A good day for Cats and Noddy Has A bout of Colic

What a busy day it has been today.Early this morning I had to take Paddy back to the Vet to have his heart checked again, it was much more stable so he is remaining on the heart medication permanently.As always he created somewhat of a stir in the surgery waiting room, he wagged his tail happily (unfortunately it whacked ME  causing me to wince in pain ) at a waiting collie who was hiding behind his owners chair and he must be one of the few animals who actually licked the Vets face whilst he was examining him. I am always covered in bruises where Paddys weapon of a tail hits me and where he pushes me over in his exuberance and joy at seeing  me  when I finish work.
The Vet Surgery appears to hold no fear for him, even though he has spent a fair bit of time in them.I see some dogs trying to drag their owners back out of the waiting room and am very thankful Paddy does not do this or I would be making a very undignified and sharp exit!
Its another bright day but freezing cold and everywhere is covered in frost including the windscreen of my car. The stable yard is already slippy so I have ordered some rock salt (and a snow shovel)which will be handy if this cold spell continues. I live in dread of one of the horses slipping and breaking a leg when  the yard freezes over.

The first of the sheepdog pups went today, the largest male Buddy was adopted and there are people interested in the other two. I was starting to worry that nobody was showing interest in them and then all of a sudden I began to receive enquiries about them.It would be nice if there is not one left alone at the end of the weekend, that is always a shame, we try to have them go out to homes on the same day but it is not always possible.

Around 5 pm Mei called me to have a look at Noddy who was definitely not himself, we  looked at each other and said'Colic'. Our little old man was clearly very uncomfortable and was trying to lie down all the time,When he showed no interest in his food I knew he was poorly, he is like me, nothing keeps him away from his food. Mei called the Vet and he arrived quickly and gave him a couple of injections which should do the trick. Noddy is such a hardy little pony, in the 30 years(he is 38 years old  now) he has been in the care of Freshfields, he has rarely been ill. In spite of his malformed legs he has probably been the healthiest pony we have ever cared for but he has been a little tinker in the past, as readers of my book will know. By the way thanks to everyone who has  bought a copy and took the time to let me know that they enjoyed it. I appreciated that very much.

We had several visitors today and three cats have gone to homes with another three reserved. Katy the all white cat left us today, as did 6 months old Annabelle and a biggish kitten(not yet named) There have been a few enquiries for kittens but most people want very young ones and all ours from the last batch of unwanted litters are now 16 -20 weeks old. At this age they are that much more difficult to rehome but they will all go eventually,it just takes time.One of the reasons I began rescuing animals in Liverpool was because the only animal shelter in that area in the 1970's had a seven day policy.If an animal failed to find a home in that time,it was destroyed. I used to think how almost impossible it was to find suitable homes given that time frame and now I KNOW that it can take much,much longer than that. Time is something we at Freshfields have plenty of and   we can be lucky and pets can be adopted very quickly after admittance but others will linger but for most animals there is the right home and the right owner, its just a matter of finding them and matching them up.

John left his xmas ' Bah Humbug ' hat behind the other day when he went home and somebody kindly  but misguidedly put it in the office where current office dog Jane thoroughly enjoyed ripping the pompom to pieces. John, if you read this you now have a pompomless hat!

Ps: Neglected Jane is going from strength to strength, this dear little staffie is losing her drab, dull coat and it is becoming shiner by the day, she is also putting on weight though she was so thin it will take a lot longer for her to gain enough to be a  normal weight. She is such a loveable dog and is as good as gold here, quiet and clean(wish all dogs were like that)This time  you will notice that the eyes  are green not red, What AM I doing wrong? Award winning photographer I will never be.