Fetcher Dog Diary 23rd-29th June
As summer approaches, everything but requests to take in new dogs slows down in rescue. Adoption numbers go down as people have big plans to go away and don’t want to adopt until they are at home more and fundraisers don’t reach their goals as those big holidays come with big bills. It makes everything a little bit harder on centre as we have all the same costs we always do, but with less money coming in.
People going away on holiday also means more dogs are dumped as they become an inconvenience, putting dogs in boarding kennels is expensive and kids at home mean everything is a bit more chaotic and the first thing to go is the dog. But most rescues, us included, can only take in dogs when we have the space and the funds to care for them. This week is exceptionally quiet for adoption interest with no dogs being adopted either this week or last week and only a couple look as though they are heading out in the next couple of weeks. Keep your fingers crossed that this turns around as the requests to take in dogs are coming at us in massive numbers and we just can’t help everyone who needs us. Our fundraisers are also really slowing down which is always a concern especially when we have big vet bills coming up.
This week we had to say goodbye to a long term sanctuary dog who passed away suddenly on Wednesday. Sophia was rescued from a kill shelter in Bosnia and travelled to us a couple of years ago before heading to a home. Her home didn’t work out and she has been with us ever since. Sophia had a terrible start in life which made her untrusting of new people but she was a staple at the centre and we will miss her beautiful smiling face every day. Even though Sophia never got her chance to have a normal home life, she was loved, comfortable and cared for and we are happy that she got to experience that. We will miss you Sophia.
As always, we have been to the vets a couple of times this week with general health checks and vaccines and towards the end of the week we heard back about Stella’s biopsy results. It wasn’t the news we were hoping for and the vets confirmed Stella has malignant melanoma and we need to do further tests to see if this has spread around her body or is just in the lump below her eye. If it hasn’t spread, she will need surgery to remove her eye but if it has spread, more extensive treatments will be needed. She is having a CT scan, blood tests and lymph node checks on Wednesday, this has already been estimated at £1300 so please do donate towards this if you can. Stella is a permanent fixture at the centre. If you’ve been to the centre in the last few years, you will of seen, hugged and been snotted on by Stella.
We will do everything we can to help Stella get better but we will need your help to fundraise for her care. Please stay tuned for any upcoming fundraisers, we will really need your help to save her life.
As well as new arrivals through pounds, we sometimes have dogs returned to us who have previously gone out for adoption. As well offer rescue back up for life, this can happen a few years down the line and unfortunately this happened a couple of weeks ago. Dylan was originally rescued as a puppy from a pound. He made a real impact when he was first here and proved himself to be a big lovable goofball. As a larger dog, we didn’t know how long it would take us to find him a home but luckily he found a home quite quickly and spent 18 months there before being returned to us recently. Dylan was suffering from anxiety in the home, didn’t like tools like hammers and drills being used in the home and needed more training and socialisation than the previous family could provide.
For the last two months in the home he was on anti-anxiety medication which was making a massive difference but the family didn’t feel as though they could give him what he needed. Dylan is now back with us at the centre and is getting back into our daily routine here. He is still a massive goofball, loves to lollop around our field, pretend he’s a lap dog by sitting on our laps and say hello to every dog he sees. We really hope that we can find Dylan a forever home soon because despite how much we love him, he was settled into family life and really deserves to be back in a home again as soon as possible. Bigger dogs can wait years for a chance and even longer when they’ve been returned, so we are hoping to find Dylan a foster or a forever home as soon as possible. If you are interested in offering Dylan a home, please contact us.
We have a fantastic raffle to win a £300 Airbnb voucher which ends on July 4th with the money raised going towards our massive vet bills. You can enter as many times as you want for more chances to win so head to the link below to enter.
Thank you again for tuning in to our diary. It’s been a sad week at the centre and we hope things turn around soon.
Thank you for your continued support!
Jordan xxxx