Hi Bloggers,
The Good News - Little Robbie is doing very well, and Auntie Jackie is extremely please with his progress. His wounds are staying clean and he is such a good boy for taking his medicine and having the antibiotic gel put in.
The Bad News - only 2 weeks after sailing through her MOT, Flossie the van has decide to die on us BIG TIME - AGAIN!!! I can't blooming believe it! I was on the way home from the vets - and suddenly, strange noise, rattling, banging, smoke billowing from behind and then complete cut out!! I managed to coast to the side of the road, and phoned the RAC. I broke down on a busy stretch of road, and even with the hazzards flashing and the warning stripes on the back of the van, people were speeding past! One person even over-took another car as they were passing me! Very scarey.
The RAC man came out and diagnoised Cambelt and tensioner and valves again. It's not looking good. We can't believe it - Flossie has only done about 3,000 miles since the new cambelt and head was fitted. It's so unfair!
There were 3 dogs on board with me, and the RAC man was very good asking if I had penty of water on board for them, and did I need him to get some. Bless.
So then we had to wait for the recovery truck. Wilbur rode up front on the way home! We got home about 3pm.
Kate who adopted Benny has kindly stepped in, and is picking up the doggies that stayed at the vets for various bits and pieces.
I REALLY can't believe this has happened again. It is so frustrating and upsetting - especially after all the fundraising and all the money we spent getting Flossie back on the road. We are totally gutted.
I'm just glad it didn't happen yesterday when when I was on ovenight Irish pick up.
We had 9 arrivals yesterday.
The phone has been red hot with people wishing to hand dogs in, for a variety of reasons. Paul estimates we have been asked to take in 35-40 dogs in the past week alone. :(
Right, off for feeding duties. :)
Friday, August 25, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
Welcome to the Real World of Rescue - the part you won't normally see.
This upsetting news is from our friends at Limerick Animal Welfare.
Sometimes you have to be hard hitting to get the message across, I'm putting it on the blog for that reason. This is what rescuers and volunteers have to live with and why they carry on doing what they do. To try and stop this.
This cut me to the core this morning.
Aug 2oth: It is a very sad time for us here at LAW.
One of our volunteers rescued little Elliott from a very bad situation.
She knew in her heart when she saw him nothing could save him. Elliott was just five weeks old. He was the most beautiful puppy ever.
Our volunteer rushed to the vet. Elliott's stone cold body was limp in her arms. He whimpered very softly, such sad and lonely sounds will never leave our volunteers memory.
As she reached the veterinary hospital little Elliott drew his last breath in this world. As he died our volunteers cried in despair, her tears fell on his body showing him how much she cared. Elliott died surrounded by love.
Our vet told us that Elliott died from starvation and neglect. The fleas were hopping of Elliott's body as he was dying.
How can this still happen in 2006?
Run Free little Elliott.
Sometimes you have to be hard hitting to get the message across, I'm putting it on the blog for that reason. This is what rescuers and volunteers have to live with and why they carry on doing what they do. To try and stop this.
This cut me to the core this morning.
Aug 2oth: It is a very sad time for us here at LAW.
One of our volunteers rescued little Elliott from a very bad situation.
She knew in her heart when she saw him nothing could save him. Elliott was just five weeks old. He was the most beautiful puppy ever.
Our volunteer rushed to the vet. Elliott's stone cold body was limp in her arms. He whimpered very softly, such sad and lonely sounds will never leave our volunteers memory.
As she reached the veterinary hospital little Elliott drew his last breath in this world. As he died our volunteers cried in despair, her tears fell on his body showing him how much she cared. Elliott died surrounded by love.
Our vet told us that Elliott died from starvation and neglect. The fleas were hopping of Elliott's body as he was dying.
How can this still happen in 2006?
Run Free little Elliott.
Another week starts
Firstly can I say thank you to everyone who has sent good wishes and healing thoughts for little Robbie. He is doing very well, and is a very brave boy about having his wounds treated. He is back at the vets this week, and Auntie Jackie will decide what we need to do next for him. Thank you to everyone one who has sent a donation towards his vet bills. We really appreciate your kindness, as does Robbie. :)
The lovely Alice found a new home this weekend, she has gone to live with Alison and family. We wish her well, and hope that she helps to fill the space left when the wonderful Brodie passed over the bridge. Mabel looked very pleased to have a new friend to play with.
Now I am going to be serious and get cross.
We are being plagued at the moment by what can only be discribed as complete TIMEWASTERS.
I'm sorry if I am going to sound harsh and upset people, but it really is getting above a joke - and there is only so long you can smile politely for.
It clearly states on our HOW TO ADOPT section that people should only call if they are READY to adopt a dog, and COMMITTED to adopting a dog. We ask people not to call if they are about to go on holiday etc - but to call when they are ready.
It also clearly states that potential adopters will need to meet the dogs at Wiccaweys HQ, unless the dogs are in a foster home. This is something we again inform people of during telephone conversations. Obviously people are incapable of reading, or listening.
We have had several people ask for homechecks recently, only to inform us afterwards they are not looking to adopt for a while, as they are going on holiday....etc...etc..
On Friday, a dedicated volunteer homechecker carried out a homecheck which involved a round trip of over 100 miles and a total of 5 hours! She did this out of the goodness of her heart to help get a dog into a new home. It was further than she would normally go - but she put herself out, to help us and the dogs.
On Saturday we received an email - not even the courtesy of a phone call - to say that the people thought we were too far away to travel. SOMETHING THAT COULD HAVE BEEN WORKED OUT BEFORE THE HOMECHECKER DID THE TRIP!! It isn't bloody rocket science!
All our homecheckers are VOLUNTEERS, they help the rescue out to do their bit to help rescued dogs find new homes. For someone to waste a homecheckers time and goodwill in this manner is a disgrace. It is totally selfish and disrespectful to the person giving up their time, and lets not forget money - homecheckers do not claim expenses - they give everything freely. It is very disheartening for the homecheckers, and us, when they are treated like this.
SO PLEASE - only enquire about a dog and request a homecheck if you are really serious, committed and ready to adopt a dog.
I'm sorry if this upsets people - but its how I feel. This kind of thing can lose volunteers, because they start to lose heart when it is happening continuely.
The lovely Alice found a new home this weekend, she has gone to live with Alison and family. We wish her well, and hope that she helps to fill the space left when the wonderful Brodie passed over the bridge. Mabel looked very pleased to have a new friend to play with.
Now I am going to be serious and get cross.
We are being plagued at the moment by what can only be discribed as complete TIMEWASTERS.
I'm sorry if I am going to sound harsh and upset people, but it really is getting above a joke - and there is only so long you can smile politely for.
It clearly states on our HOW TO ADOPT section that people should only call if they are READY to adopt a dog, and COMMITTED to adopting a dog. We ask people not to call if they are about to go on holiday etc - but to call when they are ready.
It also clearly states that potential adopters will need to meet the dogs at Wiccaweys HQ, unless the dogs are in a foster home. This is something we again inform people of during telephone conversations. Obviously people are incapable of reading, or listening.
We have had several people ask for homechecks recently, only to inform us afterwards they are not looking to adopt for a while, as they are going on holiday....etc...etc..
On Friday, a dedicated volunteer homechecker carried out a homecheck which involved a round trip of over 100 miles and a total of 5 hours! She did this out of the goodness of her heart to help get a dog into a new home. It was further than she would normally go - but she put herself out, to help us and the dogs.
On Saturday we received an email - not even the courtesy of a phone call - to say that the people thought we were too far away to travel. SOMETHING THAT COULD HAVE BEEN WORKED OUT BEFORE THE HOMECHECKER DID THE TRIP!! It isn't bloody rocket science!
All our homecheckers are VOLUNTEERS, they help the rescue out to do their bit to help rescued dogs find new homes. For someone to waste a homecheckers time and goodwill in this manner is a disgrace. It is totally selfish and disrespectful to the person giving up their time, and lets not forget money - homecheckers do not claim expenses - they give everything freely. It is very disheartening for the homecheckers, and us, when they are treated like this.
SO PLEASE - only enquire about a dog and request a homecheck if you are really serious, committed and ready to adopt a dog.
I'm sorry if this upsets people - but its how I feel. This kind of thing can lose volunteers, because they start to lose heart when it is happening continuely.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Hello Blog Fans
Hello Blog Fans,
I'm sorry for the lack of 'blogging'. It has been so busy at Wiccaweys, we've hardly had time to breath. I'll try and catch you all up as best I can.
First some good news. This morning we received a fantastic donation from Royal Canin - in the form of 6 pallets of their Sensitivity Control food. In all they have donated over £4,000 worth of food to us, and we are extremely grateful to them, and I couldn't possibly put into words what this means to us. A huge thanks to Andrew Sanderson from Royal Canin for arranging all this for us, and a big thanks to Chris from FSSART for suggesting us for this donation.
Now some upsetting news. Yesterday we took in 5 dogs, 1 little collie girl from her home and 4 welsh pound dogs. 1 of the new arrivals is a little puppy boy of around 3 months. Robbie has come in with the most attrocious wounds on his neck. It is so upsetting as he is a wonderful little boy. We rushed him to the vets immediately and he was a very brave boy while his neck was inspected. We were told he had a small cyst on his neck following a vaccine reaction. We did not expect him to have half of the back of his neck missing! He has THREE tears in his neck where you can see his muscles and inner workings. Some of these tears are more than 3 inches in length. They are infected and very dangerous for him. Robbie's full story, with photos if you can stomach them, can be seen in our news section. We will keep you updated on his progress.
We have 3 very scaredy dogs with us at the moment, Little Evan who arrived from Ireland 2 weeks ago, and 2 poundies from yesterday. All 3 are seriously traumatised and are terrified of human contact. They panic if you look at them.
Evan has made some progress in the past week. He likes the company of other dogs, and this morning he came into the garden when I called him, although he gave me a very wide berth. He had a run round with the dogs, almost wagged his tail and then ran back to his secure hidey-hole in the kitchen. The other 2, no names as yet, are hiding away. We'll give them space for a few days, and let the other more confident dogs do some of the work for us for a bit.
Long and slow roads ahead for these 3 souls.
Basil the 19 year old finally joined us. He is a character, and he and Grandad Brynn have chummed up. I think they like to sit together and chat about the youngsters exploits! That, and when their next bowl of chicken soup is going to be served to them!
Also in the older dog world, we have been joined by Dennis (the Menace!) a very handsome Red and White chap from Ireland - who can't believe his luck - regular meals, a garden to play in - and young collie women to chase after!! Wooohoooo!!
Poor Dennis arrived with a terrible ear condition and he had to have immediate attention for that, which involved an operation - but that hasn't stopped him from playing kiss chase with the girls!
Flossie has come to us from a Welsh pound, she is a middle aged lady - lives up the the Flossie name - fiesty and funny! She is a brindle and white colour.
There have been lots of comings, but not that many goings recently - its the time of year. There does seem to be a lot of faffing about going on at the moment.
We have been working hard on getting ready for the show, and Paul is working on a newsletter at the moment. Thankfully Liz and Deborah have been helping out with the fundraising and PR side of thing for us.
After our fundraising message in the blog, we are very grateful to the folks that have offered help, suggestions and signed up for our Friends of Wiccaweys scheme - you are all wonderful and we very much appreciate your support and good wishes.
The car has now passed her MOT, which is great news....
Even better is the fact that Flossie has passed hers! We took her to the garage who did the MOT and work for the car - and she sailed through 1st time!!!
We were advised she needed a couple more tyres changing in the next couple of months, but they were still legal. I was in complete shock! I expected her to fail miserably! It proved that the previous garage were intending to rip us off for almost £500's worth of work!! I was really distressed prior to Flossie's MOT that she would fail miserably and that she would be off the road again, as we wouldn't have the money to sort her out for a while. They worried me to death for nothing! Seriously unimpressed! The garage did find an oil leak - I could actually see it when she was up having her underneath inspected, so she is going in soon to have that looked at.
Right, I'd better get on. Speak soon.
I'm sorry for the lack of 'blogging'. It has been so busy at Wiccaweys, we've hardly had time to breath. I'll try and catch you all up as best I can.
First some good news. This morning we received a fantastic donation from Royal Canin - in the form of 6 pallets of their Sensitivity Control food. In all they have donated over £4,000 worth of food to us, and we are extremely grateful to them, and I couldn't possibly put into words what this means to us. A huge thanks to Andrew Sanderson from Royal Canin for arranging all this for us, and a big thanks to Chris from FSSART for suggesting us for this donation.
Now some upsetting news. Yesterday we took in 5 dogs, 1 little collie girl from her home and 4 welsh pound dogs. 1 of the new arrivals is a little puppy boy of around 3 months. Robbie has come in with the most attrocious wounds on his neck. It is so upsetting as he is a wonderful little boy. We rushed him to the vets immediately and he was a very brave boy while his neck was inspected. We were told he had a small cyst on his neck following a vaccine reaction. We did not expect him to have half of the back of his neck missing! He has THREE tears in his neck where you can see his muscles and inner workings. Some of these tears are more than 3 inches in length. They are infected and very dangerous for him. Robbie's full story, with photos if you can stomach them, can be seen in our news section. We will keep you updated on his progress.
We have 3 very scaredy dogs with us at the moment, Little Evan who arrived from Ireland 2 weeks ago, and 2 poundies from yesterday. All 3 are seriously traumatised and are terrified of human contact. They panic if you look at them.
Evan has made some progress in the past week. He likes the company of other dogs, and this morning he came into the garden when I called him, although he gave me a very wide berth. He had a run round with the dogs, almost wagged his tail and then ran back to his secure hidey-hole in the kitchen. The other 2, no names as yet, are hiding away. We'll give them space for a few days, and let the other more confident dogs do some of the work for us for a bit.
Long and slow roads ahead for these 3 souls.
Basil the 19 year old finally joined us. He is a character, and he and Grandad Brynn have chummed up. I think they like to sit together and chat about the youngsters exploits! That, and when their next bowl of chicken soup is going to be served to them!
Also in the older dog world, we have been joined by Dennis (the Menace!) a very handsome Red and White chap from Ireland - who can't believe his luck - regular meals, a garden to play in - and young collie women to chase after!! Wooohoooo!!
Poor Dennis arrived with a terrible ear condition and he had to have immediate attention for that, which involved an operation - but that hasn't stopped him from playing kiss chase with the girls!
Flossie has come to us from a Welsh pound, she is a middle aged lady - lives up the the Flossie name - fiesty and funny! She is a brindle and white colour.
There have been lots of comings, but not that many goings recently - its the time of year. There does seem to be a lot of faffing about going on at the moment.
We have been working hard on getting ready for the show, and Paul is working on a newsletter at the moment. Thankfully Liz and Deborah have been helping out with the fundraising and PR side of thing for us.
After our fundraising message in the blog, we are very grateful to the folks that have offered help, suggestions and signed up for our Friends of Wiccaweys scheme - you are all wonderful and we very much appreciate your support and good wishes.
The car has now passed her MOT, which is great news....
Even better is the fact that Flossie has passed hers! We took her to the garage who did the MOT and work for the car - and she sailed through 1st time!!!
We were advised she needed a couple more tyres changing in the next couple of months, but they were still legal. I was in complete shock! I expected her to fail miserably! It proved that the previous garage were intending to rip us off for almost £500's worth of work!! I was really distressed prior to Flossie's MOT that she would fail miserably and that she would be off the road again, as we wouldn't have the money to sort her out for a while. They worried me to death for nothing! Seriously unimpressed! The garage did find an oil leak - I could actually see it when she was up having her underneath inspected, so she is going in soon to have that looked at.
Right, I'd better get on. Speak soon.
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