Sylvia's Diary 23-03-24

This week has been far from easy.  Last night I lay in bed sleepless and worrying and I thought of the prayer “God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”... it's a very hard quote to live by.

The Bulldogs and Frenchies are still causing big concern, not all, but the ones that are make up for all. My first is Dupree. She’s a small grey beaten up lady, ears in poor condition (from fights I expect, though she never fights here, so possibly picked on). She is super cool and would win over even those who are never drawn to this breed. She regurgitates her meals every time, sometimes two or three times over, and is always hungry. She came in very thin and remained that way despite my best efforts. We had a special x-ray done that watched a liquid go down and this showed she had an unusual type of megaesophagus. I had already fed her many different combinations of food, liquid, sticky balls of food.  I cooked food, I gave raw food but nothing worked so the vets said to put her to sleep. It broke my heart as they did not see her in between – lapping up our love and enjoying life. I felt there may be the slightest chance some referred vets could save her but this would come at a huge cost.  In a way it’s like gambling money so Dupree has weighed very heavily on my shoulders all week.

Next a lovely senior dog came in a few weeks ago, so fat his heart was hard to hear over a wheezy chest. Now some weeks later his chest is better, but a high grade heart murmur has been found and an x-ray showed an enlarged heart. Who will want to adopt him? I don’t know. He’s not castrated and gets very excited with other dogs. His owner died and he’s missing him too. It feels not only he has a broken heart, but I have too.

Then Timmy came in, an ex-farm collie. They had kept all his siblings and parents to work sheep, but Timmy just hid they said. Here it’s clear he has hind leg problems and is in pain, so this must be addressed. I can see the £’s just mounting up.

Then yesterday a Frenchie was being castrated but the vet could not get a tube down him.  This is because man has bred this poor breed so badly that they literally are born to suffer and it seems my standards don’t apply to those still breeding and buying these poor messed up dogs. So he now needs to go to a specialist, have a nasal wedge done as well as an x-ray to see why his airway is so tight. The cost will definitely be well over £4000.  This is all in just one week.

Then a tiny pony arrived.  She was skinny, covered in lice and with a really big lump on her face. I recognised food going up and up her cheek making the lump bigger - when I freed it up, the relief it gave her was quite clear. I just knew there was a reason this happened. So I called out an emergency horse vet who cranked her mouth open with a machine that looked like something out of the times of torture in the tower of London. The vet found her teeth were so bad that one has grown out and embedded itself in the little ponies cheek causing it to cut her and making eating, though a necessity, never a pleasure. So she ate less and less as the pain grew more and more. The vet was able to improve things but not solve it - it will take a few times of coming to see her over the next six months to sort it out properly.

So this is why I lay in bed remembering that quote.

This week has had a few good positive things though. Staff have had more training and some seem to really want to learn more and increase their skills. A wonderful vet and vet nurse friend came all the way from London to spay for a day which was really kind. Plus it only rained 5½ days out of 7.  We also managed to raise most of the funds for the agility equipment, so hopefully by the summer, the dogs and staff will have a chance to learn new fun skills.  We have a foster run tomorrow, so some of these precious dogs will be in a loving home very soon, though others are waiting to come in sadly.

Thank you all for your support, and have a wonderful week with your best four legged friend or friends and enjoy every minute with them.  If you would like to donate towards the rescue we would be so very grateful for your support - thank you so much.
Sylvia x