Cat adoptions Improve

Saturday:
Pictured here are two  4 months old kittens who have been lucky enough to catch the eye of visitors from Felinheli. The kittens  are not looking too happy about posing for a photograph;  if they only knew their lives were about to change and that they were not going to see the inside of one of our cat pens again! Maureen has  had a Freshfields cat for nine years so  I know these kittens are going to the best of homes. Mei and I are were so thrilled they chose two older kittens as they often are overlooked in favour of the very young ones. Naturally we are delighted when any of them find homes but the older ones so quickly lose their appeal so it is an anxious time for us, wondering if the kittens will end up growing into adults and still be homeless. Well we don't have to worry about these youngsters any longer.

Their place was rapidly filled by three of their siblings (2 shown here on left)which had been fostered by Nicky;  although the same age, these two are so much smaller than their brothers who were rescued  several weeks previously.  A month or so  of good food and care makes such  a difference to the growth of kittens, the markings on the tabby are fantastic, almost like a Bengal cat.Marmaduke, the tiny ginger abandoned on a rubbish tip last week has also been adopted by people who already have two of our cats - another tried and tested home. I love it when they come back for another... and another....!

The terriers have arrived and are sweet little dogs. One (on the left) is almost certainly a Jack Russell crossed with a chihuahua, he is a tiny little chap and the other is the spitting image of Monty who was homed a few days ago.Somebody in that area must be breeding Patterdales crossed with Jack Russells.They are almost identical ! Monty is out on a 7 day trial so I am hoping that he will have settled in to his new routine and will not be returned. This one is not quite as calm as Monty but then again, he has been in a kennels for a week, with no exercise ,so he is bound to be a bit lively.
They are both going to be cared for by new foster mum Alison who is on her way to collect them  this afternoon.

I am just waiting for a couple to arrive from the Midlands, they are interested in a young collie we have called Cassie,I think they must have got lost as they were expected around lunchtime and it is now almost three pm! 
The past few days has seen me slogging away at the animal database on the computer , trying to get up to date with all admittances. It is one of those jobs which if not done on a daily basis, the paperwork all of a sudden seems to take over the desk!  So onward and forward!

Sunday;
The couple did not turn up to see Cassie which was disappointing but better they decided against her now than later. She is so nice, she will be snapped up soon anyway.

Honey the shetland pony with breathing problems has been poorly again and we had to call out the Vet. Even though she is not an old pony, she is supposed to be 11 years of age (we have always believed her to be much older) Honey has been diagnosed with heart failure .She looked completely out of it and was shaky on her little legs. To be honest we thought this would be the day we would have to make the final decision but Vet Roger has given her a steroid injection  and a pain killer; he thinks she has arthritis in her spine but is not at the stage where she needs to be PTS. My feeling is that when she has the next bad 'do' I will make the decision because if these relapses are becoming more frequent,it is not fair to her and clearly her health IS deteriorating. It is not nice at all watching a pony struggling with health problems and if she has  a poor longterm prognosis then I do not want to wait until she is in a state of collapse.It is a hard decision to make but it is the last act of kindness we can show to those in our care.

We have had torrential rain here for days but in spite of that  we have homed a few more cats. Lola  a timid black cat  which has been here for a very long time(almost 2 years) has gone to a home with another adult cat called Lucy. Its wonderful for them both but especially poor old Lola who must have been really fed up with her incarceration here. You know how much I love it when the longtermers are adopted,its so much of a morale boost for us all and of course it makes room for another needy animal.It just brightens up the whole day.(as I type this the rain has miraculously stopped and the sun has come out.)Yippee.

Ps: Just been to check on Honey and I wish I could have some of whatever the Vet gave her! She has perked up amazingly and is happily munching away at her hay. Sadly though, this will only be a temporary respite from her problems but at least today will not be a day of sadness.