RIP ... Beautiful BLUE He first came to us aged 3yrs, but as an old boy found his way back because life was not playing fair to a mum who so loved him that she couldn't bear the thought of him going into kennels. We kind of expected that it would be an end-of-life foster but not for it to happen so quickly. |
Hanging up out fostering collar.
We are retiring from fostering.
(That could be famous last words, but at the moment we truly mean it.)
We have done it for over 20yrs and each dog that is rehomed has started to cut deeper (happy tears) but it's the ones we lose that have shown that it is now hurting much too much.
Nature can seem pretty brutal at times and within the feral population it was common that when the kittens were about 4wks old the mother cat would pick the strongest and leave the rest.
That's where I ended up coming in.
If a litter was found I became the drop off point for them to be hand reared ready for the rescue to rehome. It was not unusual for me to have 20+ little-ones each year in various boxes, housed in the bottom of the airing cupboard against the hot water tank for warmth.
I did my bit for bat conservation ... mostly pipistrelles.
Here's a thing ...
A full size one is only about the size of a 20p coin so babies are tiny. Now I bet you didn't know that in the mid 90's it was considered that the best place to keep baby pipistrelles was in a cloth bag down your bra (provided warmth and comfort apparently).
At the time I was often required to be 'suited and booted' at work to attend meetings. Many a time I'd excuse myself because my bosom started wriggling as my bats needed feeding ... it made for many an interesting conversation I can tell you - lol.
I was also known to take on a fox cub or three to feed them up to be released and also at one time had an injured badger living in my garden until it was ready for the cage door to be left open so it could roam free. Mind you it would still often pop back for an evening meal ... think it might have been a bit too well looked after.
I also accumulated a 'business' of abandoned ferrets thanks to the RSPCA, which came with me when I moved, along with the resident dog and various cats.
A new man in my life and so naturally Colin got dragged into this world. At first we were just going to take in the occasional pup waiting to be rehomed, but like most things we gradually got more and more embroiled into the whole rescue set-up. We took on admin responsibilities, then became trustees.
Often we would be the ones that fostered the neglected, the sick or abused and those that required careful handling due to a bad start in life that needed to learn how to trust again. We also fell into taking on those with disabilities due to us adopting our first little pup born deaf & blind.
We had decided to not foster (Yeah right!)
Okay so we didn't do as much hands-on as before but rather I got myself involved in producing books for PPBC to raise awareness and hopefully a few pennies.
Look for Protecting Preloved Border Collies
... on Amazon
As to now - 2024
No more fostering ...
(unless I can hand-rear a wolf pup)
We will however still be involved and will do our bit, by sharing posts & help to raise money.
It's now time to concentrate on spoiling our gang of two dogs and two cats, and the feline visitor they bring home for a spot of food and a love.