Sylvia's Diary 09-05-24

To say it's been a hard week isn't an underestimate.  Coming back from Ireland and finding Bill had had a major heart attack was a huge sad shock and fitting in going to see him, trying to keep strong myself and making sure that the rescue was running properly was extremely hard. However, I have really amazing staff and they all carried me and I was able to keep going.  Of course there were a lot of phone calls, a lot of dogs coming in and going out and a lot of sadness this week.

A wonderful husky who we called Dancer came in on the last run with a terrible mammary tumour.  This had spread so far that when the vet removed it she felt there was no hope for her. Dancer had a huge operation and we sent the lump off to the laboratories to be tested. The report back showed that the operation had been done very well and because it had huge margins (which meant there was less chance of the mass having spread) and that it had not involved any lymph nodes (which make things spread much faster) we went from thinking that Dancer would not have a chance of much life to suddenly believing that she might have a decent amount of life left. This makes us very happy as Dancer has never had the chance of a home and to be surrounded by those who love her. She's a calm gentle dog, and it will make all the difference in the world if somebody could just adopt her.

We've had the usual phone calls wanting to bring in dogs. It's been a Bank Holiday weekend and because of that our local council are shut and there is no dog warden to pick up stray dogs that are found. We end up taking them here which I personally hate because if the people who own the dogs do come forward to claim them and I’m unsure of them or they have a negative attitude, I still have to give the dog back.  It's been particularly hard this week as I wanted to visit Bill in hospital but twice had to wait a long time for strays to be brought in. I've been so preoccupied worrying about Bill, worrying about how to keep the place running and worrying about the things I think I've forgotten that it's made the week very long.

A beautiful dog called Macaroon who came in a few weeks ago very pregnant had her puppies by C-section and then had a calcium deficiency.  She now has mastitis very badly and this entails us giving a lot of medicines and having to wrap her with cabbage leaves which is supposed to help mastitis. It's a horrible painful condition and results in very very hard inflamed mammary glands. There isn't a cure but to help poor Macaroon she is on pain relief, antibiotics, homeopathic medicine and a lot of TLC.

Leah my daughter got one of those suits for dogs who have been spayed and cut holes for Macaroon’s nipples. We could then poke the cabbage leaves up there around her nipples which were exposed out of the suit so the puppies could still feed on the good unaffected nipples. It was quite genius and has stayed in place. Sadly she doesn’t seem to be getting a lot better and in the worst case scenario we are going to have to take the puppies and hand rear them and give this Macaroon something to dry up her milk.  The vet who came and did C-section spayed her at the same time which means she won't have to go through anything like this again.

We just seem to be full of puppies at the moment.  So many little souls who are born into a world who doesn't seem to want them.  We're very lucky to have good volunteers to sit and help socialise them but it still makes me so sad to see them all in kennels.  We had a litter of retriever cross pups however they are a good 5½ to 6 months old. Some are quite pretty and others quite plain but today my spirits were lifted when the puppy I would've predicted would be the last to be adopted was in fact the first! She was a beautiful dog but jet black and for some reason that is the least likely dog to get adopted from a rescue. It really shouldn't be about the colour but it does seem to be. There's only another 4 to go - all big puppies that will grow to big dogs and well past the date of being desirable to most of the public.  They are all being loved here but needing so much more than they can get in kennels.  Sadly less than 24 hours later the black beautiful pup who got adopted was returned as she was guarding her new dad and snapping at the other dogs in the home.  I explained she is terrified, all is new and she needs time but they said their dogs and kids are scared of her. As I have said so many times, the highs are often followed by BIG lows.

Bill was allowed home after a week away and it's WONDERFUL! He is weak and tired after the lifesaving care but he’s back.  We have to keep our 15 dogs we live with away from him as he cannot afford to get a bruise or worse still get a cut.  It’s doable but sad as I cannot change the dogs routines.  Some of them are very old and slept with us all their lives. So he sleeps away from me and the dogs and I miss him although he’s only in a room below mine.

The week’s been a real open eye for us both Bill and I. When you nearly lose somebody, it makes you really think about your life. For me I think about how little time I give people and how I'm always wrapped up in the rescue and I don't deserve any friends as I never give them time.  When this happened both my daughters offered help, one daughter and her husband and my grandchild came down and stood by my side and worked tirelessly to make things better for Bill when he got back. In addition, Joyce came and scrubbed our cottage and they all came without being asked and without expecting a word of thanks as I was so wrapped up in what I was doing, but of course I thank them all because without them I wouldn't have been able to keep the place running and my sanity.

Snapping back to the running of the rescue, we've got no vet now as our vet has left. We are running with the help of all the kind vets who have ever helped us in the past who come and giving us a day here and there. I interviewed somebody who's living in the Cayman Islands but they might well want to take a job elsewhere.  At last vets are being valued but that means to hire them is very expensive but when I saw how hard the nurses and doctors worked in the hospital it made me think about the vets and vet nurses too.  They all do very long hard hours.  

It's really important that we find our own vet because 

1. Our dogs are scared and I don't want to put them in vans and drive them to places, leave them and then pick them up and put them back in the van and bring them back.
2. Having the vets surgery on site is so much better for the dogs, cats and me as I then can help all night keep their spirits up and love them.
3. It works out more cost effective in the long run as we have to see vets all the time for our dogs even if it's just for worming and inoculations.

My challenge this week is to try to find a compassionate vet and quickly which also means finding extra money as this will not come without considerable expense.  This has made me think about the dog shows I attend next month and the month after. I will have to have somebody stay in our cottage to make sure Bill is safe while I'm gone as the venues are quite far away. These two shows are a few days each bring in £7,000-£8,000.

In addition to everything else I have worried about little Brian a darling little cavalier pup who came from a breeder who said he could not bare to put him to sleep so could we take him?  Brian arrived with a big swelling on his head which our vet thought was possibly hydrocephalus, a nasty condition dogs and humans can have.  We asked a wonderful fosterer to take him to a specialist. There they thought some of his skull is missing and what was making the lump was his brain. They wanted to investigate further to see if they can fit a plate over the hole and yes all that would cost thousands of pounds. However, thousands against the value of a pup's life… well there is no comparison, so I said please go ahead and see what can be done.

Brian is as bright as a button and there are no neurological signs of any difficulties.  He’s just such a dude so we all crossed our fingers and toes for him and have just heard the wonderful news that little Brian does not have hydrocephalus!!  Instead, the swelling has possibly been caused by trauma or a cyst. Tests are being done for him and he has already had an MRI and ultrasound and now samples of the fluid on his head are being sent away to see whether he needs antibiotics, or an operation. So that is great news and someone somewhere will one day hopefully be able to adopt this wonderful, playful pup and he will be forever cherished. The bad news though is that he will still have a vet bill that has cost us at least £3000!

Today we had an emergency call to take in a dog and if we had not taken this sweet dog she was to be put to sleep. When Shadow arrived, we were all completely taken aback. All her ribs poked through her hide as well as her hip bones and back bone. She is an 8-year-old Weimaraner, still trusting and loving man, even though a human had let her get like this. We are doing all we can for Shadow but she truly did take my breath away.

It's important to me that the staff are happy because if they're happy in turn my dogs are happy. You might ask yourself what makes the staff happy and you'll be amazed to hear what it is. It could be something as simple as the fact they can find a dustpan and brush, a pair of scissors or a thermometer as all of these things seem to have their own legs and walk off and disappear when you need them!  Oh and especially a microchip reader along with so many other things but usually it’s because a puppy that hasn't had a good tummy has had the perfect poo and then we all jump around and are so happy!

This world of rescue is a funny seesaw of a job with plenty of highs and plenty of lows and so I try hard for the dogs and staff to get the balance just right which is not easy.  However the staff, volunteers and my God all help me and of course knowing this place is magical keeps me going!!!!
Sylvia