Will she stay or will she go?

Well, I have started the office tidying,its  beginning to look better and I am at least once again able to find things!
Mei is still bruised around her chin and nose and her lip is swollen with several stitches in but she is lucky nothing is broken. I doubt she will play that agility game again.Best leave it to the dogs Mei!
We have had an old dog in whose owner has died, he is very arthritic and wobbly on his legs.We will see if he improves with treatment but in truth I feel he may not have more than another 6 months, having said that he is a happy dog and is not the sort to fret, being perfectly happy just pottering around and having a fuss off people.Some animals really go downhill when they lose owners and it can take a few weeks for them to settle, on the other hand most seem to adjust very well to new  circumstances and this chap is clearly one of the more adaptable ones.I am going to see how he gets on with Meg lurcher and Jackson staffie in the house .Jackson will be fine with him other than the fact that he young and strong and may knock the old dog over in his attempt to be friendly. There has not been one enquiry for Jackson and speaking as  a person who is not usually overly keen on this type of dog, I have to say he  would make someone a delightful pet, he is just a bundle of love and affection and his friendliness to other dogs is such a bonus.
If any readers could post his facebook profile on their own and spread the word I would be very grateful.

The Facebook page has proved to be a great success with the homing of animals,it takes the word out to so many more people and Smokie the 12 years old cat found his home that way; there is another show of interest in Lola the black cat who has been here for two years,it would be wonderful if that adoption went ahead. The internet can be a real pain sometimes, the amount of rubbish(spam) that gets sent via email daily is mindblowing but where it comes into its own for an animal shelter is the ability to spread the word around the country so we are no longer restricted to a small radius to  search for help.
NOwadays the network of animal rescuers means that we can arrange homechecks all over the Uk, we all can help each other..Just this week a homecheck is being done for me in Norwhich., not only is this support a great help but it also brings me  into contact with likeminded people and the more we can help each other the more animals we can rescue between us all. It has opened up so many possibilities and when I look back to the early days of Freshfields I see how limited I was, no wonder I struggled so much for help.

Mion is fostering another mum cat and babies, their owner was moving and gave us 2 days to find a place for them! Sometimes I know that people will not  abandon their pets no matter what, other times I have a gut feeling that if I dont make a decision to move quickly on a particular case, that it would without doubt result in abandonment .These cases put a great deal of pressure on rescues, it is easy to deal with when there is room but more often than not we are absolutely full, what do we do then? Well I make dozens of telephone calls to people I know and hope that one will relent and offer a temporary home to the animals in danger. There are many who would love to offer this help but their personal circumstances do not lend themselves to fostering,however I keep trying until I either find a place or resign myself to finding space in the house and to do this it has to be an animal my own will accept and again there is a limit to  the numbers I can have and care for.As it is I wonder if Jackson will ever be placed or the little old girl from the Dog Pound who has made herself at home now they stay it means I cannot take in any other needy dogs.
Jackson surely will appeal to someone but I think the little old girl will stay somehow. Pictured above  with glowing green eyes (Nicky what do I do wrong?)

Cariad is spending some time today with Phoebe and Caradog.We hope both will eventuually be placed out on loan together but we need to keep them fit and used to having people handling them.Pictured here is Phoebe being put through her paces with the help of Ethan.
Phoebe has been a childs pony but has had little exercise for some time, she is only 10 years of age and without some schooling will never find a home.
Her companion Caradog is also in need of some one to one attention, one wonders why a horse ends up so nervous around humans? Of the two it is Phoebe who is the more sociable and will be easier to place but  it could prove harder to place them together, nevertheless they are going to stay together whilst they are so bonded. Unlike most horses who come here neither horse has  has shown any  interest at all in others and prefer to keep themselves to themselves. If Phoebe is out of sight Caradog becomes fearful and agitated, she gives him confidence so we are looking for a very special home for these two,

Finally, I must add that this past two weeks has seen  new visitors to my garden bird table, two greenfinches and a female siskin. This may sound dull to those who have numerous species visiting their gardens but I have very few so any new arrivals are regarded by me with great excitement! In particular the siskin landed on the feeder whilst I was standing very close waiting for Meg Lurcher to have a wee! I even for once had my camera on my person, however my hand was shaking so much trying not to scare the bird away I screwed up and the photo is blurred.

When I was in Peru I went to see birds feeding  on a salt lick at the side of a river (just off the Amazon)and this amazing vision was made all the more interesting by the fact that each species of bird clearly had a pecking (sorry for the pun) order. The beautiful scarlet and blue Macaws came first, followed by different species of smaller green parrots , each species taking its turn on the lick. Here I notice that the siskin and greenfinches come later in the day when the chaffinches and others have taken their fill for the evening.Sometimes it is 9pm when they arrive. Have others noticed this?