1st May 2012

Lots of sadness in rescue this week after Doofus (mentioned in the last blog) lost his fight.
Both humans and canines both battled hard with the illness that he had.
We tried everything possible to help this boy including a plasma transfusion to replace the nutrients in his blood and changing his medication to try and fight the infection, but on Saturday morning myself and Anna were called to the vets at about 2am as he had gone into respiritory failure. The infection on his chest had spread round his body and he was dying.
We both stayed with him as he was put to sleep. He was only a puppy and this was something that could have been avoided should his previous owner acted responsibly and had taken him to the vets when he had first got a chest infection. A simple course of antibiotics and our boy would still be with us.
RIP Doofus. 

Other news over the last couple of days include a ferret recently being adopted being returned just a few days later. Introducing small animals to a new home, new surroundings and new people can be a frightening experience for them. This boy was confident here and knew that we were not going to hurt him. On getting home he was introduced to four strangers all at the same time who then proceeded to try and play with him as they did the other two resident ferrets. He acted out character and bit one of them and of course that sealed his fate that he had to come back again. These things need to be done over time - the size of a human compared to the size of a ferret is big and they will protect themselves if they feel threatened. The claim from the adoptive owner that he did it '...for no reason' was wrong. There is always a reason and it is normally down to human error.

On the other hand, two other male ferrets did find their home together and so far, even though one is pushing his luck a bit (he is a youngster and so will try it on at this stage to see how far he can go), the owner is working with him to try and stop this habit.

Two of our dogs found their new homes too...

Bella the American Bulldog has now gone to live with a family and another American Bulldog. She is quite hard work being that she is young and bouncy, but she is just a baby and will learn some good lessons now. She arrived with us due to a family breakup so her reason for coming into rescue was through no fault of her own.
Dino our Minature Pinscher who was handed into us by our vets who was taken in to be put to sleep for growling at the new baby also found his place in a new pack - his owner adopted a Yorkie x Cairn about a year ago from us and has no children and no visiting children.
Dino has been unsocialised and if you treat a dog like a baby then it will act like a brat when the time is right. This is how Dino was brought up and when he acted out of instinct, he nearly lost his life.
All is going well and I highly doubt that we will ever see him again in rescue!

Betty the Staffie x Boxer came back into rescue. This girl was bought into us as a tiny puppy along with the rest of her brothers and sisters and at 2 years old has once again found herself looking for a home. There were situations out of her new owners control that happened, so it was nothing she had done wrong.
She has settled well and although her recall is questionable (and non-existant when she spies another dog to play with when out on her walk) we are working with her and she is a sweet natured girl. A little reactive to the cats unfortunately, but this is also something that she is getting her head round slowly.

Screaming Jim the hamster (bought to us because his owner could not afford to look after him) travelled to his new home and was so named because whenever you give him attention he sits there screaming. You would think he is terrified of people with this habit, but it is not fear...it is just something he does. He will take food out of your hand whilst screaming at you, walk about and round your hand whilst screaming at you and accept gentle scritches whilst screaming at you. A very strange habit but it certainly makes him one to remember!

Today, two male rats made their way to their new home in Bristol. These boys were part of a large group of rats taken from a hoarder who bred so many that she could not cope.
They were lovely natured lads and we thank the transporter who, on the way to Wales, dropped them off enroute.

As you can see it is still busy and even with all the heartbreak that has happened this week, the presence of the other animals being here means that we cannot sit around and mope and this makes it hard to mourn for those you lose. The animals that come to us do not ask to be born and do not ask to become unwanted at some stage for whatever reason and we are their only hope at being fed, kept clean and a good and interesting life be assured. So no matter what happens life has to go on.