Tails Magazine - Spring 2023

TAILS MAGAZINE

Spring 2023

In this issue...

Pets looking for homes

Latest news

Events guide

Behaviour corner

Plus much more

Welcome to our Spring edition of Tails.

We are looking forward to the warmer weather after what has been a very cold winter. The last few months have been very challenging for us as we saw our electricity bills rise from £25,000 per year to £90,000. However, we must keep going and continue to care for the hundreds of animals we will take in this year.

As predicted by all rescue centres across the country, we are now facing a crisis of ‘lockdown dogs’ being put on our waiting list to come in - now they are a few years old and causing problems for their owners. Many of these dogs will struggle in rescue centres as they have not been properly socialised or trained due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and have either bitten or will bite if not helped soon. We can only take so many of these dogs in at a time as we need to have the time to rehabilitate them and then try and find safe and experienced homes for them – which is becoming increasingly difficult.

Most of the dogs in our care now have some kind of behaviour issue that makes it hard for us to rehome them safely and sensibly, which then upsets a lot of people who apply to us to adopt but don’t have the experience required, or in some cases have young children and other animals. We do take in dogs and cats that are suitable to be rehomed with children, but as you can probably imagine we could rehome that 1 dog to 500+ people! Pages 10 & 11 give you an idea of what we have been and are still facing.

As always our fab fundraisers have been out in force raising money for our animals. We are always amazed at the lengths people go to raising money for Gables as well as challenging themselves. Pages 6 – 9 give some wonderful examples of how our community support us.

Even more exciting news is that our new kennels are finally open and are already full of lovely dogs waiting for their forever homes. These new kennels are fantastic and much more energy efficient to hopefully reduce some of our ever increasing energy bills going forward. The kennels are lovely and spacious, giving the dogs a more comfortable and relaxed environment to stay in. Please see page 5 for more details.

This spring we are celebrating more long service awards for our staff and volunteers. We are incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderful people working for us and volunteering to help with all sorts of things. Without them we couldn’t do what we do.

We have some lovely happy endings to share with you, which I always love to read and I hope you enjoy them too.

We are so grateful to everyone who supports us, donates food, bedding and other items we need and to all the local businesses and people who have our money collection pots and food collection bins. You all make a huge difference and keep our charity going.

Claire Sparkes General Manager

Abandoned kittens fly above and beyond to a wonderful new life!!!

In November last year two of our rescued heatwave kittens, who were sadly found dumped in a field, flew above and beyond to a wonderful new life on the Isles of Scilly. Their journey went well and they have settled in with their new family purr-fectly. They are now named Peanut and Willow.

The other two kittens were also adopted by a wonderful family and are enjoying life in the Devon countryside. Now named Feather & Sunny they enjoyed their first Christmas – especially the tree, and their new family say they are so lucky to have them in their lives!

We couldn’t have wished for a better outcome for such special kittens. We are so grateful to everyone who shared their story and donated towards their appeal.

Amazon wish list

We have a wish list of items we urgently need and/or regularly use on the Amazon website. If you would like to support us this way, please visit www.amazon.co.uk and search for our wish list. Your gift items will be delivered directly to us so we share them with the animals in our care straight away. Our current wish list – If you can help by donating any of these items we would be very grateful

• Hard rubber or plastic squeaky dog toys and tennis balls.

• Cat toys.

• Cardboard cat scratchers.

• Kongs.

• Catsan litter.

• Royal Canin Gastrointestinal dry food (dog & cat).

• Royal Canin Gastrointestinal wet food (dog & cat).

• Tins or pouches of cat and dog food.

• Washing powder.

• Primula cheese.

Peanut and Willow

Feather and Sunny

New volunteer trustee board members wanted

We are looking for enthusiastic and experienced people to provide positive leadership so we continue to deliver a first class service to our animals and supporters.

This is an exciting time to join the Board and to help deliver our ambitious plans for the future, which includes phases two and three of our new kennels.

We are aiming to strengthen the experience and profile of the Board as we move into the next stage of our journey, particularly in the areas of advocacy, strategic finance investment,

land/building management and fundraising. We also wish to broaden the composition of the Board and welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds.

You will contribute your expertise to the main Board (which meets 6 times a year) and may be required to attend committee meetings and other events from time to time. In return we offer the opportunity to improve the lives of vulnerable animals and experience with an active Board.

The Board member application pack can be downloaded from our website www.gablesfarm.org.uk

Long Service Awards

Volunteer Long Service Awards

Halena Ali 10 years

Halena has been helping Gables with all sorts of things over the years and is a very important part of our fundraising team. She spends countless hours wrapping lucky dip prizes for us to sell at events to raise funds for our animals. She has a great sense of humour and is always keen to raise more funds for us - whenever and however she can. We are very grateful to her for all her efforts and support for the last 10 years.

John Cridge 5 years

We have been lucky to have John as a part of our volunteer team for five years this spring. John’s main role as a volunteer is to assist our maintenance team where he can be found doing all sorts of things ranging from helping fix any faults with the kennels, mending fences and even gritting the paths in winter. He has also been known to turn his hand to helping out with our on and off site events. John always brings a smile to our faces when he comes in to volunteer (and not just because he brings us snacks) Thank you John, here’s to the next five years!

Employee Long Service Awards

Ruth Rickard, Deputy Manager 15 years

Ruth joined Gables in March 2008 and has been an integral part of the development and achievements of the charity over the years. Taking responsibility for the day to day operations of the home she juggles many different tasks that constantly change in priority – which is not an easy thing to do! She liaises with other charities such as the RSPCA to help rescue animals from terrible conditions and situations such as abusive owners, hoarders and puppy farms. She takes great pride in rehoming our animals to new homes and loves to see how well they all do in their new lives. She looks after our staff and volunteers as well as all our animals.

Ruth is also very experienced at hand rearing and caring for vulnerable puppies and has saved countless litters as well as individual puppies.

We are very thankful and lucky to have such a wonderfully dedicated and hard working person leading our team.

We are so thankful to all of our employees and volunteers who do a fantastic job, sometimes under some very challenging circumstances.

Phase 1 of new kennel build finally complete

In 2017 we started working on the design of a new kennel block that would replace the three dilapidated parasol units and which would fully conform to the exacting standards of what is expected in animal welfare today.

The complete replacement programme will take several years, as we will have to source the funding needed and only replace one unit at a time, so it won’t impact too much on our vital day to day work.

The new kennel blocks will be located in the same area as the existing parasols, however they are considerably larger due to new requirements and additional specialist rooms.

The existing parasol kennels to be replaced are a circular design, made with lightweight materials. Whilst this was a cheap method when building, over the years it has proved to be insufficient and costly to heat and maintain. The circular design also encourages barking and stress, as the dogs can see each other at all angles around the kennels.

The new design improves the well-being of the dogs through larger kennels and a linear design so dogs are not facing each other. The new design also incorporates underfloor heating powered by an air source heat pump, high levels of insulation and designed natural ventilation to reduce running costs and improve the quality of comfort for the dogs, staff and volunteers. The galvanised mesh will be upgraded to stainless steel to save on future maintenance costs. The rear side of the buildings are left open to allow a covered cleaning area for the kennels, which also provides shading during the summer months on the south-facing sides.

The whole development project has been planned to take place over three phases, with each block being one phase. This approach is needed due to funding and to split the cost over a longer period of time, as well as to enable us to have usable kennels on site at all times.

We are very excited to show you the first phase finally finished and being put to good use.

We are so grateful to everyone who donated towards phase one and supported this wonderful project.

We are now putting whatever funds we can afford into a designated fund to start phase two in the next few years. We will keep our supporters updated on our progress.

Fab fundraisers

We would love to be able to list all of the donations we receive from our wonderful supporters but there simply isn’t enough space. Here are a few highlights of recent donations and fundraising events held to raise funds for Gables from our fantastic community.

David from Breakthrough Transformation Trust

Thank you to the Breakthrough Transformation Trust for supporting one of their students, David, doing a carwash to raise £44 to help all our dogs and cats!

New collection bin locations

Thank you Rowes Suzuki on Valley Road, Estover Dog Groomers and The Crescent Specialist Dental Centre for having our donation boxes to collect some much needed food and other items for our animals.

We now have many collection bins across the city where you can drop off donations of dog and cat food, cat and dog toys, laundry washing powder, cat scratching posts, cardboard cat scratchers and Catsan cat litter.

• Tesco, Lee Mill

• Tesco, Roborough

• Tesco, Transit Way

• Sainsbury’s, Marsh Mills

• Morrisons, Billacombe Road

• Pets@Home, Exeter Street

• Dunelm, Exeter Street

• Co-op, Plymouth Road

• Wilko, Armada Centre

• Estover Dog Groomers, Estover Road

• Elsie Boo-tique, The Barbican

• Grooming Marvellous, Faringdon Road

• Jollyes, Endsleigh Garden Centre

• Katori Grooming Salon, Ridgeway

• Rowes Suzuki, Valley Road

• The Crescent Specialist Dental Centre, City Centre

Evie Hammond

Evie visited us in January to deliver the dog and cat food she received after asking people who attended her 9th birthday party to bring donations to help the animals. She is such a kind girl and an inspiration to all at such a young age. Thank you Evie, you’re amazing!

Aiden Compton

Aiden very kindly chose to sell all of his unwanted toys and collected donations from his family and friends at a Christmas fair at Burraton School in Saltash to raise money for two local charities. We were very grateful to be chosen as one of the charities to benefit from his fundraising. He raised an amazing £120 to help the animals at Gables.

New Year’s Day Swim

Samantha Hall, Laura Hogan, Fiona Ellison, Wendy Baines and Ali Cherry all very bravely took part in a very cold New Year’s Day swim at Hope Cove to raise money for the animals in our care. They raised a wonderful £403.92 for our animals.

Skipton Building Society

We were lucky enough to be voted as one of Skipton Building Society’s charities for 2022 and they raised an amazing £521.96 to help our animals. They also collected some food, treats, litter and toys for the animals. Two of our tiny little puppies had a very important job to collect these generous donations.

Emily Barton

Emily Barton is the current Miss teen Plymouth Galaxy and has been using her platform to help charities. In October she visited Gables with lots of goodies to donate to the animals in our care but her kindness has not stopped there. She also took on the scary challenge to complete a Skydive in Switzerland on 31st December to raise funds to help the animals. Her very brave Mum Nichola, Dad Wayne and brother Luke also joined her for the skydive. They raised an impressive £90 to help the animals. We think you are all incredibly brave and kind, thank you very much.

Rachel Weeks

Rachel very kindly organised a birthday fundraiser via Facebook to support the cats and dogs in our care. She has raised an amazing £400!

You may have seen our family of smooth coated fox terriers who are available for adoption. The first of this family, Morwen, was lucky enough to find her forever home in December of last year with Rachel and her family. Now called Paris she is a very happy girl and her family couldn’t be happier to have her home.

Adam Barnes

One of our fantastic supporters braved new heights in June to help raise money for the dogs and cats in our care. London Cabbie Ben took to the skies and did an amazing 15,000ft skydive! As well as collecting donations online, Ben donated all the tips he received as a London Taxi Driver from February to May, resulting in an absolutely fabulous £1,700! Ben loved doing his skydive and said the views were amazing. Thank you for choosing to help our dogs and cats Ben, what a buzz!

Jess

We were absolutely thrilled to be visited in December by the amazing Jess, who for the fourth year running has made and filled 54 Christmas shoeboxes for our dogs. Jess asked for donations to help her fill the boxes and received an amazing response from people through social media and customers and members of the Waggles Club. We are so grateful to everyone who donated. She was also supported by Serpells, who acted as a donation station and Herrings Shoes who provided the shoe boxes and helped with storage. Thank you for supporting us again this year Jess. We truly appreciate your efforts and all of our dogs were so happy with their Christmas presents, thank you.

Mark Master Masons Devonshire

Before Christmas we were visited by the Devonshire MMM who brought with them a donation of £100 plus this trailer full of donations for our dogs and cats. There were even a few treats for the staff! In February they also kindly brought in a cheque for £250. We always enjoy their visits as they have a great sense of humour and we are very grateful for their continued support.

Colebrook Community Centre

Thank you very much to Colebrook Community Centre who donated forty eight brand new towels to help keep our animals warm and dry this winter.

Nyla and Taryn Collins

In December two of our young supporters made up bags of reindeer poo, reindeer food and reindeer noses to help raise money to support our dogs and cats. They sold them to their family and friends and were supported by The Blondie Bar in Saltash who also sold the bags of treats. Thank you Nyla and Taryn for bringing in lots of goodies for our dogs and cats and for raising an absolutely amazing £193, you are both simply Pawsome.

Behaviour Corner

by Dog Behaviourist Jodie Harris

Years ago public opinion was, for the majority, very positive towards rescue and rehoming centres such as ours. However, in recent years we’ve noticed a distinct change in attitude towards the industry as a whole. We now often see negative comments, mostly on social media and the internet, from people saying how hard it is to adopt animals and feeling frustrated and disappointed that they weren’t able to adopt the animal they had set their heart on, despite not matching the homing criteria for the animal in question.

Over the years we have grown, changed and adapted to the world around us. Twenty years ago the world was a very different place. When a family wanted a dog they checked the adverts in the local paper or went to a rescue centre. It was common place to take home a dog on the same day from a rehoming centre without much consideration for behaviour, temperament or circumstances.

These days we have the world at our finger tips with dogs and puppies easy to find online on various platforms. A quick search of one such site brings up 20 puppies and 1 adult dog available in Plymouth alone! Many families and hopeful dog owners will choose to take to these sites rather than come to us to find their new companion because it’s easier. No hoops, no complications and a quick hand over of their new best friend to live happily ever after. Or so they think. The sad reality is that many of these dogs later end up on our waiting list to come in, often due to a poor match of personalities, differing experience, behaviour problems or lack of knowledge and research before making the commitment.

Today we have 106 dogs on our waiting list and more than half of them have some kind of behavioural problem (that we know about). These issues include aggression towards other dogs, aggression towards cats, dogs that have already bitten, dogs that aren’t good with the children in the home, dogs that are reactive to strangers and dogs that guard resources, and more commonly rescue dogs that have been brought in from abroad by other ‘rescue’ organisations. Many of these dogs were initially bought on the internet but sadly they ended up in unsuitable homes which is disappointing for the owners

as well as detrimental to the dog. Covid has only served to make the situation worse with many people choosing to buy puppies that could then not be socialised properly.

At Gables, as well as rehoming animals from the general public we also work closely with other rescue organisations to help dogs that have suffered abuse, trauma and neglect. This can often mean taking in large numbers of dogs that are scared of people and other animals. Many of our dogs have come to us after being taken to the vets for euthanasia, meaning we really are their last chance at survival. When you consider these facts it should be a little clearer as to why many of the dogs we have available for adoption have specific rehoming needs.

Animal welfare is the forefront of what we do. When a dog comes into our care they receive a full behavioural assessment, which is where we will establish what needs the dog has and what sort of home would be most suitable. This includes whether the dog is safe to be around children, if they are suitable to live with other animals and what experience an adopter will require. We carefully match our dogs to their new owners to ensure a successful adoption, which is why we have a less than 1% return rate. Public protection and safety is a large part of what we have to take into account when rehoming animals, especially with more and more high profile cases arising involving dogs harming people and children in the media. We will never be prepared to take an unnecessary risk when rehoming our dogs – especially with children. We focus on quality over quantity and we want to ensure that both the animals and the humans are set up for success.

As a non-euthanasia charity we support dogs that have complex needs and we aim to rehabilitate them before finding forever homes. In most cases rehabilitation can only go so far and even with ongoing support these dogs require people who have very specific credentials to be an appropriate match for the dog in question. However this approach comes at a cost, both financially to us and emotionally to the general public who want to adopt ‘the perfect dog’.

The reality of rehoming rescue dogs – how attitudes have changed.

Here are some case studies:

Seven

Seven suffered severe and intentional physical abuse over a prolonged period of time when he was a young dog. This past trauma has left him distrustful and defensive around humans. Seven is always on high alert when going for walks in public and will panic, bark and lunge when he sees people he doesn’t know, even if they are at a distance. In some situations (when people get too close or when someone speaks to his handler) he is unable to cope causing him to redirect onto anyone who is close, including his handler and other dogs that he is walking with. He also guards high value resources. Seven is muzzled and kept on a short lead when he’s in public for everyone’s safety, including his own. Seven is an extremely challenging dog for us to find a home for as he has so many issues but we won’t give up on him.

Wanda

Wanda arrived at Gables from a puppy farm, heavily pregnant, filthy and terrified. Every day for weeks we worked to build Wanda’s confidence, we taught her how to walk on a lead and how to play with toys. When her puppies had been weaned Wanda was ready to be assessed and subsequently adopted. She was still too nervous to cope with young children but she was suitable to live with other animals. She needed a quiet home with someone who was experienced with confidence building, as someone who did not have this experience could have struggled to help her. Wanda was adopted by the most amazing couple who have helped her turn into a very happy and confident Labrador. Not only that, but they went on to adopt another dog, Wolverine, a few months later who had come from the same place and had the same problems. Wolverine is now a much more confident chap thanks to their hard work and dedication.

Veggie

Veggie first came to Gables in 2013 when he was 3½ years old. He was nervous of new people but quickly rehomed. Sadly this did not work out and resulted in Veggie having a number of homes over the years. After returning into our care Veggie struggled in the kennels and became our reception dog which helped him settle. Veggie is very set in his ways and he likes a routine, which he was given. After a bout of pancreatitis he was taken home by Deputy Manager Ruth to keep a close eye on him. Ruth had to make some minor adaptations to her life to accommodate him as he had some behavioural quirks that needed ironing out including separation anxiety and dog reactivity. Veggie settled in so well that Ruth decided to adopt him. He is now able to be left for short periods of time, he is no longer reactive towards dogs (in fact he’s even now got quite a few friends) and he is living the life he deserves.

We work hard to look after the animals in our care. We love and cherish them as though they are our own and we want nothing more than for them to be happy in forever homes. Reading and hearing so many negative comments from unhappy people is really hard for our staff and it can take its toll. We only have yours and the animal’s best interests at heart when we tell people they aren’t a match. So please trust our judgement, listen to our expertise, be kind and be patient.

Special appeal updates

Puppy Farm Palaver

In September we took in 23 dogs who were rescued from a Devon property. Some of the dogs were pregnant when they arrived in our care so this number soon rose to 30 dogs!

The dogs, a mixture of small “designer breeds” ranging from 7 days old to 12 years old, had been living in terrible conditions, resulting in them all suffering from overgrown claws, flea and worm infestations, as well as severe malnutrition. On arrival most of the dogs were extremely matted and covered in their own faeces as well as suffering from ammonia burns on their skin from living in their own urine. The tight matt ’s made it difficult for the dogs to move about and go to the toilet as well as causing incredibly sore spots on their skin. The huge flea burden resulted in some of the dogs constantly scratching, leaving them with open sores from the self-inflicted wounds. The mothers of the puppies had been struggling to keep up with the demand of having to continually nurse litter after litter in these conditions.

The dogs have now been nursed back to health, they have had full health checks, been neutered, microchipped, flea treated, wormed, vaccinated and some of the dogs also needed dentals, eye operations and treatment for skin conditions. Most of the dogs have now found their forever homes and are enjoying their new adventures and unconditional love from their new owners.

We are so grateful to Dee from Deesigner Pets for her time she kindly gave to groom all of these dogs, which was a huge task as they were in a terrible state.

Our incredible supporters raised an amazing £13,547 to help these dogs.

Peter & Sharon

Louis

Teddy

Winter Heating Appeal

It is vitally important to Gables that we provide our animals with the very best during their stay with us and their pens must be kept warm and comfortable at all times. During the winter months we use lots of donated duvets and blankets to help keep the animals warm and cosy, but our heating bills increase dramatically. There are 81 cat pens and 61 dog kennels to keep warm, which previously cost us over £5,000 each year. However in November 2022 we saw a huge increase in these bills and our winter heating costs were estimated to rise over £15,000.

It is sadly becoming normal practice to have to ask for help with our winter heating costs and our wonderful supporters always amaze us with their generosity.

Queenie

In June 2022 Gables took in a cat with severe skin issues. Queenie, as this regal girl was named, had sadly suffered with skin issues for several years. Unfortunately we discovered that Queenie had the bacterial infection, MRSA and she had to be moved to the isolation area and start some very intensive treatment. Thankfully she made a full recovery and was ready for adoption.

We estimated it would cost Gables £1,000 for all the treatment and medication she needed at the time and into the future. We were amazed by our wonderful supporters who donated a fantastic £839 towards her care.

The wonderful news is that Queenie finally found her forever home in January and is settling in very well.

Her new owner says “Having Queenie (now Smudge) home initially was quite an eye-opener. We lost our last cat Pumpkin at 18 years old and sadly she’d been poorly with hyperthyroidism, was deaf and suffered from arthritis, so hadn’t been very active for a while.

We settled on Smudge the moment we saw her photos and we knew she’d had a tough time with skin allergies and had been at Gables for 8 months whilst they did an amazing job of getting her ready to adopt. When she came to us I expected a very shy and nervous cat but she certainly wasn’t. Every cupboard, shelf and corner had to be explored, she’s very nosey and we frequently have to scour the house to find her. She’s not gone outside yet, that’s her next treat and I’m sure she will love the exploring.

As you can see she has now settled down. She adores a bit of attention and to be with ‘her humans’, she follows us everywhere and has her favourite sleeping spots. The best news though is she has a beautiful shiny coat and no sign of over-grooming due to stress”.

Our wonderful supporters donated an incredible £9,246 towards our heating costs. Thank you to everyone who supported this appeal.

Pets Looking for homes

We would love to be able to list all the animals we have looking for a new home but there simply isn’t enough space. Please log on to our website www.gablesfarm.org.uk to see all the dogs and cats currently looking for a new home.

Shadow

Shadow is a 1 year old Dalmatian. He is a very smart young man and he has already learnt so many things including sit, down, paw, spin and leave. He can be a little shy when meeting new people but he can soon be won around with a few tasty treats. He loves toys and will bring them to you to initiate a game of fetch.

Shadow is looking for an experienced, quiet and calm home with someone who has owned nervous dogs before and also has experience of owning dogs with separation related disorders. He could possibly live with another dog, as long as it was quiet and calm. He is not able to live with cats or other small furries. Shadow could live in a home with children over the age of 13. He cannot be rehomed to the area of Weston Mill, as this is where he came from.

Pimms

Pimms is a 2 and a half year old Maltese Terrier cross Cockapoo. When he first arrived at Gables he was in poor condition and he was very nervous. He came from a multi-dog household and had seen very little of the outside world. He is looking for a quiet home with a family who have owned a nervous dog before. He will need to have a safe and secure garden to play in as he will need to stay on the lead when he goes out for walks. Pimms is looking for a home as the only pet. He could live with children over the age of 13. He cannot be rehomed to the area of Saltash, as this is where he came from.

Peggy

Peggy is an 18 month old female domestic short hair. She is a very sweet girl and her confidence has grown a lot since arriving in our care. She can still be a little shy when first meeting new people so it is important that her new home is quiet and calm so that she can continue to flourish.

She is looking for an adult only home with people who have owned cats before. She would like to be the only pet in the home. She cannot be rehomed to the area of Whitleigh, as this is where she came from.

Special Friends

Some of the dogs at Gables stay here a little longer than others. This can be for a number of reasons. They may be nervous, have behavioural problems or medical issues that need to be addressed, or just simply get overlooked by people. These dogs need extra time and love so to help them during their stay with us all the staff are given a ‘special friend’.

Dan has worked at Gables for seventeen and a half years and has had many special friends in that time who have all now found their forever homes. Dan’s current special friend is Bilbo, a 5 year old Smooth coated Fox Terrier. Dan sets aside some time every day to give Bilbo some extra attention. This usually involves going for extra walks with him or having play sessions in one of our enclosed paddocks. Bilbo loves chasing after toys and he’s also very intelligent so enjoys learning new tricks.

Bilbo is looking for a loving new forever home so please see our website for further details.

News of happy endings

Hagrid

Hagrid arrived at Gables as a stray back in 2015 and he has been enjoying lots of adventures in his forever home over the last 8 years and has now moved to the small island of Shapinsay. He was very nervous when he arrived with us and very little was known about his background. His new owners have worked wonders with him and say “We’ve never been sure of his age but Hagrid must be at least 9 or 10 years old now. However, other than sleeping a little more, he certainly has loads of energy and still gets very excited for his daily walk on the beach.

the house, as he was very wary and scared of strangers and would bark and growl. With fantastic guidance from Gables, we overcame this problem and Hagrid now loves company and will actively go to strangers for a fuss and a cuddle. He is the most placid and friendly dog (although we remain careful with him).

scared dog with quite a lot of baggage (we had a lot in common from the start!!!).The transformation has been amazing and that’s thanks to Gables!

Your aftercare as a rescue home was fantastic and we always felt supported with whatever problem we faced. It just goes to show that every dog deserves a chance!

Jess

wonderful

After his initial difficult start in life, Hagrid has turned into the most wonderful dog. When we first adopted him, we had to be very careful of people entering

Hagrid now lives on the small island of Shapinsay, an outer island of Orkney and he absolutely loves it and everyone loves him. He attracts a lot of attention wherever he goes! He enjoys catching the ferry backwards and forwards to mainland Orkney, with the crew making a great fuss of him. We also adopted another dog Tilly (in 2016) as a companion for Hagrid. They are inseparable and such good fun together.

loves

We often think back to the early days when Hagrid first came to live with us. It was actually quite terrifying, as he was a very

Jess arrived at Gables in November 2021. She came from a multi dog household so hadn’t experienced the outside world.As a result she had not been socialised with other dogs or strangers so she was very nervous. It took almost 11 months for her to find her perfect forever home but she is now flourishing and she has definitely landed on her paws with her new family. She even went on her first holiday recently and she had great fun exploring the local beaches.

Her new owner said; “Jess has been getting on very well with us, she’s really settled in and is enjoying her new home. She’s even made some dog friends on her walks which is lovely to see. She’s loved by us all and is definitely the star of the show!”

Chilly

that

We are very lucky to have Hagrid and Tilly as companions; as a family unit we are inseparable and like it that way!

A huge, massive thank you to all of you. Your valuable work goes well beyond Gables!”

Chilly arrived at Gables as a very nervous stray in April 2022. He had tested positive for Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), which is contagious to other cats. This meant he would need to be rehomed as an indoor cat to safeguard his health and the health of neighbouring cats. When he arrived he would avoid human contact and would hide away most of the time. After nearly six months of hard work and dedication from the staff in the cattery Chilly started to realise that people were not that scary and once he learnt this he very quickly became a cuddle monster. He would snuggle into people and was happy to be picked up and stroked, he had made huge progress during his time with us. In December 2022 a lovely couple decided to offer him his forever home. He is now ruling the roost in his new home and can be found supervising every activity. He has become a very sociable and friendly house cat now - which is in stark contrast to the petrified stray he was when he first arrived!

Thomas and Coco were two very nervous cats when they first arrived in our care and the most we saw of them for the first few months were their glowing eyes peeking out of an igloo. After almost a year in our care their perfect home came along with a very experienced and patient couple who warmly welcomed them into their home.

Their new owners sent us this lovely update.

“We are so happy we decided on taking Coco & Thomas into our household. We knew it would be a challenge with both of them being of a nervous disposition, more especially Thomas, but thought that the rewards of settling them down comfortably here would be worth the patience required.

Coco is best described as a lovable, curious foodie. She tends to lead the way and really seems to look out for Thomas. She loves a

tickle and a groom with a brush and has one of the most expressive tails we have ever seen in a cat. An absolute ‘sweetie’ as my wife Jo calls her. It didn’t take Coco too long to look into every nook and cranny inside the house, but on one occasion when we thought she was fast asleep in our office, she had managed to climb the ladder into our loft and went on an adventure with us oblivious of her whereabouts. It was only a number of hours later we realised she was missing, at her food time, and on opening up the loft again, she sheepishly descended the steps with her head covered in cobwebs. Unfortunately it happened again, but this time she took Thomas with her overnight and as we couldn’t coax them down, we had to spend the night with earplugs in whilst they charged up and down on the floorboards in the loft. They had great fun!

Thomas as we knew, is extremely nervous and we hardly ever saw him during the day. He would run away if either of us approached. Three months on and there has been good progress. He no longer hides away unless both of us are too close for comfort. He has started to play happily, chasing rolled up pieces of paper (yes, their favourite ‘toy’) and will take his preferred Dreamies from your hand, allowing a little tickle on his head. They both like looking out of the French doors at all the bird activity in the garden and although Coco did go outside briefly, she wasn’t too keen to stay there, preferring her safe place. We look forward to springtime, when they can venture out if they choose to.”

Strawberry and Venus

In June 2021 4 dogs were brought to Gables from a multi dog household. They were all very nervous as they had not experienced anything outside of the four walls of the home. After 5 months at Gables Venus, now renamed Dolly, went to a lovely new home. Eleven months later she was reunited with another dog from the same home as her new owners offered a home to Strawberry, now renamed Ethel.

a home environment, thanks largely to our very kind, and gentle resident dogs. She is now a happy and playful girl, albeit with various quirks!

as

Their new owner said ‘’In 2021 we wished to expand our doggy family, so got in touch with Gables. We were fairly open to breed, age, temperament etc., having owned all kinds of dogs before, some with behavioural issues caused by their previous life. It wasn’t long before we were matched with Dolly (formerly ‘Venus’), a Cockapoo/Maltese cross. She came to Gables with several others from a multi-dog household, where their basic needs weren’t being met. As she was so nervous of people, particularly men, many visits were made to gain her trust before adoption. Dolly quickly flourished in

Fast forward to 2022, and with Dolly now settled, we knew we had space for one more! This time we were introduced to Ethel (formerly ‘Strawberry’). Rescued from the same household as Dolly, she had been at Gables for some time due to her behavioural issues requiring an experienced home. Again, lots of visits, and many bits of chicken later, she warmed to us, and we were allowed to bring her home.

several were

Yes it has been challenging at times particularly with housetraining, and navigating their individual fears, but it’s been so rewarding to see them become confident and relaxed. The duo are inseparable, constantly playing, and increasingly up to mischief. They will never be ‘normal’ dogs, but they are so loved, and have made our family complete.’’

The tail of Chairman Jack (formerly

known as Scar)

by

Amelia Tucker Mear

We adopted Chairman Jack (formerly known as Scar) as an outdoor cat from you in November 2020, and on release from the feral cat enclosure you brought for him, despite several bowls of food out, he immediately disappeared, and we assumed he was gone forever. You may remember that we kept putting out food and looking out for him, but nothing - we assumed he would never return and probably hadn’t survived the winter.

However!

He eventually turned up, some way up the road, at our friend John’s house. John leaves out dishes of food for the hedgehogs, and we think that, having had his fun out in the wild, the Chairman went on the hunt for some easy food. This was the following spring, by which time we had given up on putting fresh food out as it wasn’t being eaten.

John was not looking for a cat. He said that he would try and trap him, to bring him back down here to us so we could give it another go. But after the Chairman evaded the trap several times, we detected John becoming fond of him, and asked him if he would object to him staying, which he replied he would not, so long as he didn’t bother the ducks.

John has a way with animals, and I think he decided to take on the challenge. He would put food out for the Chairman, and over many many weeks, brought the bowl closer and closer to his back door. One day, inside the door. This angry cat, who you may remember noone could get near, gradually made his way inside John’s house. More weeks brought him further in. And finally, about 6 months ago, John installed a cat flap.

By this time, John was extending a hand towards him occasionally, to which the Chairman would hiss and snarl. Another month or so and he would accept a stroke. John managed to tempt him into a carrier with treats, and took him to the vet, where he had a few more of his scanty teeth removed and was otherwise declared well. The Chairman was cross with this betrayal and wouldn’t come in for a couple of days, but then came back in once he was done sulking.

By the end of last autumn, John stopped leaving his back door open. The Chairman - a cat who we all assumed was an outdoor cat for life - would come in through the cat flap, eat from a bowl on John’s kitchen floor, and then make his way into the living room where he would curl up next to John and watch TV with him. They became just a couple of mates living together.

About a month ago, the Chairman started eating a bit less. One night, he followed John upstairs and curled up on his bed. The following day, he was not himself, so John took him to the vet again. He had a sudden haemorrhage, and the vet advised it was time for him to be put to sleep, to which John very sadly agreed.

It felt like a sad ending, but actually, this fearful and angry cat who was frightened of everyone, made a friend for life, and spent his final year in increasing comfort and safety. I thought you folks would like to hear how his story turned out.

Here is a photo of him in what turned out to be his last months.

Thanks so much for finding him and looking after him and supporting us in adopting him. We might not have been the forever home he chose, but we sort of helped him find one and we feel good about that.

at Yealmpton Show

Filham Park Veterinary Clinic

Godwell Lane, Ivybridge PL21 0LE 01752 892700

Purpose built small animal facilities at our Filham Park Clinic

Surgery Appointment Hours Monday to Friday 9am 11:45am 2pm 3:45pm 4:30pm 5:45pm Saturday 9am 11:45am 2pm 4:10pm 24 hour emergency services provided by our designated partners No answerphones or remote call centre

Trained veterinary nurses, providing the best possible care

It costs £2,000 - £2,500 a day to run Gables and care for all of our animals! As we receive no Government funding we totally rely on the generosity and support of the public through donations, sponsorships and legacies. is is why we need your help and support.

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