Fetcher Dog Weekly Diary - 30th June - 6th July

The day to day at the centre is always the same for our little team. All the dogs come out for playtime and attention in our exercise areas and all of the kennels are cleaned with fresh bedding given to the doggies. The centre as a whole is cleaned and kept as tidy as possible (impossible to be spotless with so many crazy dogs running around), bedding is being washed and dried continuously and then all dogs are fed twice a day (we do a lot of washing up). If we are lucky we may have an appointment or two for meet and greets or adoptions.

We often have new arrivals which means welcoming newbies from the pound and making them feel as comfortable as possible and we get a lot of calls every day with people wanting to surrender their dogs to us. Most weeks we have a couple of visits to the vets for general health checks, spays/neuters, vaccinations and sometimes we have longer trips to specialists for more extensive treatments some of our dogs may need.

Once a month we hire a big van to collect a month’s worth of dog food so that our dogs never run out of food and always have full bellies. We have a small team on the centre who care for the dogs every day without fail and give them everything they need until they find homes of their own! We are so appreciative of our little team and they always go above and beyond for the dogs.

This week has gone by so fast and has mostly involved us worrying about sanctuary dog Stella. Stella was dropped to the vets on Wednesday to have CT scans, blood tests and to have her lymph nodes biopsied to see if the cancer had spread and by the weekend we knew that extra lumps had been seen in her kidneys and in one of her lungs. Stella’s reports have been sent to an oncologist to see what they recommend and she is heading back to the vets today for the biopsy on the lumps in her kidneys. We are very grateful to everyone who donated towards Stella’s tests last week, this is going to be a long road and we will try everything we can to help our girl. We have currently raised what is needed for all of her tests, biopsies and scans but will need your continued support when raising for her treatments and care. Stella is a much loved member of the team and she deserves a chance for a long life. I will keep everyone updated as I know she is loved by so many.

We had a few more general vet visits this week as we luckily have had two dogs reserved for adoption next week! Honey the lurcher and Stanley the Jack Russel have both been reserved for adoption and needed their final health checks and vaccinations to make sure they were ready to head off to their forever homes! Summer is a tough time for adoptions so these two are very lucky to have been chosen! Fingers crossed this means change is coming and more dogs will be heading out to their forever homes soon.

Long term resident Freya was adopted this week and she is getting on so well. Freya came to us through the Kent police when she was seized from her previous owner due to neglect. Freya was shy and confused when she first arrived to us and hasn’t had much adoption interest in her since she arrived in 2022. We have no idea why Freya wasn’t getting any adoption interest as she really is the sweetest girl. Anything larger than a spaniel can take a really long time to home regardless of temperament and personality and unfortunately I think Freya was overlooked because of that. We are so happy that she is doing well so far, happy adoption day, Freya!

We have been doing a lot more site clearance and maintenance this week which has included throwing away all of our old dog bedding that can no longer be salvaged and old sofas that the dogs used to have in their kennels that are beyond cleaning. The weather means that the weeds and grass around the centre are just growing so rapidly and we can’t keep up but standing our best to do as much as we can when we get a little bit of spare time. As the centre is large and always in use, we often need help from our lovely volunteer Jeff who fixes everything and anything that breaks around centre.

Our mower needed a new tyre and wouldn’t start, a tumble dryer decided to give up because of the abuse it faces with our constant washing and a tap in one of the kennel blocks would no longer turn on and Jeff managed to fix it all in one go! We are so so grateful to Jeff for always stepping in to help us! The jobs he does for us are not the most exciting but are crucial for the day to day running of the centre.

Thank you to everyone who joined in with our raffle to win a £300 Airbnb voucher which was raising money for vet fees! We are so grateful to you all for your continued support. We really couldn’t save these dogs without you. Our online auction has also closed and your goodies are already being shipped out to you. Thank you to everyone who donated items and to those of you who bid on the goodies.

Thank you to everyone who has read the diary again this week, hopefully we will have some better news in next weeks diary so stay tuned!!!