William the Wonderdog gets in the frame again!

I had an afternoon off yesterday and went to see the Osprey chicks at the RSPB site near Porthmadog.Its 2 years since I went and this year three chicks have hatched, the oldest is 2 weeks old.Its wonderful to see them so clearly on the webcam they have set up and I will go again before the family take off on their flight to Africa How on earth do they do find their way?Its so amazing that the youngsters will make that journey on their own for the first time and will somehow arrive at the correct destination.How do they do it, if I could only find out, I would never again get lost 10 minutes from the shelter, why do they make these diversions? Show me the same route time and time again and I will find my way, just one diversion throws me out completely.
Millie and Timmy have gone to their new home in Scotland and I have just received a call to say they have reached home safely and the two seem happy and excited to be exploring their new digs.There is always a certain sense of relief when we hear that news. When animals have not had happy lives before they arrive at a shelter, it becomes their place of safety, a place where they experience only kindness and comfort and very often they do not want to leave and show signs of distress when they are driven away.This is heartrending but when we hear that they are well and happy, well thats what it is all about.We can relax - until the next time.
A new dog is admitted, Purdey is 6 years old, a funny mix of greyhound, collie and dalmation but she has a very kind temperament and seems to love the company of the other dogs.her problem was chasing cars, her owners did not have secure fencing round their garden and children who left doors open constantly.If that is her only problem, a home with secure fencing should be all she needs.Otherwise she is perfect. Purdey wil be fostered out until a home is found.
It has been so hot today, everyone, staff and animals alike are finding it hard going though I personally love it, it can never be hot enough for me.Wish it was like this every day.The horses are drinking loads, its been a full time job keeping the water containers filled.The pigs like their mud baths on days like this, I tried to get a photo but none turned out well, wil try again tomorrow.
We have decided to make another entrance in one of the fields so that the ponies in the adjoining field have access to the field shelter, pictured is the work in progress.in the next field is old Ross who is in his late twenties, a pony who gave great pleasure to his young owners but was retired here when he became too old to ride.Although his owner was a doctor and hardly on the breadline we never heard from her again and no donation was ever sent to help with his keep. Even a request for a new winter rug was ignored. Such is life at an animal shelter.I dont know why I continue to be surprised. In the background is William another elderly pony, at least his owner rang to see how he was settling in.Most never do.William, our mascot and my own beloved dog accompanied me on the photo shoot and as always managed to find his way into one of the pictures.The ponies are so used to seeing him they take no notice, he is so good with other animals round the shelter.Of course he can do no wrong in my eyes, he is William the Wonderdog. That is not, however, what the girls call him when he barking to share their biscuits at teabreak. I cant repeat what they actually do call him but I know they all love him really!

Ruby finds a home after two years.and the terriers homecheck passes

We had another offer of free summer grazing for the horses so mei and I went along to check it out. It was ideal and we are thinking of sending Callie, Freddy and Ken. The daughter of the lady who rang me has promised she will put on the horses rugs if the weather changes for the worst but there are plentiful trees around for them to shelter under.The land is right next to Caernarfon Bay and the views were wonderful - not that the horses will appreciate them!. Quite frankly I was wondering whether I could move there and leave the horses here.Not only were the fields good for the horses but their garden was incredible and I was open mouthed with envy. I do become envious of other peoples gardens when they are beautifully laid out, there is no chance of mine being like that, only the hardiest plants withstand Mollys big feet.I did a very stupid thing a few years ago(well actually theres been plenty more before and since!)I had a brainwave, I would buy some trellis fencing to keep Molly and the other dogs off the plants. When I returned with it , Mei burst into hysterical laughter.It was just two feet high and was clearly not going to be any sort of deterrent for a Great dane.In my stupidity I thought the mere sight of the fence albeit a small one would stop her from wandering on to the newly planted shrubs.Of course she simply stepped over it and commenced to flatten everything in sight.Not one of my better ideas.
Well the good news this week has to be the rehoming of Ruby, the little black cat pictured here who has been here 2 years.Nobody has ever looked at her , she is shy and does not sell herself at all.Supporters of ours from Stoke came to visit and bring us animal bedding and food they collect for us, they have adopted several cats from the shelter and they brought a friend with them who has also adopted cats from us.This time, however, she was determined not to take another, half an hour later she was on her way home with Ruby! We were all so thrilled that finally she has found someone to take pity on her, I hear she is in hiding at her new home, she will be very distressed for a while but it will be lovely for her once she settles.
Clare who is fostering a mother cat and her kittens has sent me a photo of them(pictured here) These kittens are only 2 weeks of age so will,not be ready for another 5 weeks.They look very content, when the kittens are old enough we will bring them here and spay mum ready for her to be adopted.
The homecheck has passed for the two terriers Millie and Timmy so they will be leaving us on Saturday. We are all becoming very fond of these two so the sooner they go the better, even those who are not keen on Jack Russells have fallen in love with them, their natures are so lovely, there is no nastiness or nippiness in either of them and it is hard to undersatnd why one is an unclaimed stray and the other unwanted after being kept outside in a kennel all her life. They are real lapdogs and will have a marvellous new life ahead of them now.

A crisis averted

Last night after I had written the days blog, Barbara and Im had a bit of a crisis, she came into the office to tell me that she thought one of the horses had become stuck behind a wall and she was right. Freddy had managed to wedge himself behind a stone wall and our security fencing. Part of the wall had fallen down and this had made a space for him to get through but the passage had narrowed and he could move neither way. Whilst I kept him calm and talked to him, Barbara raced back to the tack room to get some bolt cutters and cut away the wire fencing holding him in.A very relieved horse escaped into the field to join his companions.Fortunately he had not panicked excessively and had no cuts or grazes from his experience. The funny thing was that some of the resident cats had heard my voice and decided to investigate, all of a sudden several feral cats appeared and raced up the field to join us on our mercy mission. As cats do they simply lay down in the field to watch our struggles and then when it was all over they dispersed as quickly as they arrived.Clearly they thought the fun was over so there was no point hanging around.
I took some photos of the views from where I walk the dogs.To the front of the shelter the sea is visible and at the side, the mountains, I did not manage a photo of Mount Snowdon, it is to the right of the range of mountains known locally as Elephant Mountain so called because of the shape.Molly manages to get in most of my photos, Meg the lurcher is also in one of them, the other is of Meg and Ben, the elderly collie I am caring for whilst his owner tries to find somewhere to live.I actually found him sharing mollys basket last night, he is a very amiable dog and of course Molly is a real tart, she will let anyone sleep with her!
The last kitten has been reserved (also through the blog) so she will be leaving us tomorrow at the same time as the others.
All three longhaired cats have returned from their dematting session at the vets and they look so much better, they did not have too have much taken off so they have been spared the total bald scenario.We have someone interested in 2 of them, she will be visiting this week to see them and hopefully will decide to adopt.
The new black cat with the leg injury has had an xray today, his leg was swollen and today he seemed in more discomfort.He is on antibiotics for the moment but may need an operation .
Someone sent me the video on you tube of the RSPCA footage taken at the farm in Amersham where so many horses were dead and severely neglected.It was very upsetting and like everyone who read about this case I feel full of anger at the evil family who allowed this to happen.Even more amazing is that the british justice system fails to come down as heavily as it should on this type of animal abuser. I dont know if there is a more recent update on the situation but I had read sometime ago that some of the animals were being RETURNED to them!! Unbelievable that this should even be an option.

A cat with no ears arrives.

Three adult cats were admitted today, one more kitten rehomed(thanks to this blog) so I am hoping against hope that someone will want the last one,I would hate to see it on its own in the pen and Rwth is collecting her two on wednesday.
Two of the cats admitted today are Toby and Twinkle(pictured here)6 years old siblings whose owners new partner is allergic to cats.Toby has no ears because they were amputated when his ears became badly sunburned . This was done as a preventative measure against possible cancer.They are lovely friendly cats and I hope we will soon find them a permanent home where they can remain together.The other cat is a very pretty stray tabby/tortoishell about 10 months old which I decided needed to come in.had she been left she would have soon become pregnant and then there would be another litter of kittens to home.Better to take her now to avoid this occurring.We are becoming streched now for space unless we home some more soon.I am also running out of ideas for names and I hate to resort to Blackie, snowy, patch etc.Maybe Ill start again with the poets/authors as I did a few years ago - Shelley, Bronte, Byron!How difficult can it be to find cat names? Incredibly difficult!
Vanessa and Rosie have taken the clippers to start on Finns coat and I forgot to give them the camera to take some photos but at least I will be able to take an" after " photo, the one I took of him when he arrived is a good enough "before".I cant wait to see him looking svelte and handsome.We need to find a local farrier to trim his feet too, I doubt they have ever been looked at and for a youngster they are pretty bad.Farriers are like gold dust round here but I have been given a few numbers to try.Our own farrier will n0t be visiting this area again foranother 2 months.
An exhausted racing pigeon has turned up in Porthmadog and is resting in a spare room at our Charity shop in the town.His owner has been traced so we are waiting for him to organise collection of the bird.I must say that pigeon racing is not a thing I am too happy about, some pigeon fanciers take the nesting bird off her eggs and she will fly thousands of miles in desperation to get back to them and so many birds collapse exhausted and battered by the elements which makes them easy prey for dogs, foxes etc.It is cruel to take homing birds so far away from home and then leave them to their fate.This owner appears to care for his bird, many will not want a "loser" back or will wring their necks when they finally make it home late.Im off on one of my rants again,there are so many things I feel so strongly about and so many people have no idea what really goes on behind the scenes of sports involving animals. Sometimes I wish I had less knowledge of these things, I think I would be a lot happier in my ignorance!
Thanks to the good weather Mion was able to hold a stall at the Criccieth Fair and raised the princely sum of £200.Brilliant effort, The mum cat she was fostering has now been homed along with her kittens so she has just one mum left whose babies are around 4 weeks of age. Foster homes for mother cats and their babies are vital at this time of year.With the number of kittens we will soon have at the shelter, every pen will be utilised and with foster homes for those too young to rehome it frees up space here.
My next urgent job is to find someone to shear our 5 sheep. Last year we were let down by several people who offered help,it was the first time we were unable to find anyone .This year they need doing even if we have to do it ourselves though I hope it doesnt come to that, for their sakes AND ours. I cant even cut my own fringe successfully so I doubt if I will be allowed anywhere near the poor old sheep.

Billy the Staff comes to visit

We had a visitor today, Billy the Staffordshire bull terrier that was rescued from a dog pound.Billy now lives in Stoke on Trent, his people went into our Llandudno shop whilst they were on holiday.They had just lost a staff from old age and they saw the poster I did of Billy.All I can say that is Billy has fallen on his feet, from being minutes away from death, he is now the beloved family pet of experienced Staffordshire owners.He joins them at their caravan in Beddgelert and enjoys the attention given to him by the other caravan owners, he makes a fuss of everyone he meets who are at great risk of being licked to death. Billy truly is a good embassador for this much maligned breed. I rang Mei to come over to see him , I knew she would love to see how he has progressed physically,like me she was duly impressed by his shiny coat and the weight he has gained since he has found contentment .He is a real success story.
Two of the new kittens(pictured here) have been reserved today, Rwth who kindly gave a home for the last days of dear Fluff the cat with the heart problem has decided to take on kittens this time. I rang all the people on the waiting list for kittens and just like last year they had all found kittens elsewhere! So its two down, two to go.
Two adult cats were also rehomed today. Jackson and Nishka had both been at the shelter for over 9 months. Jackson is all black and Nishka is dark tortoishell ( this colouring never seems to appeal to people and these cats are almost as unpopular as black cats)So this really was a result, its a great morale boost to everyone when a long term animal is chosen.They had no sooner left us than another cat was admitted, Roy brought this one from Caernarfon where he had been a stray for some 6 weeks , Lincoln as he is now called, appears to have something wrong with one of his back legs. It does not seem to be causing him any distress but will have to be looked at by a vet as soon as possible.
The little jack russells Millie and Timmy will be going to live in Bonny Scotland next weekend, pending a homecheck being passed though I have little doubt about it being successful. They will be living in a household who have quite recently lost both their west highland terriers and are anxious to adopt two more little dogs to fill the vacuum created by their loss.We are trying to get the dogs used to the Scots accent before they go so they will not feel too alienated in their new country and the staff have promised to wear kilts for the next week!I think they are joking!
Whilst the sun is still shining here(yes its back again) I am going to take Molly and her companions up the top fields,I will take my camera and try to get some nice photos I can use on the blog.

Leon, a camera shy cat,

Where has the sun gone? It has not stopped raining all day and is so misty I cannot see beyond the nearest fields.Walking the dogs is something I usually enjoy but today was not particularly pleasant, I was soaked to the skin after the first group were exercised. Most of the dogs did not seem to mind too muich though the little terriers looked at me as though to say"Do we really have to go out in this?" and very reluctantly allowed me to put on their leads.Millie, however walked about three yards and sat down , when I slipped her off the lead she ran back to the house, followed by Timmy.Well he wasnt going to go anywhere without his pal.
The high winds last night have caused the felting on the office roof to peel off, the staff have helped to nail it down again but it really needs to be done again as soon as possible.
Heidi(now called Jeannie) the brindle lurcher homed a few weeks ago has come back to me for a weeks holiday.I was so happy to see the bond that was between her and her new person Sue but of course that made it more difficult for me to coax her away and into the house though once she met Molly again she perked up . I think there will be a big big welcome for Sue when she returns to collect her.
The pigs have burrowed deep down in to their hay and straw bedding and have made themselves invisible, only the sounds of loud snores emanating from their house indicates that there is something live in there! The cats too are nowhere to be seen,its not a day for animals to be out and about.
Louis the handsome grey and white cat has gone off to his new home this morning and the kittens I was expecting last week are coming in tomorrow morning so we have had to move some cats about to make room for them.There are seven in this litter, they are the first of the season to arrive and we are all looking forward to seeing them.I have several people waiting for kittens, I hope they are still interested.
Leon the emaciated tabby who was admitted a few days ago is pictured here looking very annoyed at having his photo taken.Actually he is a gentle affectionate cat but is obviously camera shy. You can see that his coat is matted and straggly round his neck but he and the other two longhaireds are going to the vet to be dematted on Tuesday.Leon will also have a thorough health check.Dematting the cats is too big a job for us to do here though Rosie and Vanessa have managed to clip off some of the offending clumps over the past week.
The new horse clippers have arrived so as soon as we have enough staff and the weather is fine they will be used for the first time on Finn, the new colt who desperately needs a tidy up.
There is a great deal of work to be done before the Open day here and one of the jobs that needs doing is repairing some of the paddock fencing, Barbara and John our handyman are making a start on it already.I had thought that Meis dad Dulyn would be around to do some of the work,it seems strange not being able to pick up the telephone and ask him for help.We also need to make a start on the weeds soon, it doesnt take long for them to take hold and spread like wildfire.There do not seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done.With so many animals to feed and care for, some jobs are left till last or when some extra volunteers turn up.

Caught napping!

Disappointing news, the home for Gel has fallen through.Oh well clearly it was not meant to be, how easy is it going to be to find him a home now we know that he will be on painkillers indefinitely?He is such a nice dog too, I feel very disappointed.There is a lot of interest in the two wirecoated jack russell including someone from Scotland!It would be nice if they could go together, they seem to like each other rather a lot, when Millie went in to be spayed Timmy was very despondent without her.
The pigs have been out in the sun all day, they lie inert for hours on end and sometimes I have to go and inspect them, they are so still I think they might have died in their sleep but no, as I get near they half open their eyes and with a bit of a snuffle and grunt go back to sleep again.Having reassured myself they are alive and well I can get on with my work knowing they will live to eat another day.They are pretty old for pigs and each winter I wonder if they will make it but they keep surprising me.Dear old pigwigs.
Today there have been loads of calls from people wanting to get rid of animals, both dogs and cats, no horses thank goodness. Some of the calls are from people who purchased their pets from other shelters and although they signed an adoption form stating that in the event they were unable to keep the said animal it must be returned to the charity concerned, when they try to do so they are told there is no room.This concerns me greatly, some people will do the decent thing and wait for a space but many will find a way to rid themselves of an unwanted pet and if the shelter will not help, they will go elsewhere or even abandon it.Remember the story of Carlos just a few weeks ago?In my view it is the first responsibility of the charity concerned to take that animal back and hold off taking in new animals.If there is genuinely no space, and I am not saying that is not the case as most shelters are full at this time of year, then attempts should be made to put the pet into a foster situation or a boarding kennels or cattery.,At the end of the day each shelter should take responsibility for their own animals.Homing them is wonderful but pointless if there is no back up offered when things go wrong in the future. I have lost count of how many pets I have taken in which have been homed from other shelters and invariably when I contact them I receive the same answer "we have no room".
I stopped giving that answer years ago after a dog I rehomed just a week before was destroyed because I told the owner who wanted to return it, that I would not have room for at least another week.The same day the 7 months old pup was put down by an obliging vet in Southport.It took me a long time to get over that becasue I blamed myself for being too trusting. Nowadays I take no chances and will find a place no matter what, it can be hard but I will spend hours on the phone until I find somewhere temporary until there is room here.
I admitted a pregnant cat from LLandudno, it seemed urgent as it was reputedly about to give birth - Rhian took one look at the cat and discovered it to be a neutered male!!! At least there will be no kittens to worry about.
We have three very matted cats in at the moment so all will have to be anaesthetised at the vets and be dematted. These longhaired cats are beautiful to look at but need so much care and attention.They are not everyones cup of tea but why get one if you are not prepared to groom and care for it? The poor things are so uncomfortable and it can be painful too, not to mention the cause of skin infections .
We have been allocated a stall at the 3 day show at Builth welles in Powys on 23rd July, the weekend before our Open Day. Its an expensive stall but a good way to spread the word about our work and to distribute fundraising appeal leaflets. Freshfields is not well known yet in Wales and we need to promote ourselves wherever and whenever possible.
If the weather stays good over the weekend(its beautiful today) Mion and Elspeth from Porthmadog are holding a stall for us at the Criccieth Fair on Bank Holiday Monday.Fingers crossed.
Pictured here is Zoe one of our permanent residents caught napping in one of the stables, You can just about spot her peeking out the hay.Our cats find the most unusual places to catnap, we have snapped them in buckets, on tractors, in wheelbarrows, in filing trays and all sorts of weird and wonderful places. Hay and straw is a big favourite with the feral cats on the property.They look so comfy I could almost curl up there with them.