In Which I have a Decision to make.

William is a  little better today after his scare and the physio lady Gillian is calling on Wednesday to start work with him. I would like to know more about his health as I have reason to believe this has happened before in his previous home and  I should have been told about it at the time we admitted him.Had we been in possession of the correct information we would have not brought out the lady from Derbyshire to see an infirm horse, and even more importantly William would not have been put into a situation which could cause more damage.. We have put him on Painkillers  for a couple of days and are keeping a close eye on him .Several years ago we admitted a most handsome horse called Boston who arrived from Dorset having been overworked by his owner who hunted him regularly. (that in itself tells a story of how compassionate the owner was!)Unwanted due to his not being fit to be worked, his future was grim until a kind lady rescued him and sent him here. Boston was in the same condition as William, he had damaged his back and was in great pain , however we called in a physio immediately and  eventually Boston recovered enough to be homed  for light hacking only. His new carer continued with his treatment and Boston is now a healthy fit animal. With luck William too will recover his health though until we know exactly what damage has been done we will not know if he will have to remain at the shelter for the rest of his life.

More summer grazing has been offered to us and it has been decided that either Morris and William or Dids and Buster will benefit from this, the physio would have to start Williams   treatment here and continue at his new summer home if we decide  he is to go.

We thought we were going to be short staffed today and two volunteers have turned up unexpectedly  which is a great relief as we were worried we would not manage if it was a busy day with visitors. As it happened we had no visitors at all but  I know Sue was glad of helper Josie assisting her with the cattery cleaning . Rosie was helped by Andrew who is the husband of another volunteer Kim.Thanks both of you, we really needed extra hands today.

Sunday:

The little black cat Mac which was unwell is still poorly but brighter and happier today so I am hoping he will make a full recovery although of course with this virus it can be recurring, therefore he will need a very special home with no other cats. When he is better I will put out a special appeal for him.

It has been ultra quiet this weekend for adoptions. If anyone can help advertise our cats please let me know.I will do some posters for them today and they coulkd be placed in shop windows/office notice boards etc. Considering we are the only cat shelter in this area, our adoption rate is not good at all, yet we struggle  to accommodate the sheer numbers of unwanted and homeless felines we are constantly being requested to take in. Of course when the kittens start to appear it is even harder to home adult cats and this happens every year.

So many cats are brought in after their owners die and our two latest ' orphans' are Old Bill(who isnt actually that old) who is 7 years old and Felix a 7 months old youngster. Felix came from a local home and was unneutered, when we took him for his operation the Vet discovered he had a grade three heart murmer.He is a happy youngster and ihas made himself totally at home in the cattery, on the other hand Old Bill is most unhappy at his change of circumstances., he has lived in a flat with an elderly owner so is unused to being around other cats. As his owner died in february the cat has been living a lonely life being fed daily by a relation but having no company though  judging by his expression on the photo I took ,he would prefer to be back there, lonely or not.It is sad when animals lose their homes isn't it? I hope Bill will soon realise that we are ok people here and that we will be endeavouring to find him the sort of home he is used to.

All my foster homes are now full with dogs, cats and kittens, we desperately need a few more.Is there anybody out there who can help?If you use facebook or twitter can you spread the word please.

We have taken in three more collies from the pound and have had to overload Rosie in order to get them out of there, pictured here on their arrival. All are females, one is outgoing, one timid and the third a basket case, terrified of her own shadow. The very shy one is very young, maybe 8 months old at the most so she should come round with Rosies care and experience of the breed.

I have been thinking very deeply about continuing with this blog.Yes it is hard to find time to do it regularly but more than that I feel restricted in what I can say and what I am unable to say.When I began I wanted it to be like a diary of life here at the shelter and to be truthful about my perceptions and feelings. I find now that I am having to constantly think about upsetting people by the truth and it is becoming harder to let the words flow. There have been two incidents recently which have brought this to a head and to be honest  I have been wondering if it is worthwhile spending the time doing the blog if  I have to sit and think"well I cant say this / mention his name/say how I really feel etc"

Of course I have an obligation to the charity to steer away from anything which could result in a backlash and  that is quite right but even so there are people who are happy to  use my words against Freshfields and I do not want the blog to turn into something which is far from truthful and lacking in personal input .

Maybe I just need a break, if I decide to do this I will find someone else to carry on for a while whilst I recuperate from writers block! Even amateur writers like me can  suffer from this! I am lookingforward to a day off onWednesday when I will be going on another birding day with "The Biggest Twitch" , this time to South Stacks in Anglesey. Roy from the Caernarfon shop is joining me, he needs a day of relaxation as well - he is always working for the animals and it is easy to say there is no time for leisure but I think everybody needs  to stop and take stock of how much 'me' time they are having or not as the case may be and if necessary redress the situation. As I am always being told I will be no good to anyone least if all the animals if I crack up. The cracks are definitely showing  and not just on my rapidly  aging face,  so  I am going to heed this advice before there is a full scale meltdown and my brain goes into bipolar mode and the stress causes the visage surface cracks to turn into full scale earthquake proportions!

Ps: just heard that Cassie  the cross dachsund I fell in love with is already enjoying her new life,  now I know that I made the right decision allowing her to be adopted.

Collies:  on right 6 yrs old bella,

Above top. Rosie

Above left: Tilly