How we started
After growing up on a farm, I had decided from a young age that I would like to work with animals.
I applied for a job at 17 years old as a veterinary nurse.
This was where it all started.
I had been at the practice for a matter of months when I realised there was not always a place for animals to go when brought in as strays, so I started taking them home, as destruction was their only alternative. I had them vaccinated, neutered, micro-chipped, wormed and de-fleaed and then started looking for homes.
The first ever dog I took was a puppy called Henry. He had had a fall and appeared to have swelling around his brain. The owners could not afford treatment so opted for euthanasia. I asked if I could have him and nurse him at home. They signed him over to me. After 4 days of intensive nursing and lots of veterinary treatment he started to perk up. Amazingly, after a week he was back to full naughty Jack Russell puppy mode. I re-homed him to a friends Auntie and her family.
Next came a really old stray dog from Gravesend in Kent.
She was never claimed, probably due to having so many age related problems.
She had lots of teeth removed, I had her spayed as she had an infected uterus and then managed to persuade my
mother to let us keep her - saying she probably only had a year or two left to enjoy.
Tilly is now 24 years old, from veterinary estimate, and, apart from being a bit deaf and batty, she is still going strong - as my Mum often reminds me.
Update 1st April 2009 - Tilly was peacefully put to sleep today at the age of 25+
Next came Robert, a huge ginger male cat.
Robert was from a crime scene.
A murder had taken place in a home and the police asked the local council animal welfare service to remove the cats from the house.
There were three; two had bad injuries and were put to sleep. Robert, however, was fit and well but incredibly vicious.
I decided to take him home and rehabilitate him if possible.
Everyone thought I must have gone mad.
After a month of having to use a coat hanger to get his food bowl and litter tray out of his enclosure, he one day thought he would give up.
I closed my eyes and risked it. No claws, no teeth, just purring.
I had to keep him after we made such a good bond.
Homer was my next case. He had been abandoned in a flat when the tenants had been evicted. He too was very nervous but never vicious. He made an instant bond with Robert and so, yes, you’ve guessed it, he had to stay.
By the end of 1993, I had come to the conclusion that if I wanted to carry on with the rescue work I had better start advertising the animals as, by now, I had managed to exhaust all of my friends, family and myself. So the rescue service began!!