his worming so I am a little worried there is something more serious underlying.

The last of the collie pups went today, they have been wonderful pups to care for, quiet and loveable but full of fun, we will all miss their happy little faces and waggy tails but it is always good to se them go to real homes where they will receive the attention and training every pup needs. It has proved harder to have them adopted than I had imagined, usually pups are snapped up immediately but this time we have had several false starts and people backing out at the last minute.It can be very disheartening  when this happens, we all get excited when homes are on the cards for the animals here so when they fail to come to anything there is a great sense of disappointment but I am sure it is for  a reason and they are not meant to have that particular animal and that the right people come along sooner or later. In the case of these lovely puppies, I am sure that is what has happened.
Wednesday:
Terribly sad news, Candy has had to be put to sleep, in retrospect I feel she should not have had the anaesthetic, her age was against her.I am upset that I put her through it but I did so knowing she could not have had a quality of life with the coat in the state it was, it was pulling on her skin.I just wish the Vet had said at that point that she was not fit enough to have an operation. It is a great responsibility making decisions which can affect an animals life and this time it was the wrong one though I do not believe I was entirely to blame. This is one of the downsides of this work and what a downside it is.

Better news - the Springers have been reserved and will be going next weekend, Sally the GSD cross who has been on a seven day trial will be staying out for good, they are thrilled with her and apparently she is even good with their blind pigeon and flightless seagull! Good also is that all but one of the kittens we have in have been reserved, there is only one left and we are expecting someone here Friday for him. There is always something to balance out the sad moments(thank goodness)
Champ has a slight infection and is on antibiotics so he should be ok pretty soon.He seems as lively as usual so can't be feeling poorly even if his poo is a bit runny and he has some weight loss.He has to go back in a week for a check up.

I had a lovely day off today  -I went bird watching with ' The Biggest Twitch'
 and its Twitcher owner who along with his partner do guided tours round North Wales.For the uinitiated a twitcher is not someone who fails to control his/her  movements but rather a  very keen bird watcher! It was a 5am start which was a bit difficult to do, I had to creep out very quietly so as not to wake the dogs .Next time I will opt for a later start.The reason for the early start was to witness the Black Grouse Lek(a gathering of male grouse puffing themselves up and strutting their stuff as males tend to do!)Only one female arrived, she took a quick  look around  and flew off - I dont blame her, there was far too much testerone about! She had the right idea. Photo  shown here of the Black Grouse Lek.
Thursday:
I have just realised that the date for the Open day here in Wales is wrong.It should read the 24th July(sunday) At least on the posters already distributed it says Sunday so that should do the trick but will be printing more posters with the correct date on and if anyone can help me distribute them I will be pleased to hear from them! It is coming up so fast, it hardly seems a year since the last one. Once the Sponsored Dog Walk is out the way I can concentrate more on organising the Open Day.  Great News - We have received a grant for the Stable yard and will have the work done in time for July 24th. It will make such a difference to the place and be so much easier to keep clean for the horses, I am very excited, its been a long time since we had any major work done here and it is always good to see improvements being done.
The greyhound cross Roy was fostering was not claimed and she is now with me, happily esconced with Paddy and Patch in the house , she is a lovely dog but too young for me to consider keeping, I like the old ones best. I have just had an email from David who gave a home to collie  Lad, Lad is doing fine and has settled in well and taken to sleeping under the bed where he can remain close to his new person. I am so thrilled to hear that, he is a dog I had a special bond with and I want him to be happy after his miserable previous farm  home. He has a problem attacking other dogs when he is on the lead but off the lead he is gentle and makes friends quickly with new dogs.This seems to be a fairly common problem so I need to speak to a canine behaviourist myself in order to understand this.

I f anyone thinks I have made light of the Candy business, it is not because I think it unworthy of a long chapter but rather that I dont want to dwell on things that are  too sad and upsetting which is why I chose a lighter title for this blog.I love all the animals we help(well almost all of them) and she was a sweetheart but there are many other animals who need the attention now and I cannot allow myself to grieve for too long over any one creature.It would  affect my ability to carry on especially as I descend easily into black phases which can be crippling.(mentally) I make a  daily physical effort (and it is an effort)to  tear my mind away from sadness and try hard to be as positive as humanly possible which is never easy when  working in animal welfare presents so many obstacles to this.

Therefore I am dwelling today on the wonderful grant for which I am so very grateful, the animals happy in their new homes , the fact that Jess and Sam Springers will soon have a happy life ahead of  them and the fact that it is 6.30pm and the sun is still shining! Fantastic!