SNUDGE AND KITTENS...
We had a heartbreaking rescue in November 09 involving a pregnant cat who had been tied up in curtains and then dumped in a skip. This happened in South Leeds.
Luckily a kind man went to the skip and heard the cries of the cat and he discovered a mum with four tiny kittens inside the tightly knotted curtain. They were not meant to escape or to survive!
Snudge and kittens safe and sound...
We were contacted and went over hotfoot to collect them - it was evident that mum had given birth whilst in the skip and tied up in the curtain. The kittens were only hours old. How could anyone do this?
If left undiscovered this family would have faced certain death by being crushed or by starvation and dehydration - both slow and very painful ways to die.
All are now happily re homed and happy.
BAT RESCUE
This week (1.6.09) saw our very first bat rescue...A telephone call from a couple in Skipton who had a bat in their porch and it had been there for five days and had not moved.
Bats are a protected species and require careful handling.
Armed with a shoe box, yogurt pot lid(for water) and cotton buds for the bat, if sick or injured, to suck water from we were on our way.
The bat was a Pipestrelle - a tiny and very cute bat and was firmly hanging from the porch wall. After close examination we concluded the bat, we called 'Ears', was not in any way injured.
He was popped into the and started to drink the water from the yogurt pot lid straight away. Good sign!
We then begged some very long ladders, walked to the nearest tall tree and, 30' up the said tree, released the bat who flew away quite happily.
A success!
And on our 'Hedgehog Day' in Skipton on 26.9.09 we had another bat rescue...as soon as we arrived a stall holder alerted us to a trapped bat in a shop doorway.
Luckily the bat was just frightened and only needed trapping, checking over and releasing.
Another success!
LHASA APSO MINUTES FROM DEATH
A South Yorkshire dog pound had a 5 year old Lhasa Apso pedigree dog which they had been trying to sell but had failed to find a buyer. The dog was to be put to sleep. We agreed to take the dog from DOGSOS if they could manage to get it released from the pound.
After lots of conversations with the pound the dog was finally released. He was in a terrible, sad and depressed state and had to be shaved as his coat had become so matted.
A condition known as 'cherry eye' affected both his eyes and had gone untreated for years. He had a hernia, his teeth were rotten and brown and he hadn't been castrated. Lots for the vet to get on with and a lot of fundraising for us to get on with as the cost was over £1000 to put everything right.
Now known as 'Alfie', all his health problems were rectified and he was re homed with a lovely lady. Alfie is a very happy chappie and now enjoys life to the full.
HEDGEHOG RESCUE
Telephone call from Kingsway Vets in Skipton - there is a fat hedgehog firmly stuck in a narrow pipe at Water Street School in Skipton. Can we help?
Oliver drives over and true enough there is a hedgehog very firmly lodged in a drainpipe. The hedgehog must have fallen down some steep steps and thought that this pipe was the only escape route and then became trapped.
Luckily someone saw her and was sensible enough to report it.
Eventaully Oliver managed to extracate the very fat hedgehog from the pipe and immediately popped her into a warm blanket and escape proof cage before taking her over to Marianne at the hedgehog sanctuary in Keighley to be re hydrated and checked over for any injuries. I'm sure you will be pleased to know that she is doing really well - in fact she's pregnant.
Left any longer and the hedgehog would have certainly died a terrible death due to de hydration or drowning if it rained heavily.
SYLVESTER AND EVANDER
Oli just arrived back home an hour ago, on the 30th of April 2009, with these two beautiful black cats that we rescued from a pound in South Yorkshire.
Both have obvious health problems which need urgent veterinary attention but that have just been ignored for goodness knows how long.
The male cat is not neutered and although we were told he was three years old he looks older - about sevenish. We have named him 'Sylvester' as he has a face like the original Sylvester of many years ago due to the hard, swollen golf ball sized lumps at either side of his face which also go down his neck. I hope these are nothing sinister!
'Evander' was thought to be the neutered male brother of 'Sylvester' but it is obvious that she is a girl! Why 'Evander'? Well one of her ears seems to have been so badly affected by a haematoma of some kind that it is permanently down turned and quite knarled. So the name seemed appropriate - the boxer Evander Holyfield and the ear incident!
I have never seen any cats more eager to eat. They ate almost four sachets of food each one after the other without taking breath!
They are both lovely and soft characters and we have already got a good home for together - we hope. Keep your fingers crossed. You can't help but fall in love with them.
Tomorrow we will see them fully vet checked and neutered ready for their new happy second chance.
Blood tests, which all the cats that come into our care have, were thankfully negative and so both cats went on to be neutered, de flead, wormed and treated for anything needing attention.
The lumps on Sylvester's face were a complete mystery as the vet had never seen anything like them before. A needle biopsy has been taken just in case there is something sinister going on but the signs, thankfully, suggest the lumps are benign.
Sylvester was deaf in both ears as a result of the lumps encroaching into his ear canals. The good news is that once his ears were de - gunked his hearing, to some extent, returned!
Sylvester also had to have some broken teeth removed which must have been causing him some pain.
Evander's dropped ear was caused by a haematoma that was never treated and so she developed a cauliflower ear as a result. She is almost certainly deaf in that ear.
We will be picking them up from the vets in about an hour - then it's cuddles all round!
Both these love sponges are now ready to be re homed and whoever adopts them will be so very lucky as they are special!
THE STORY OF CORKY...
Arguably our most unusual rescue was Corky aka Gary. I casually walked into a high class beauty salon to beg a beauty treatment voucher for a forthcoming fundraiser and was greeted in a somewhat unusual way...The lovely lady owner immediately latched on to the animal rescue and asked 'would you like to have a look at Gary, he's in the back room'. I was intrigued by this invitation and this seemed like an opportunity not to be missed.
In the back room was a small glass tank with some rotting lettuce leaves and compost. Then right at the back I spotted something. It was a Giant African Land Snail! I'm not joking...he didn't look very happy at all.
There was no ventilation; humidity; water; fresh food or calcium for him and the temperature was far too cool. The tank had never been cleaned either so was living in his own poo - not very nice! Gary had grown too big for his shell which was in a flaky state due to having a lack of calcium in his diet. And, Gary was absorbing the chemicals from the compost.
So, me being me, I came home with Gary the Giant African Land Snail otherwise he would certainly have died. I also came away with a beauty voucher!
I spray him with warm water regularly and brush his shell with a soft toothbrush which he seems to love. His diet consists of cucumber, melon, mango, crisp lettuce, celery and of course egg shells (for the calcium).
Corky is loved and cared for by us and it's amazing to see these creatures juggle their food to eat it and to slide around the walls of the vivarium. Admittedly, I would not have one by choice - but I couldn't see him suffer could I?
THE SAD STORY OF GIZMO...
Meat Gizmo, an abandoned long haired female cat of about 13 years of age who was in a terrible state when we picked her up. Her coat was very badly matted and she was flea infested. Her bloods were taken, areas of badly matted fur shaved and she was treated for her fleas.
The only kind thing to do for Gizmo was to euthanase her as it was not fair to see her suffer. Her last few days of life had been filled with love, cuddles and attention which she loved. For the first time in what could have been many months if not years she was warm and cosy. Gizmo passed away peacefully and with dignity in my arms at the vets and is buried under a shrub in our garden.
Registered charity number: 1120275