Sylvia's Diary 11-04-24

Another week has passed - one with a whole lot of drama attached to it and also a week that proves our name “Many Tears” is so apt.

Days have flown by and exhaustion has settled into some sort of flu like symptoms, which is convenient, as my nose & eyes are streaming. My eyes are filled partially with cold symptoms but also a lot with tears, sadness and despair. The weather has done nothing to lift my spirits with rain and winds that brought down many trees around these parts. The amount of calls about homeless people with homeless dogs has increased tenfold. We had a very sad, overweight Collie brought in a few weeks ago called Lang. His owner had died and a relative did not want him so was considering putting him to sleep. He came here in the nick of time but sadly poor Lang needs to be on heart medication and no one seems to want to offer darling Lang a home at all.

This is a typical story; although it comes about in various scenarios… Nella came to us as her owner had died but when the police found the body they had no idea there was a dog on the property. The next of kin were called, who was in fact a friend, not a relative. She told the police the deceased had a dog. The police explained the person had been dead for 3 or 4 days, and now they had to seal the home up. The friend was insistent there was a dog at the property and searched the house, and then the grounds. At the back of the garden there was a wall 15ft high of brambles, and deep in there was a poor terrified dog, who was too scared to go back into the house. The shocked and upset lady called and asked for our help. She explained the dog was in poor condition and of course we took in the dog who is called Nella and was microchipped. From the chip we found Nella was 13 years old. After shaving off her matts and bathing her, we made her a comfy warm kennel. Two sad, confused and older dogs were then waiting for a forever home.

But it didn’t not stop there… A lady phoned as her dad had unexpectedly passed away and he had adopted one of our dogs - a dear cheerful little Jack Russell Terrier. Nesta is now waiting all over again to find a human soul mate having lost hers. People say I put my own emotions onto dogs thinking they think like me. However as years roll by, I understand dogs far better than I do human, and they do have emotions and feel the pain of loss intensely.  At night I lie in bed and I can hear dogs howling for their loved ones, whether a canine companion they have lived with all their lives or a human. My heart truly breaks for them. Bill says 15 dogs is enough, and I know he’s right, however I still wish I could have them all indoors with me.

The days jogged on until yesterday. My days for the last few weeks have started at 4AM, as we did still have 10 pups to hand raise and there was no point going back to bed. However the pups, or at least some, have got really tricky to keep healthy. After being so elated last week that we had solid poos, the smaller pups got loose again. The smallest of all went home with a very knowledgeable and caring staff member, Chelsea, but very sadly the pup had a fit and died. That left me with 5 larger pups in one unit and 4 smaller pups in another.

The day had been terrible. It had started with a call from a specialist.  They had a dog in that had, 6 weeks earlier, belonged to us. Felix, a Dacs, came to us from a breeder. As the climate for homing dogs is extremely poor at the moment, Felix stayed with us quite a few weeks, despite the fact he was a really sweet fella. The specialist who called said that Felix had become paralysed and they suspected a slipped disc. He said there was only a 50% chance of him coming right and his new owners decided to put him to sleep. I said we wanted him to have the chance and said we would take him back to our care and pay what was needed, although he was supposedly insured. Sadly, no amount of reasoning or asking the vet to let me speak to the owners had any effect and so Felix would be put to sleep. With a very heavy heart, I tried to get on with my day, however it went from bad to worse. Next, a sweet poodle who had a broken leg that was not mending despite surgery with a specialist had to have her leg amputated. She went thought all the surgery, then 5 minutes from the end died under anaesthetic. I was devastated and kissed her soft white face, said goodbye and had to make a quick exit as I believe crying in front of the staff is not helping them at all.

So I went to the 4 tiny hand raised pups and one was fitting. I gathered her in my arms and cradled her but she could not regain consciousness, so I had to take her to the vets and put her to sleep. The wonderful vet was still grieving over the poodle and I had to find her a tissue to wipe her eyes as she could not see what she was doing from crying so hard. It was a terrible day.

We are losing our own vet in 2 weeks time and I am feeling desperate as despite advertisements, agencies, and word of mouth - we still cannot find another. There is a nationwide shortage of vets and we will be extremely lucky if we can find a compassionate, knowledgeable vet who is fast at neutering, realistic and resourceful to join our team. Our dogs need a vet on site, so this is undoubtedly a crisis. A good vet it getting a salary of around £65K-£75K a year. Unless we can match that, we have no hope.

So if you win the lottery, please remember ‘Many Tears’. Our logo has a meaning of love, compassion, and family. The saying that goes with our name is “The soul can have no rainbows, less the eyes shed some tears” (meaning amongst the sadness, there is the chance of happiness). Please God, I need to see some rainbows. Beagle pups being raised to be butchered in labs are still very on my mind. Beagles being bred for unthinkable experiments with no regards to the Animal Health Act and The 5 Freedoms - even without the thought of what these pups will endure once in the labs. Surely this is not right? Surely Government rules and legislations should apply to all dogs whether in rescue, boarding kennels, breeding kennels, or breeding places that breed only for experiments. It’s appalling and us dog lovers need to be doing something about this and not just cry!
I promise to try to make a happier, less depressing account for the next week but for that I will need God’s help.

Lastly, I want to thank:

• Jon for sharing the night duties with the pups.
• Chelsea - for her care.
• Kayla - for all the pups she’s tube fed and saved in the last year.
• Dan & Lily -for all the dogs they foster AND all the team for their support!

Sylvia