The Yorkies arrive and our missing cat turns up.

The two little yorkies are in and they are adorable. They seem quite at home and are eating well if rather noisily.They both have a soft Palate which makes their breathing very noisy and they dont sound dissimilar to our two potbellied pigs, however they are healthy in spite of this problem and are very sweet natured little dogs.Rolo is 10 years and Fudge 9 years. Neither seem perturbed at their sudden change of circumstances which is a bonus, so many small pampered dogs struggle to adapt to shelter life even if it is only for a few weeks. These two are already following me about as though they have always lived here and NO I am not planning to add them to my animal family much as I would like to. They are fit enough to go somehwre where they can receive the attention they need,My last two were so old nobody wanted them (20 and 21 yrs!)which is why they stayed with me.

More mum cats and kittens are installed in our "maternity unit.Only one of the kittens is ready for rehoming - the white and tabby with the same coloured mother. (pictured here)The rest are only about 4 weeks of age and still very dependent on Mum.I have not yet been for the 13 cats whose owner has died but will be going this week, having made enough pens ready for the newcomers. I hope they ARE domestic and not feral as the relative informed me.There is not enough room to take them in the feral enclosure which reminds me I have a home waiting for four of our ferals so pending a homecheck they will be leaving us for a better life. The home is near Tregaron in Ceridigion and I am waiting to hear from a possible homechecker in that area. With the feral cats the prospective owners have to have a secure shed or building in which to keep the animals for at least a month in order for them to adapt to a new routine so that has to be checked and also to ascertain that they will be fed daily and will not be expected to catch their own food. This has been the only offer of a home for ferals that we have had for quite some time though if the homecheck does not pass muster I would rather keep them until a better place turns up. Even when we struggle for homes we will never grasp at the first home offered just for the sake of getting them out of the shelter. We have to think we have done our best each time, thats what it is all about.

Speaking of ferals - wonderful news, our missing ginger and white cat has turned up after three weeks, he is thin and hungry but otherwise unharmed.I cant begin to say what a relief it is to see him again.

Bart the handsome longhaired elderly cat which I featured in my blog a few entries ago was spotted by a reader and she hotfooted it to the shelter and offered him a home with her and her family. What a result! Thank you,Thank you,Thank you.

I have been ragwort picking today in the glaring sun. It was hard going, This was at the summer fields where horses Big Buster ,Callie and Freddie are grazing.They were totally disinterested in me until I produced a packet of their favourite treat - polo mints and I then had them literally eating out of my hand. Even Freddie who can be nervous and a bit standoffish was suddenly my new best friend. The term Cupboard Love springs to mind

There are people interested in the Utonagan. Both homes have the same type of dogs already and are experienced with the breed, one in Northumberland seems particularly suited to Harry and another is coming to see him at the weekend.(they live locally) Harry was neutered yesterday along with the lovely Jess border collie(her new people have had their homecheck passed and are travelling from Norfolk for her this weekend) He is a very aloof dog and reminds me of our dear old Monty collie whose personality and behaviour suggested possible autism - is this possible with canines? Maybe he is just bewildered by his sudden life change but his face looks blank of expression.Poor dog. I do hope we manage to place him where he will find contentment and possible happiness.

After I finish this blog I am going to put high factor suntan cream on the noses of the grey ponies whose noses are pink and without this will be even pinker.An attempt will also be made to put some on the back of pink pig.That should be fun!

Bonnie returns full of vitality and we have a busy weekend.

Bonnie came back bright as a button from the Vet, you would not believe that she was recovering from an operation. He thinks her growth was not a malignant one so as long as she keeps out of the sun she will be Ok. We are all so relieved, she is such a great character and is so much part of the shelter it would seem weird without her lumbering about in her inimitable way

More good news , I cant believe that Vixen(now called Sally) has gone to a home already but she has found someone to love her thanks to Marc and Joe(friends and supporters from Anglesey) .Joseph came to see us and brought a friend who had just lost his dearly loved canine companion and could not bear to be without a dog. He did not care about the dogs appearance, in his own words he just wanted to give a loving home to a rescued dog.Out came Vixen and the "deal" was done. There was no asking if we had anything else to look at, he liked her immediately and she liked him so that was that! If only all homing was so simple. A man with exactly the right attitude and believe me that is rare.I cannot remember the last time that happened. Good luck to them both. It was just the best thing to put a smile on my face - I really needed something good to happen today because this morning I had to have one of the Maggie Marthas put to sleep and felt very despondent. Even the presence of the other dogs failed to cheer me up. At the age of 22 years this little yorkshire terrier had grown very frail and there was no longer any quality to her life.Today she refused to eat again(she would not eat yesterday either) and I could no longer ignore her deterioration. The other Maggie Martha seems oblivious to her departure for which I am thankful but she still has Suzy to snuggle up with

Speaking of Yorkies, there are two mid age Yorkies in need of a home.I will probably bring them here in the next week or so but in the meantime I have taken in Poppy the 12 years old shaggy type dog I mentioned a few weeks ago. I was unable to find her a home and her situation became urgent.Her owner is still in hospital and not likely to come out and Poppy was still in the empty house for which the keys were being returned to the Council yesterday. Although it was thought she was not good with other animals, she is in fact wonderful and no trouble at all.In fact she is the sort of dog I could very easily fall in love with! Oh no, I had intended to reduce the numbers of my own dogs to give me more freedom to travel and actually have a life outside the shelter!Will this ever happen?I need to be stronger willed and learn not to melt at the first sight of a homeless dog with expressive big brown eyes and a habit of rolling on her back to have her tummy tickled.Works every time with me. A pleading expression and a sloppy kiss and I am lost. Just for the record this works ONLY with dogs

After writing about the probable future problem with huskies , I have been asked to take in a Utonagan.This is a dog which originated from crossing Siberian huskies with Malamutes and German Shepherds. Why would anyone want to do that? Well it was to breed a dog which looked like a wolf and the only reason I can see for that is to impress as with the so called dangerous dog breeds.For heavens sake are there not enough breeds in existence, what is the need for another?Will this be the latest craze? It scares me because it is hard enough to find good homes for ordinary dogs but those with specialised needs are so much more difficult to place and most breed rescues are overwhelmed already. Harry seems to be a lovely dog in many ways but has only been in his new home for a few weeks and already they are nervous of him.These are dominant dogs,like the Siberian Husky and as I have said before should never go to people inexperienced with the breed type. I will try advertising him first and see if anyone knowledgeable responds, if not I will try a foster home, at least he is good with other dogs.

There have been a few offers of homes for companion horses but actually we are running out of suitable animals to home on our loan scheme. Murphy shetland is going pending a home visiand then there are just the the three youngsters and Marigold and Melba (though they are a bit of a handful.) Most of the others have health problems in one way or another and are on medication or need specialised diets. There are some on the waiting list which I have been trying to match up with suitable owners but again most are not entirely without a health issue.Either that or they need to be homed with their companions and most people will not have the space or money to take on two.

Another old cat has been brought in because his owners are emigrating. Bart is already missing his home comforts but he has settled in fairly well for a cat used to a good home life and is eating well too..He is 12 years old , a beautiful big longhaired cat with a lovely temperament , he is used to children fussing him and has even lived with a dog - there has to be somebody out there who will appreciate him. I am confident he will not remain here too long

We have two new mums with their babies. Grey mum has two kittens with her and black mum has 5 little ones. As often happens when taking photos of animals - They MOVE. so they are not the best photos in the world.We have to think of names for the newcomers now, we have lists of names to look at when our brains can no longer come up with anything remotely original which is most of the time!

Sunday saw lots of volunteers at the shelter..Sue our Wednesday lady (and holiday cover) arrived , then Emma (her third time here helping with the cats )and then our longterm sunday volunteer Dilys arrived bringing with her a new helper. Yuri is from Peru and has lived in this area for over a year, he has worked with horses both in his home country and in the Uk. He brought his"tickling stick"which he uses to establish contact with himself and a new horse, this method is excellent for nervous animals to become used to the touch of a human and works very well.Blue although not nervous was lulled almost into falling asleep and the staff were fascinated by Yuris way of communication with the animals. Its been good to have so many new helpers here.Its taken a long time to become established in this area and it seems our constant publicity has finally begun to pay off. Our volunteer base is definitely growing.

Finally a car pulled up this afternoon and the driver brought us a dear little dog called kenny whose owner died yesterday. He is not full grown yet, a cross jack russell/cavalier spaniel and he is sitting beside me in the office as I type this. He is a real sweetheart. A lady from Colwyn Bay happened to ring at the same time he arrived and he sounds just what she wants so is on her way to see him. He is another I could really fall in love with so he needs to go QUICKLY!

Photos are of Kenny, Yuri and Blue , the two mum cats mentioned and the lovely Bart.

Bonnie has an operation..

After writing about the lack of support from local supermarkets, I have been told that there is a new Waitrose in menai Bridge in Anglesey and they are supporting local charities so thanks for that information .I will follow it up. My new computer is now up and working so I am hopeful that there will be fewer problems connecting to the internet. The donation of this computer may well have saved my sanity (well, what sanity I have left!)I am very grateful for both computer and the prevention of an extremely likely nervous breakdown which would probably have resulted in one very temperamental piece of technological equipment being hacked to pieces! Thank you Peter for preventing this mayhem.



A rather thin lurcher type female has been found on the bypass and so far nobody has turned up to claim her, she loves playing ball and gets on very well with other dogs which is always a bonus.If nobody claims her this week I will arrange to have her spayed with Jess. The staff have named her Vixen and it suits her, she does look a little fox like. There is also a 12 weeks Kelpie pup being fostered in Machynlleth, his owners said he is growing too big! This always mystifies me. When someone aquires a pedigree breed there is none of the uncertainty as there is with a crossbreed so why is there such surprise as the dog grows "the wrong size"?



Our dear Bonnie Foxhound has been to the vet today because of a lump on her leg.The bad news is that it is skin cancer and she has stayed in for an operation to remove the growth. Poor old Bonnie, this means that she will no longer be able to roam freely round the property scavenging and sunbathing when the sun is shining.It will be too dangerous for her. Fortunately she is not a young dog, around 10 years we estimate so she does like her sleep a lot too and may not be too concerned at her enforced incarceration during hot weather. That is of course if we do have any more good weather. In future I will have mixed feelings when I see the sun,instead of heralding it as a great day,I will now also worry about Bonnie being shut inside. Que sera, sera.



The horses have now gone to their summer home and yesterday I went to check on them, all look blissfully content and barely looked up from their grazing when I approached. My presence failed to compete with the profusion of lovely green grass. I did notice the ragwort was starting to grow so stayed to pick as much as I could.Another visit will be necessary at the weekend



.I was upset and angry to read in the local newspaper about the man from Bala who left a young pony in a field to die last winter . Words are not enough to describe my feelings about this. It makes me feel murderous. Why Why Why? In spite of RSPCA being aware of the situation months before, this still happened. It is beyond my comprehension. If this happened to an animal I had been informed about I would be totally devastated and would feel unfit to continue my work. having said that I dont know the background of the case and perhaps should not make judgement so quickly. .



We had a short but pleasant visit from Ian who is in charge of the neutering voucher scheme implemented by the Cats Protection League headquarters. They have allocated Freshfields a sum of money to be used towards neutering cats at both shelters.This is such a wonderful help to us, without it we would never be able to afford to neuter the many stray cats brought here.



Speaking of cats, I have just received a telephone call requesting help for 14 cats, none of which are neutered. They will need collecting as the owner has no transport and it is doubtful will have cat baskets either. Their owner has died and his widow wants them gone! I should be able to collect them some time this weekend.

Well I am off now to collect Bonnie from the Vets surgery.She will be glad to come home,

The foals play dead

The photos of swans does not mean that there are now dozens of swans "swanning" around the shelter (forgive the pun)I took them a few weeks ago whilst visiting my niece in Worcester and just thought it would be nice to share them.
Shooks has now left us for pastures new and what great pastures they are. In October when she has her passport and rabies vaccination, she will be off to the snow capped mountains of France to spend winter there.I have been promised photographs and I look forward to seeing them.
The Liverpool shelter is donating some of their Tescos donated food to the Welsh shelter and are sending a van over here next Thursday.That will be so very welcome, if only we could receive the same co-operation from our local Tescos! Only the Holyhead branch are amenable to having a collecting box for us at the store and shops like Morrisons in Caernarfon are just downright unhelpful and obstructive. I think its actually down to the Managers , if he/she does not care for animals they refuse help. Morrisons Head office simply says its up to the local managers to make decisions about helping charities so thats not too helpful.
I couldnt resist taking the photo of Crystal having a quiet moment, well to be honest all of Crystals moments are quiet , she is such a gentle and, well -quiet horse! The other horsey pic is not of 2 dead ponies but of the three youngsters having yet another siesta on a sunny afternoon.I tried to take all three but Shamrock was alert as soon as I sneaked up on them.I have never known ponies sleep together in this way, they almost are curled up (if horses could curl up)together fast asleep.Its a bit blurred because I was trying to take the photo quickly before they heard me and I rushed it too much.
There will be six horses leaving us this week for their summer holidays. Big Buster,Freddie and Callie are going back to the same place in Caearnarfon where they were last year only this time Buster is going instead of Ken (who is doing well after his grief over his new friend dying)Must remember to explain to the owners of the fields or they will think ken has grown massively since last summer! Marigold and Melba will be joined by Solitaire this year for their holiday which is also in Caernarfon.The owner of this land has agreed to take an extra and we chose Solitaire because she has become very close to Marigold over the past year.
As with other parts of the country we are having fantastic weather.Morning walks are amazing,it makes one feel glad to be alive.I love this time of year with the buttercups pushing through the grass, swallows ducking and diving through the skies, birds singing away in the surrounding trees, butterflies flitting over the wild flowers and most of all the sun shining which makes everyone feel good. Except Rhian who hates the sun!Due to her pale colouring, she burns when out in the sun too much but Rhian if you read this - Pale is the new Tan!!! You are fashionable and not only that you will not get wrinkles like little old sun loving me.Wish I had skin like hers,its flawless. In comparison I look like a Sharpei!(wrinkly chinese breed of dog for those who dont know)
Tilly has had an operation to remove the growth and she will be returning to Rosies foster home later today.We are waiting to hear what sort of tumour it was. Hopefully she will be able to go off to her new home later this week if all is well. Yet another issue that her owner failed to deal with.He has a lot to answer for. Robin, the one with the embedded chain collar is now doing very well and is a lot friendlier and happier.Who can blame him. It must be like getting let out of prison after doing a life sentence. Tilly shows her appreciation all the time, she simply wants to be cuddled or get on to someones knee and then she just gazes up in adoration at the person.She is adorable.
We had a gull brought in with a broken wing, fortunately Veronica was here that day and as she lives in Anglesey she took him over to a lovely lady called Ann who takes in wild birds.In this area she is the only person I know with experience of injured wildlife and I know she is trying to cut down on her intake.After many years of this work, she has often been overwhelmed and feels she would like to take a step back.I know the feeling only too well.The concern is who can do it when she stops. We dont have the facilities and I have a little knowledge but not enough to take it on. Maybe someone will turn up by the time Ann gives it up.Heres hoping.
When I was shopping for catfood a few days ago,I was approached by a gentleman who saw the Freshfields sign on the vehicle.He wanted to get rid of 24 Koi Carp and other fish(big goldfish I think). We never know what we will be asked to take here from one day to the next.Clearly I am unable to take these fish but I am trying to find someone locally with a suitable facility for them.
Another lovely collie has been admitted(see photo)Jess is a 3 years old, not an ex working dog this time , but a pet who proved too much for the owner to handle.You can see the alertness in her face. With these dogs as any collie owner will say, they are bright and intelligent so must have both mental and physical stimulation. She loves it here, Give her a ball to retrieve and she is as happy as a sand boy.Does anyone know what a sand boy is and where that expression came from? Or have I misremembered it and got it completely wrong?Answers on a postcode please.
My computer is still playing up and some days I fail to connect to the internet at all. One of our supporters Peter has very kindly donated a computer to me and I am waiting for a cleverer person than me to come to set it all up and transfer all my files. That is way beyond my limited technological capabilities. I have arranged for someone to come here Monday to sort the problems out. There has to be nothing more frustrating than a computer when it is playing up.
Its like being without a television or a car when you have been used to using it every day.Without my computer I feel lost. How did we all cope with work before they arrived?
The pigs have been enjoying wallowing in a mud bath all day and Pink Pig is now two tone black and pink, very fetching. He is not a very friendly pig and when the sun is hot its a constant worry that he will get sunburned and he does not make it easy to spray suntan lotion on his body. We use the highest factor sunblock for him and for the grey ponies who tend to get sunburn on their noses if we are not careful. At least the mud provides some protection.
WellI am off tonight to a birthday meal.My next door but one neighbour has invited Rhian and me to a birthday celebration at a local pub and in case anyone is wondering if the delightful Mr Hawkesworth has had a change of heart towards me, no he certainly has not - this is a different neighbour. This family are dog lovers/owners and live on the other side of him and they too have problems with him (which immediately created a bond between us) We animal lovers have to stick together.

Rosie finds a lump on Tilly

Tilly the 8 years old collie was due to go today, she has been spayed now and yesterday Rosie took her home for a grooming/bath session. Whilst she was grooming her she discovered Tilly had a lump on a mammary gland so the homing has had to be postponed until a vet has examined her. I am concerned that this was not noticed when she went in to be spayed!
This morning the staff and I held a meeting to tighten up procedures at the shelter, as I mentioned the other day, there is so much administration/paperwork for every animal which is admitted and although I am trying to get everything on a database on the computer it is taking time. There just do not seem to be enough hours in the day and when I do think I have a spare hour, something urgent crops up and I may have to rush off to the vet with a sick animal or deal with an unexpected problem by which time my spare hour has gone! Of course the answer is to have more staff but in the current financial climate that is a total impossibility. Right now I am pinning my hopes on the £84 million lottery winner being an ardent supporter of Freshfields and any day now I will receive an enormous cheque which will pay all the bills for both Liverpool and Wales shelters, refurbish both to a high standard,purchase more land for the horses to graze(probably next doors 13 acres) buy a new tractor, a new ambulance, horsebox large enough for several equines and finally security cameras.That would do to begin with! Not much to ask is it?
The people from Scotland have arrived and the initial meeting of dog and humans has gone well.They love Shooks and there is no doubt in their minds she is the dog for them and there is no doubt in my mind that they are offering the best home possible for her. I couldn't be more pleased.They have taken her out for a walk and will be staying overnight in Caernarfon and setting off back home tomorrow.Pictured here just before they took her for a walk. What a lovely life she has ahead of her.We are all very envious as she will be spending much of the year at Tignes ski resort in France and we are all desperate to do the follow up homecheck! Finding such a home for Shooks has made the day for us all.
Whilst we were having our meeting this morning, sitting outside the office to make the most of a brief appearance of the sun, I heard a cuckoo very close by and saw him/her fly out of the tree in my garden closely followed by two clearly very irate dunnocks(hedge sparrows). Was the cuckoo a female looking to lay eggs in their nest?Whatever the reason for the sudden flight she failed to return to the tree so had definitely been warned off that particular territory. It is the first time a cuckoo to my knowledge has ventured so near to the house,I usually hear them in neighbouring properties. Oh well It does not look like I will be seeing a cuckoo on my bird table any time soon.
There is still no sign of our missing cat I'm afraid.Iwill only mention him again if there is good news.
The kittens are going very quickly but mainly the very young ones.Still perhaps when they have all gone the slightly older babies will have a chance.We do not rehome until they are 8 weeks old, they need that time with their mum and their siblings so even if they are eating we still wait till they are a little more independent.Yesterday we had a call about a mum cat and kittens,the owner in a flat no longer wanted them(!!!!) so Gail (Gail looks after our cats here) who lived close to the address went to collect them.When she arrived he had given away three kittens aged just 6 weeks to the people in the flat above so there was just mum and one baby left. These will be fostered by Gails sister Tanya until they are ready for homing. A British Blue female cat has been taken into the Porthmadog shop, her owner is very ill and no longer able to care for her.Trisha has taken her home to foster for the time being until I can get up to Porthmadog to collect .
A gentleman called today worried about a donkey near to him in anglesey, he wanted to buy the animal if he had somewhere safe he could take him to. I would be happy to have a donkey here but feel he/she would probably be happier with others of his own kind so put him in touch with the local Donkey sanctuary Inspector. Of course there is always the possible problem of lungworm affecting the horses here so a thorough worming would have had to be done before moving him here. Nevertheless I was a little sad that we were not going to become the proud carers of a lovely donk.I have always loved them. One day I feel we will have a donkey or two at the shelter or maybe thats just my wishful thinking like the windfall from the lottery millionaire! I suspect I am more likely to have the donkeys than the money but dreams are good and so is optimism.

Shooks is expecting visitors .

Two of the black kittens have been homed but we have admitted another litter. There are three little black and whites from a lady who let her cat breed, she has been given strong advice that she MUST get her cat spayed this time(it is her second litter|) and we have offered help. Even if a staff member has to collect and take the cat to a vet(and this will probably be the only way it will get done) we will not let this be forgotten.I do not want to receive a call from her in a few months with yet another litter of unwanted kittens.
One of our cats has gone missing,a ginger feral called Ziggy who has lived with us for two years, his siblings also live here and I find it hard to believe he has just disappeared.This should be a very safe place for cats to live, there are no roads,just fields for the cats to explore and yet over the years we have lost a few. It is possible the old and frailer cats may have been taken by a fox but it is highly unlikely they would take bonny healthy animals.More likely there is a human hand in the disappearances! especially as one of the cats next door belonging to Nia and Andrew has also gone missing at the same time as Ziggy. Heres hoping they will both turn up. Their white longhaired cat came from the shelter some years ago and is not in the habit of staying out.Very worrying.
I Have heard from the family in Scotland who expressed interest in Shooks the Siberian Husky and they are coming to see her next week soI am looking forward to their visit with anticipation.They have owned a Malamute for 17 years and had very similar experiences with her so they really do know what they are taking on with a husky.She really needs to be in a home now,I had not realised just how hard it is to find a suitable home for this breed of dog. It is not that there have been no enquiries, rather that the characteristics of the breed makes home finding quite limiting. For the life of me I struggle to remember this dogs correct name, I have called her Snook, Souk,Snoops,Sox, everything but Shooks but it is actually Shooks I am told sternly by Meirwen. So SHOOKS will hopefully like these people and they will fall in love with her and at last she will have somebody to care for her who is under no illusion that Huskies need specialised care. It greatly concerns me that so many of this breed are being seen now,many with young families with babies in prams and it occurs to me that a large percentage of these dogs I see now will end up in shelters(unfortunately probably mine!)
There has only been one call about the poor old dog which was featured in the local paper quite prominently. In spite of the large article about his rescue we are still no wiser about the circumstances leading up to his abandonment. The one call we did have gave us a name of a possible owner but I already know of that person named and I am sure it is not his dog though will investigate further.
Walking the dogs this morning I noticed that the dreaded ragwort is beginning to make its appearance, the rain and sun has caused the grass to start growing but has also made the weeds spring to life .Would that the grass grew with such rapidity!
I have another car full of goods to take to the Llandudno Charity shop later today, once it is emptied I have the joy of moving tons of rubbish from the Caernarfon shop to the local tip. Theres no doubt about it, life in an animal shelter definitely means a variation of jobs to undertake and many not pleasant and fulfilling. When people say to me that they would love to have an animal shelter I somehow think that they do not mean visits to the tip and such like.Not only that type of work there is so much administration ,filing,computer work,databases to complete etc etc. Had I know all this when I first naively started rescuing unwanted pets I feel sure it would have scared me off for life! Well , having had my daily whinge I have to say also that I honestly would not have wanted to do anything other than rescue work.It can sometimes be very very rewarding.It aint all bad!

Grandad has more teeth out!

Ihate to start the blog with bad news but we had to let the old dog go yesterday, he was not improving and we all agreed he had no quality of life to look forward to. Whether he had been brain damaged from the blow(s) to his head we will never know but he was a great age, I guess he could have been 16 or 17 years of age and over the weekend he deteriorated.I have sent the story with his photograph to the local papers in the hope someone will know the owner and we may begin to find out what had happened to him.One thing is for sure that he was neglected during his life for which there is no excuse and the other certainty is that we will be left to pay the not inconsiderable bill for his care since we picked him up.
There is always good news to balance out the sad, the little collie pup was only here a few days before someone visiting fell in love with her, no surprise, she was a lovely pup and not at all vicious as we had been told! I have no doubt she will bring a lot of fun and love to the life of her new carer.
Well the kitten season is now well under way,pictured are a litter of unwanted babies(oh why do they not get their cats neutered?)which arrived over the weekend and we have 2 new mums in with tiny babies also. I hope that Mion our foster mum will be able to take on one or two of these mums so that the pens may be used to house the ready to home kittens.There is so much help nowadays for people to neuter their animals, it is hard to understand why there are still unwanted litters being born,it must be down to sheer apathy on the part of the owners.There is no other reason I can come up with.
Andre the horse dentist has been back this morning as a couple of our ponies needed to have teeth extracted. .Vet Ken was here to administer the anaesthetic and Grandad, one of our elderly shetlands is now left with just 6 teeth in his old head. Vanessa is pictured comforting him after his treatment. We have no idea of Grandads real age though he is almost certainly in his thirties. He was purchased at a horse sale a few years ago by someone who knew he had no chance of being sold to a private home due to his age. We had thought at the time he might pal up with little Noddy who had lost his longterm companion Raffles so we were happy to give him a permanent home at the shelter.Nowadays Grandad and Connie are best pals and Noddy and Maggie are inseparable. From a distance it is hard to differentiate between them, all our old shetlands are the same colour - black! Only Noddys misshapen body makes him stand out. In my eyes he is a real prizewinner but in reality it is doubtful he would ever win "Handsomest pony". Who cares about that when he has so much character and he has been such a healthy pony considering his great age( late thirties) Latest photo of Noddy here with Maggie behind him.
Tuesday is office day, Bookkeeper Veronica is here and has brought a friend Julia to help with the filing- she has immediately brought a little sunshine into my day.I loathe filing!Question is can she put up with the chaos of daily life here? Time will tell.