The day got off to rather a strange start, with the arrival of a ferret. I have to say, this is not the first time we have had one of these critters at the refuge; the A in the name SPA does stand for “Animal”. We have also had goats, pigs a buzzard, white rats, tortoises and (before my time) even a monkey. I must point out, though, that we are not at all set up to deal with anything other than dogs and cats. If you, or anyone you know has lost (or wishes to own) a ferret, please get in touch!
But please, people, do not take this as an invitation to abandon any unwanted animals you may have. The employees have enough to do with the dogs and cats who arrive on a daily basis, without having other beasts to look after, especially ones who need anything other than dog and cat food! What do ferrets even eat?
The afternoon was busy, but it was far more routine than the morning!
It started with the arrival of three puppies, who had been found in a hat, from what I could make out. They are all really sweet, and as they are about 8 weeks old, off they popped for their first vaccination. We now have 11 pups at the SPA, which is very depressing. How many different ways can you say “sterilise your dog” before people realise the consequences of not doing so?
No dogs were adopted today, sadly, but there were plenty of walks, and a couple of possible future adoptions. The 10 year old boxer who arrived yesterday turned out to be fine with cats, which means that she should be going to a foster family next week, thanks to the association “Terre de Boxer”, who saw her on our Facebook page and got in touch immediately.
We had one dog abandoned. His name is Echo and he looks like a medium sized schnauzer. Either Moira or I will give more details in due course, but isn’t he a handsome chap, already sharing his kennel with another recent arrival. He was abandoned because his owners’ working schedule means that this poor chap is left alone for 12 hours a day, and this is not fair on him. We will find him someone with a lifestyle more suitable.
We also had the arrival of Fox, who is a frequent visitor. He may or may not leave soon, depending on the mood of his owners.
So it was not the best of days, but with summer here (officially, if not in terms of the weather), it is not surprising that adoptions are slow. Thanks as ever to everyone who came along to walk dogs and to take photos of the new arrivals, as well as some of the long-termers. Keeping the photos up to date is really important but time consuming! Not just the taking of the photographs, but uploading them to Facebook, which is what I am off to do right now!
Hold on a minute, this is neither canine nor feline!
Three puppies arrive
Echo is abandoned
And Fox (who is not a fox) is back again. 🙁