Rainbow
Bridge
|
Gizmo
In Memory of Gizmo
With Love
You were my friend, my companion for almost fifteen years. You were my life, for the last four years. Together we fought your illness and never gave up. But sadly, on the 13th December, we lost the fight. So tired and frail you became, that I had to let you go. So, on what would have been your fifteenth birthday, 2nd January 2007, we remember you, and cherish all the happy, playful times we had. We will love and miss you forever and ever. Sleep tight little one.
All our love
From
Mummy and Natalie
Xx
Max
Max came to us in April 2005 from Retford pound with his lifelong pal Tricks. Both dogs were in pretty poor shape when they arrived, particularly Max. He needed surgery for a cancerous retained testicle as well as a number of other minor problems but he made it through the surgery and recovered well. He was a very sweet, affectionate dog and would follow you round the kennel with his nose in your pocket looking for his favourite Gravy Bones.
Unfortunately we never found a home for him and Tricks so they stayed here but both of them were content and happy. In October, Max developed a limp, the locum vet we saw diagnosed arthritis in his back legs and prescribed pain killers. Unfortunately there was no improvement so after a couple of weeks we went back and saw a different vet. I had noticed over the previous day or two that Max was dragging a front leg and just wasn’t quite right in himself. After a very long examination, the vet said that she felt it was neurological rather than physical so she prescribed steroids and meds to help the blood flow to the brain.
Sadly Max continued to deteriorate and on a number of occasions he would lose his balance and fall over. A return visit to the vet resulted in a double dose of steroids but even that didn’t help. On 11th November Max was unable to stand properly so the decision was taken to let him go peacefully to Rainbow Bridge.
Poppy
Poppy
was a very special GSD who was sadly put to sleep Monday 4th September
2006 after a short fight with cancer.
Read Poppy's full story by clicking here.
- this young
lady has had more than her fair share of troubles. She came so
close to death but was saved by the efforts of the
Hereford & Worcester Animal Rescue
this is how Carol from HWAR tells her story:
"
Sian was found wandering out in the country and was
taken to the Pound with some
difficulty by the Dog Warden. She was growly and snappy, clearly
terrified,
and they immediately had her down as a 'put to sleep'.
I didn't
get to meet her for a few days but heard from dog wardens and kennel
people about the aggressive dog in the kennels.
With some apprehension
I
went out to meet her.
I
walked up and down the kennels looking for
the
'aggressive'
dog,
I
couldn't find one,
so
I asked
the
kennel owner
to
point her out,
"look
at her baring her teeth' he said, Sian was smiling!!!!!.
Over the next few days
I
spent some time with her, she would snap if you touched her a
certain way or moved your hand suddenly towards her,
sometimes she would tolerate being stroked and other times not
-
and
that made it
virtually impossible to find a home for her.
We had no way of knowing why she behaved this way.
Little in the way of testing can be done in
a
kennel environment
and
so,
reluctantly,
we
had to agree with the Dog Warden that
it
would probably be best if she was put to sleep.
I
went
home
and
cried,
I
just
couldn't stop thinking about her.
I
felt
she deserved a chance to enjoy life and know what love is. We
had already put an appeal on
Dog
Pages
for her and thank
goodness
we
did !
Dave and Rachel
saw it and
offered her a chance despite her being so unpredictable.Bear
in mind that this
was a Friday afternoon
.
Saturday morning we took her from the kennels
and
she was on
her
way
to safety !
Thank
God
for Dave and Rachel,
Monday morning 9.00am the dog warden was at the kennels to take her to
be put to sleep - talk about
eleventh
hour!!!!.
I will be forever grateful to
Poplar Farm Kennels
for giving her a new
home and a new
life - I love all the dogs that come through the pound but Sian is
very special.
Very best wishes
-
Carol
xx
Update April 27th 2006
Sian, our special girl, has
been off colour for a few days and we had noticed that her glands in
her neck were up a couple of days age. Today they were up again and
on checking her underneath I also found a lump in her tummy. As we
were worried about the possibility of a recurrence of her mammary
lumps I took her straight down to the vets this afternoon.
Unfortunately, after a very thorough examination by our vet, the
diagnosis was about as bad as it could possibly be. Sian has
Lymphoma :
She has been prescribed steroids to try and make her feel better but
there is no cure and the vets realistic estimate is that Sian has 3
months at most. We dont feel that it would be in Sian's best
interests to try chemotherapy as she would not cope with the
hospitalisation and travelling and since that would only give her a
few extra months it seems unfair on her to put her through it.
Healing thoughts wont stop the cancer but it may help make things
more comfortable for whatever time she has left.
Sadly, Sian
lost her fight on Sunday 28th May 2006. She went peacefully to sleep at
6.40pm.
5th February 2006
In loving Memory of
Meg
Meg came to us in 2002 from EGLR who had
taken her from a pound in Lancaster where she had been left tied up
outside a cash & carry.
She quickly became "Dave's" dog and spent most of her time in a tight
ball on the spare pillow on his double bed, she was the perfect little
angel.
Just before Christmas 05 we were approached by a lady and her daughter
looking for an older, calm dog. We tried a few options but only Meg
fitted perfectly and mindful of the need to reduce the numbers here and
very impressed with the people, we decided to let her go.
She was as perfect with them as she had been here.
Yesterday afternoon Meg was struck down by a heart attack out of the
blue and died, at home with her new family.
21st December 2005
In loving Memory of
Harry
Harry's full story will be added shortly but some details of his time here and our struggle with his epilepsy can be found here on our forum
4th August 2005
In loving Memory of
BUTCH,
BANDIT, BARBIE, CODY, CURRY, DEBBIE, DIXIE, DUFFY
and EDDIE
FACT: In Ireland 7 out of every 10 stray and abandoned
dogs are destroyed. (source ISPCA).
That’s 10 times the rate in Cambridgeshire, where just 7 out of every
100 stray and abandoned dogs are destroyed
16th February 2005
In loving Memory of
Hope
Hope was a beautiful and extremely loving 3 year old yellow Labrador. She arrived from Ireland and after her 'quarantine' period was booked in to be spayed at our vets. Before arriving here it had been noticed that she had a mammary lump which didn't appear to be suspicious. Being such a healthy loving dog her a home was awaiting her once she had time to recover from the spay. Her spay was successful but on checking the 'lump' it was obvious to our vet that she had a particularly nasty and aggressive cancer. It was predicted that she would, at best, only have around six months. We were phoned by the vet and we said that she must come back to us where we would care for her for however long she had. Sadly this wasn't to be. Once her blood pressure started to rise as she was coming round from the operation she began to haemorrhage. Despite all the supreme efforts from our vet the bleeding post op proved unstoppable.
Run free Hope in just a few days you made you place in our hearts - you will not be forgotten
Dave and Rachel
7th February 2005
In loving Memory of
Sally
Sally
was rescued from the pound in Ireland where she was due to be PTS.
We bought her over in November 2004 hoping to give her a new life.
We tried..................but we failed, today she was diagnosed to have
bowel cancer and we had to let her go to the bridge.
With the help of our vet and every home remedy you can imagine, we fought
her HGE for as long as we could and hoped that once she was over the pups
and her spay that she would improve.
It did not happen and over the w/e we lost and although she was happy and
waggy tailed she could neither pee or poo. X-rays this morning confirmed
our worst fears and although not in great pain yet, we could not prolong
her discomfort.
The photo does not do her justice and we feel that she was a PB working
Lab, a real sweetheart who, when she was put out of the door to toilet,
would turn around and grab your arm to take you with her, once outside she
never left her humans side. We lost an Angel today and we are in bits.
Dave and Rachel
September 18th 2004
In loving Memory of
Bonnie
Bonnie
was rescued from the life of a breed dog - possibly 7 years old when we
took her into our lives and hearts, she had spent all of her short life
'cooped' up in a pg pen. The only interest in her was how many pups
she could produce. When she refused to co-operate, after more than 6
litters - she was dumped on the scrapheap. Luckily we were able to
spend the last 6 years with her. Never having lived in an home, been
with people or all the things most dogs can take for granted, it took
Bonnie a while before she felt safe enough to trust us. Always a bit
on the shy side with visitors, on her own with us she would come out of
her shell and her wonderful personality started shining through. She
loved her daily walks with he 'Dad' but only if he stuck to the correct
route - if he tried to go a different way, she would stand full square,
give him a look that conveyed who she thought was in charge of the walk
and no amount of persuading would get her to go the new way, if you
couldn't be made to realise by 'the look' - then she would turn and waddle
of the way she wanted you to go - and of course, we followed. This
was after all the only shoe of assertiveness she ever made - and we were
just tickled that she felt confident enough to do it. Watching hr
change from a very scared and untrusting lass to the beautiful loving
girl we were privileged to know made a tremendous impact on our lives.
It was Bonnie who woke us up to some of the horror stories and best of all
put us in touch with the world of Dog Rescue.
Bonnie has been a member of our family for the past six years and it was with tremendous sadness that we watched her deteriorate almost overnight and succumb to chronic kidney failure. making the decision with our wonderful vet, was just heartbreaking - but we owed he far too much to allow her to suffer, She fell into her last sleep in the arms of those she had come to trust and love....................Run free little BonBon - you gave us all so much
Hazel, Eddy and your 4 legged pal Max
July 23rd 2004
In loving Memory of
Orfeo
Orfeo,
my brindle boy from Rome has gone to the bridge. Last evening after a
quiet walk, he limped in from the paddock on three legs and at first I
thought "just another strain" Later it was obvious it was more
serious so I gave him Metacam and slept beside him on the floor. This
morning he was in great pain when I tried to move him and at the vets he
was sedated and x-rayed to reveal degeneration of the bone and a
fracture of the femoral head on his right hip.
There was no option but to let him go, another bone cancer victim.
I have pups to feed and then I will bury him under the trees..........and a part of me will go with him.
Perhaps he leaves a space that Binfield Alfie will fill, or perhaps it will be Aramis the white GSD I collected last week...........as I walked in the door the phone rang, could we take a 10 month old Caramel deerhound smooth coat Lurcher bitch?
Too many dogs, too little time........................
Dave
4th August 2003
In loving Memory of
Pepper
One of the best things I ever did was take on Pepper. He was 4 when I got him from Laurie at Hope2Help animal rescue in January of this year. We didn't have long, but considering how bad his epilepsy had become, it was longer than we thought it would be. Peps loved life and never let his epilepsy stop him doing anything, although he was very slow (due to the meds), he got there in the end!! and when he needed a break whilst out he swapped places with my son and would sit in the buggy. He used to swim in the lake (on the flexi) and only once had a vacancy where I had to jump in and get him.
Today, 04/08/03, he left us for the bridge.
He became really ill on Wednesday and had gone down hill rapidly, his kidneys were failing and his liver wasn't too good either. He could fight no more and gave up. His eyes said it all. I had to make the choice that I didn't want to do. He was coming home last night, as he had stopped being sick and they thought he would eat if he was back at home but whilst I was there to get him he had a massive fit. They told me that he was on the highest level of meds he could possible have and he was still constantly fitting. My boy went in my arms, with me telling him I loved him and that I was sorry.
I know he is at peace now, and I don't regret for one second taking him on. I'm lucky to have known him for the 7 months he was with us and at the drop of a hat would take on another disabled dog if I could offer it a suitable home.
My boy is now running around at the bridge, pain free and fit free. He deserves that so much. If only he could have been like that on earth with us........
Enjoy your new freedom Peps. We will miss you. Bob is pining pretty bad, he's never been an only dog before. He slept on my bed last night, which he has never done as peps never went upstairs due to fitting at the top of the stairs and falling down on one occasion so I never let him upstairs again, a lot of change going on and he cried and cried last night in the kitchen on his own so he came up with me, they used to cuddle up together so I guess he's missing him as much as we are.
All our love from Becky, Josh and Bob.
In loving Memory of Mekong
Today, June 22nd, was a sad day for us all at GIN, as Mekong, one of the 27 Roman boys and girls who came to UK last October, was euthanised following a spontaneous fracture of his right front leg yesterday. X-rays showed signs of osteosarcoma and that the bone had deteriorated to such a degree that regeneration would be impossible. The fracture occurred high up near the shoulder, very near to the lungs so that almost certainly the cancer had already spread. Mekong was in pain and the vet, John Dickson, felt it was not fair to prolong life. Dean Weatherley was present with him at the vets when he was euthanised and took him back to their home, Ringfield Farm, where he will be buried. We extend deepest sympathy to Laura, Dean and little Grace and Alice who loved and cared for him these last few months.
Mekong was born in Ireland in 1994, and had spent most of his life, probably 7 years, in a kennel at the Rome track, where the dogs were muzzled all the time except for a few minutes each day while they ate. He came to us last October with his Pet Passport, transported by Laura and Dean, to be rehabilitated here in UK, was castrated and had his awful teeth cleaned, and was loved and cared for, first by Karen Fellows at her boarding kennels and then at the Weatherleys' farm where he first displayed his enormous talent as a footballer. He was slow to find a permanent home as he had a tendency, like others arising from that all male environment in Rome, to defend his territory, but with Laura and her little family, he was very much at home.
Osteosarcoma in these days that we see dogs living longer is now sadly not uncommon. Recently two other Rome boys succumbed to it, Pluto in Germany and Rusty(Yemen) here. We extend deepest sympathy to all those owners who lose their dogs to this horrible disease. Dr. Vernon Foster at the North Carolina symposium this May spoke to us on the subject, emphasising how very aggressive this type of cancer is and how amputation rarely extends life beyond 2-3 months. We discussed whether their large bone mass, or the knocks they receive while racing, or the possible drugs they get given, could trigger off bone cancer in greyhounds, but it seems that the advanced age that dogs reach now is the greatest factor. My own observation is that if dogs get past this dangerous time in middle life (7/9 yrs) without cancer, they then can go on to ripe old age, well into their teens.
He will be buried with his ball. Farewell brave soldier!
Anne Finch.
Greyhounds in Need.
14th
October 2003
In Loving memory of Barney
Barney was a wonderful friendly dog who died last night in a
road accident. We got him out of Bradford pound on the day he was due to be
PTS, he was meant to go to the kennels but never made it any further than my
house where he won the hearts of everyone. He is greatly missed by all of us
and everyone who ever met him. He was full of character and love and just
wanted fussing by everyone he met, our other dogs adored him and he had a
language all of his own when you spoke to him earning him the nickname of Mr
Grumbles, although he wasn't with us for long he changed our household
completely. RIP Barney, play
and run
free at the rainbow bridge till we meet up again.
Your Loving Family, Wendy xxxxxx
Wednesday 3rd July 2002
Last Tuesday, Rachel’s mum collected Saracen from Bradford pound and met Wendy at Blythe services to hand over the dog who looks to have found a forever home with Wendy’s family.
On the Wednesday, one week ago today, Wendy collected my van, then Sarah, and they drove to Bradford again to collect 6 more dogs. A Collie went home with Sarah and the rest came here, arriving at about 11.30 pm. This was a 12 to 14 hour drive for Wendy who is registered disabled. The dogs were walked and settled into kennels for the night and all seemed lovely, re-homable dogs, 3 GSD type, a JRT and a similar 5 m/o puppy. Whilst we were having coffee one of the GSD’s escaped from the run and put itself back into the van!!! When I saw it I thought it was one she hadn’t told me about…….
I got to bed about 12.30 and was up again at 5.30 to start the feeding/cleaning routine again and to my absolute horror I found the sweet little puppy was ill with symptoms that could have been Parvo, he had been fine the night before although it was dark and very late. I completed the morning work and was waiting outside the vets when they opened at 9.00, we were treating it as worms at that moment and will give it 24 hours. Parvo has not been ruled out.
By 5.00 the puppy was collapsed and I rushed him back to the vets where he was put on a drip, by Sunday, he is still there and slightly better but not out of danger yet. It still is not confirmed Parvo but we are taking all the precautions as if it was. I now have a kennel I cannot use, a van I cant use for dogs and a £1500 vets bill looming even if we caught it in time, none of the others are ill including the puppy’s kennel mate that night except for 3 with kennel cough. If it does spread to my dogs, many of whom have out of date vaccinations, then the implications are horrendous.
But that sweet, innocent puppy is still alive and has a chance of a life, had Wendy not taken him in then he would have been pts the next morning. Even with the benefit of hindsight I would do it again tomorrow.
It is now Wednesday and one week since we collected the puppy and the other dogs, the vet has been here today vaccinating and checking my dogs and she brought the puppy with her, now out of danger, and the sweetest little chap that you can imagine. He has found a forever home with the lady who runs the hospital that saved his life.
Parvo now seems unlikely but I am continuing with the precautions for another week just to be sure.
With Rachel’s help, Wendy and I have been involved with removing 7 dogs from this pound. The pound charges £40 per dog and our fuel costs have been about £100, Sarah has contributed and so has Rachel’s mum and others have also taken dogs beside ourselves. K999 have offered to help with future transport and would welcome help also.
19th January 2003
I regret that I have very sad news to pass on
Way back in July Wendy collected a vanload of dogs from Bradford Pound and amongst them was a puppy. Five hours later he was very ill with all the symptoms of Parvo Virus. In spite of veterinary treatment, 10 hours later the puppy was collapsed and was then given IV fluids for the next 5 days before he began to recover.
Elizabeth who runs the centre that saved his life was so taken with this sweet little chap that she offered him a home and once he had recovered he lived with her and her children and was a great favourite with all as he grew and matured into a superb family dog. They named him Harrison and he brought joy into the lives of the children, staff and visitors at the wildlife hospital in Haddenham.
Recently Harrison fell sick again with acute Renal failure and he went back on a drip for several days, but tests showed that the kidney damage was irrecoverable and he was taken off the drip to spend a little more time with his family in comfort. Too weak now to take his normal night-time spot on his mum’s bed so Elizabeth slept on the floor with her puppy.
By last weekend Harrison had deteriorated to the point where it was decided to spare him further suffering and with much love and many tears he left us for the Rainbow Bridge. Run free little fellow and wait at the bridge………..xx
These decisions are hard enough in an older dog but when such a youngster is involved then its tragic, couple that with the history of Harrison and his sweet nature then you will understand why all involved are upset beyond words. Tests have shown that the problem was with him from birth and he was always on borrowed time but somehow that is little consolation and had we known this back in July neither Wendy, myself or Elizabeth would have behaved differently.