alleycat

I do love happy endings........... just aren't enough of them!  What a cracking pair!

Yes Framboise, the rewards are indeed boundless as we know from having done it - for some, having an animal to care for and the love and loyalty it gives in return can turn someone's life around quite literally - it's hard to be depressed for instance, when you have a four legged friend to get up for in the mornings who's always there with a ready smile and a wagging tail and then at the end of the day when you are relaxing and they curl up near you for company - how can you be miserable or lonely?

NB - when I say 'they'...... this applies to ALL animal rescue centres - they all face the same dilemas when it comes to trying to keep the animals warm and give them some comfort.

Remember, if you can't actually adopt an animal yourself you can help in lots of others ways to shoulder the burden of having enough to go round...........  they need warm blankets and coats for winter so if you're good with a sewing machine and have oddments of unwanted clothes or old duvets you are really hanging on to for no good reason (don't we all!) they will be so very welcome!  It means that what money there is can go on other much needed resources like medicines and food for the poor souls that are confined to stark refuge conditions in the coldest months of the year.  You can knit dog blankets and coats as well - lots of ideas and patterns if you Google search.  Winter months give us time we wouldn't otherwise have to do such things - they would be so grateful.  When we collected our little Podenco last Sunday in a howling gale, the back of the van had blankets  for the dogs and also the really thin and trembling ones had blankets in the cages too.  As we unloaded some of the cages to get to our little one (they were stacked three deep!) they threw the blankets over the cages to protect them from the wind and rain and they told me that they never have enough!  So come on you clever sewing ladies - if your home is unable to accept an adoption for whatever reason, give them your kindness in other ways and it will make you feel good.

Thanks Mimi - what I did was the easy bit, all the organisation that goes into rescuing these poor creatures is the tough side.  She's still very jumpy poor thing and very clingy but then she took quite a beating so it's no wonder and I am sure she will soon learn she has nothing more to fear - she's very bright.  I am going to keep her on a long lead for several weeks around the place for safety sake as she is very agile and any sudden thing spooks her and could send her shooting off over a fence etc.   In a way it's good it's winter and she's keen to get back indoors by the fire!  She's sitting on my knee as I type......... with a full tummy!

Yes that's her!  She's just gorgeous and already beginning to look more relaxed and fuller in the figure!  Her eye is still weeping a bit but nothing to speak of and she lets me clean it no trouble.  We have re-named her Pippa and look forward to giving her the confidence she needs to enjoy life - she is scared of her own shadow right now and follows me around everywhere and sleeps curled up under the duvet at night with us!  My other three rescues have been so kind and gentle with her it's as if they know she has had a hard time and needs a break.  I actually think she will rule the rooste once she's been with us for a while.  She's as dainty as a fawn and as swift as a gazelle!  There are so many like her and my thoughts are with the others and the good people who try to help them.  Thank you for posting the picture Christine and thank you all for your lovely expressions of delight.  I will post some pictures of her here very soon as I will get to working out how to do it - just so taken up with her right now!  I'm such a sad case aren't I.... like having a new baby!  To my grateful relief my husband was as moved as I was that shocking morning when we went to collect her in Narbonne and understand completely the need I have to give my time and future help to these poor poor creatures.

ok I'm a wuss....... it all looks too complicated to upload a pic.  Take it from me folks she's a little star despite being horribly maimed and now has only one eye and partially sighted in the remaining one, starved and hiding herself and her pups along the roadsides in Seville to escape re-capture by her violent owner, she is just fantastic.  She arrived in southern France with her pups after a long traumatic journey up through Spain together with 25 others who were all facing onward journeys to foster homes in Lyon, Paris and Switzerland - exhausted but all just so sweet and terribly terribly sad.  Some good people and homes await them after their terrible trials I pray!  I have been so moved by this episode that I have pledged to become a foster 'mum' next year to the disabled and old ones (like my little one) when our house renovations allow me more time to dedicate to the many that are always in need.  There will always be room 'for one more' for as long as I am able to give them the care they need and deserve.  I shall join the ranks of those of have been doing it tirelessly for years and their dedication cannot be broadcast enough as far as I am concerned.  To try to right in some small way the wrong doings of our fellow man.

Here she is - by kind help from Levriers en Dangers - wonderful people!  If any of you out there have the tiniest chance to open your hearts enough to take in one of these amazingly courageous animals who suffer terrible abuse and yet remain kind and patient....... you will be so rewarded! help - don't know how to post a pic....?

Peachy, how good to hear Ares's story.  I am sure you will be rewarded 100 fold for your kindness and TLC - poor little mite, he looks so cute too.  I'm keeping a lookout still for a little one to add to our already rescued and happy tribe - had a couple of disappointments recently but there are so many out there that need our help I'm sure it won;t be long before one destined for us will turn up! 

What a great job everyone did and so very worthwhile - congratulations.  Will there be another rescue on the same scale at some point?

I repeat my posting.......... you never know!  If they DO decide to check other papers, why risk it?  When my son took his cats through six months ago they went through ALL the papers with a fine tooth combe and found some miniscule date descrepancy/stamp missing on paperwork that had been issued in the US some nine months earlier!!  It was totally irrelevant.  They had to chase all round the local vets in Calais till they found one open who could stick a stamp on the piece of paper that actually had nothing to do with the Passport..... which was all in order!  This happened at the entry to the Tunnel and they lost a whole six hours and their tunnel booking.  It just takes one difficult 'so and so' who may be having a bad day to cause you all sorts of problems.  I wouldn't leave anything to chance.

Hi The vets here know diddley squat about what happens at Calais or other ports of entry to UK - they're not interested.  I have been through with four dogs of differing breeds and to be honest the Laboratory papers were not looked at - so long as the actual Passport states clearly all the correct details about colour and breed it's normally the only thing they are interested in. HOWEVER..... I would leave nothing to chance as it's quite possible they will go through other papers should they feel like it and if there is no time constraint on your needing the documents, then I would definately go back to your vet and show him the mistake and ask him to return the documents for correction stating that it will cause problems at Calaise etc.  I would be inclined to indicate that you need it done asap - remember to take a copy of the document first before handing it over!

Thanks Christine - will look at the one in Toulouse.  I can only take a little one (the other three are large and the floor space in the bedroom is getting limited!) and it kind of has to be female as I often look after a friend's dogs, one of which is a large entire labrador who will fight with anything male that comes in view!  I'm wondering if a neutered male will be OK?  But I'm on the case and a fourth poor pooch will find refuge with us before too long and discover what fun, comfort and love is all about.

Whereabouts in the 'South' did the six others go Christine?  Anywhere near me in 12?

Bless their little souls!  How I wish I had read your post earlier and knew your proposed route back - you could have dropped a little one off on me without doubt!  I would have been thrilled to take a little old one as it's just what I'm looking for.  I was so fired up about poor little Mambo that it got me thinking that I had room for just one more, a little oldie with a sad tale and little hope of being picked from the crowd of lovable puppies etc.  I contacted my friends at Phoenix, where we got our other three from, but no little ones at the moment.  Sure there will be one along soon but when I saw your little travellers....... I so wish I'd know as you might have been passing close by to us (Rodez) or at least Toulouse which isn't a million miles away!  I congratulate you and your helpers on such a good job well done, marvellous ....  I hope they all find happy homes and have richly deserved happy endings!  I know you can't help them all but it's no reason not to help the few, which is what I have tried to do all my life, having had a wonderful 'family' of rag tag and bobtail mutts pass through my hands enriching my life and those of my family along the years.

I think all the posts on previous pages tell us that there are no hard and fast rules.  Our cats were used to being free to roam at will but essentially never far from home - we would see them in the fields playing or stalking etc., and they loved their fireside.  To have suddenly kept them in after moving to this amazingly tranquil rural area would have been cruel and impossible so we let them have the run of the property and they almost always stick to our fields (2 hectares).  They move freely among the feral cats who don;t bother them and we NEVER have hunters climbing our fences, hunting at night or being trigger happy anywhere close to our property.  I do accept however, that we are lucky and that this is not the case in other regions and it must be quite frightening and sad to come across some of the previously mentioned incidents.  We don't have predators that take cats either - we have Kites, Buzzards, Sparrow Hawks - but they don't hunt at night!  Owls would have to be quite large (we have long eared ones and barn owls) and fairly desperate to take a cat!  Quite a struggle for an owl also I would say and they do tend to have a plethera of small animals to feast on - also cats are quite cunning at night the way they dart about between and inside buildings seeking their own prey - they are not that stupid.  Foxes do present a problem if they are really hungry possibly and have young to feed.  There are risks to cats in many ways from lots of things but how can we judge for sure - we just take the view that our cats would be so very miserable kept in that we would hate to see it.......... and so far we have been very fortunate and feel we do the right thing by our cats.  That's what keeping pets is about - doing what you think it the right thing for them and we are all differing in our views as this thread shows.  But it's good to air these views.

We let our two cats, whom we brought from the UK, out at night and we live in rural Aveyron.  They just love it and rarely stray off our land as there is plenty for them to explore.  We have feral cats on the property (that I feed during hard winter nights) and they have never caught anything nasty off them or come to any harm.  We regularly Frontline them for ticks and fleas and worm also, but then we did that in the UK also, so nothing different.  We have the hunters around here who go after hare and rabbits but again if the cats hear so much as one shot in the distance they head back home to the safety of our land, which is fenced and no hunters allowed and we have no near neighbours who are trigger happy either!  Our cats have been here for three years and have thrived with the freedom here and the safety from traffic.  Night predators are no worse than anything they would be likely to encounter back in the UK, foxes etc.  Let them have the run of the place and once they have the measure of their surroundings they will be fine I'm sure.  Ours love the warm fireside most winter nights now anyway!

Tell us a little more about the dog perhaps - size, colour, breed, approximate age?  Where abouts is the rescue and do they have a web link to look at?  Which Department?

My French isn't brilliant but I assume from the comments that the judgement/punishment meated out wasn't enough?  The plight of this little dog has haunted me for days now and re-ignited my hatred of people who can do such things and more to defenceless animals - there should be much stronger punishments but the majority of society simply doesn't care.  I so hope that little Mambo recovers well enough to have a good life bless him and he's not left too badly scarred.  Burns are incredibly painful (I used to nurse on a burns unit) and leave all sorts of cripplingly painful parts even after healing.  He will never be the same again which ever way you look at it and I hope he gets the protection he will need.  This was one of the reasons I was so keen to adopt him and bring him away from the area where it all happened and give him a new start at a much better life in the lap of animal luxury in the country.  Heaven knows how many others are not brought to our attention and suffer terribly at the hands of vicious humans.  Now the hunting season is in full swing I lie in bed at night and listen to the howls from the caged hunting dogs that drift across the hills -  they are half starved and kept in shocking conditions, but who will ever change it?  I've had my rant, now I will get back in my box and 'subside'....

I'm sorry - I'm goofey and missed the fact that you said where you were because it was so good to read something happy for a change! 

Where abouts are you?  The Phoenix Association near Bergerac would have something to be sure.  Sounds like you would have a lovely home for some lucky little pup - that's so nice. 

Looking at the link Mimi gave me is full of horrors also and it has triggered an urge to help one more desperate case - we took on three a couple of years ago who are living the life of Riley here with us now - but how do you choose just one when there are soooo many!  I have decided I would like to help one that stands very little chance at all of finding a happy ending and bless my husband for allowing bearing with me, yet again!

Thanks for that update Polly - his little face haunts me and I do so hope he will get better and have a good life - though I wish he were out of that area I have to say.

Oh right - well my email to Christine was returned as undelivered so I'll try the pm.  Thanks.  Mimi - will go look up if there is more information about the little fellow.

I sent Christine an email - what is a pm?