Fetcher Dog Diary - 7th-13th July! (Please Note there are Graphic Photos)
We are such a small team at the centre that one staff member having annual leave does make a massive impact on the day to day running of the charity. Steph was off this week which meant the rest of our little team worked together to fill that gap. Luckily, volunteers Paul and Debbie both stepped in to help with the day to day on a few days and our lovely kennel assistants went above and beyond as always.
Once again, sanctuary dog Stella has been a big focus this week and she went back to the vets on Monday for biopsies of the masses found in her kidneys. We also received a very technical and dire report on her prognosis which was written on the basis that the kidneys masses were most likely also melanoma as it had already been confirmed in her eye. Upon completing the procedure the vet suspected the masses were cysts rather than the hard masses you would expect with melanoma as they were liquid filled when the vet put the needle into them to biopsy. This was then sent off and after a stressful 48 hours of waiting, they confirmed the lumps were not melanoma and they were cysts. This process has been very confusing with Stella’s tests because there are so many different things and people involved in working out what is needed and what is best for her which has left us a little bit in the dark at times. I’m sure the vets must find us very annoying as we are constantly calling for updates on results and always have more questions but Stella is so loved and deserves for someone to be in her corner on this. She has already been booked in for a specialist oncology referral at a different vets next week and we hope that we will finally be able to start looking at treatment options as we believe all the tests have now been completed. This consultation alone is going to cost £500 but as it’s a complicated case, she needs a specialist to step in from here. To jump ahead just a little bit, Stella had an emergency appointment Saturday morning as her eye lump started to bleed after a sneezing fit and it needed to be checked by the specialist. They said that as it’s growing rapidly and because of the type of cancer it is, these lumps do bleed and this may happen on and off until it’s treated. I will keep you up to date on our sweet girl and unfortunately will be asking for more help when it comes to her treatment funds!
Saturday turned out to be a very eventful day at the centre because as soon as I got back from the vets with Stella, two people walked into our driveway and told us a baby deer was stuck in a wire fence on the Downs next to our centre and it needed rescuing. We are not deer experts by any means but we immediately headed there with blankets and wire cutters and hoped we’d figure out what to do as we went. The deer was hanging with its front leg stuck in the wire near the top of the fence. She was struggling against her leg, it was boiling out and she was in direct sunlight. We made a quick decision that we needed to stop her flailing as she could damage her leg further and we held her against the fence whilst we worked out how her leg was trapped. We weren’t kilt able to free her very quickly and we quickly carried her back to the centre. She was boiling and panicked and we cooled her down, found puppy bottles to give her water and called as many places as we could to find how where she could go. Obviously, I wanted to keep her but it was best for her to go to a deer expert that could treat her leg and release her back to the wild when she was better. After a few posts on social media for recommendations, we found the perfect deer rescue that was recommended by some very trusted sources and took her to Tunbridge Wells to meet them. It was clear she was so shattered but she gained some strength and energy by the time we passed her over to the deer people. We are so happy that we were able to help her because I don’t think she would have survived out in that heat much longer.
We have been lucky this week with three of our lovely dogs heading off to their forever homes. Stanley, Joy and Honey were all picked up and have been settled into their new homes really well. It’s early days yet but I’m already so proud of how well they’ve been doing.
Because of the space made by these dogs leaving, we were able to say yes to Posie, a miniature daschund which came to us as a local owner surrender. Posie is a sensitive little dog and wasn’t getting on well in her previous home as it was very chaotic with a lot of guests and a lot of loud visiting children. Despite her barking at us when she first got here, she quickly got used to us and was jumped up to say hello and jumping into our laps after hours after her arrival. I’m sure it’s very confusing for her but she is doing so well already!
We have had a few issues with the Fetcher Dog van over the last few weeks and an “engine fault-repair needed” warning came on and the van started to lose power when driving up and down hills. We managed to get it to the garage and it had to stay there for a few days to be looked at and fixed. We have also had repeated issues with one of our tyres which turned out to be an issue with the wheel rather than the tyre itself. It’s always a worry when we don’t have a vehicle on centre incase of a veterinary emergency but luckily we have a few volunteers near by that would help us in an emergency. As well as the tyre issues, there were so many smaller issues on the van that we ended up with an £898 bill! Thankfully the van now has a clean bill of health but a bill that size does have a big impact on us.
Running and working at a rescue centre is full of ups and downs and some weeks are very hectic, keep your fingers crossed for us that everything goes a bit more smoothly this week!
Thank you,
Jordan xxxx