RESCUED WITH LOVE INC.

Blind Lily came to us last year and was adopted by Mum Elisabeth, and not long after she got her brother in little Henry...today they live in extreme happiness!

Here is Lily enjoying the outdoors.

And little Henry, who is the biggest snuggle bunny of all time.  Henry loves his walks, and is pretty keen on the cat toy too.  Sadly because he has no teeth, he finds catching the ball a REAL challenge!

Stella had a great day yesterday and foster Mum Marie said she really went ahead with her recovery which is the best news.

Here she is enjoying the good life.  Go Stella!

Little Theo is doing great at home and is a confident and happy boy while in an environment he enjoys.  He hopefully will be having surgery for his cataracts coming up early March and then when he can see, his world will expand to the outside and then off he can go to his new home!

Meanwhile, Theo is ...well, a bit of a clown....

Normally looking as cute as a button and mugging it for the camera such as here..

We also like to fool around and stick our head in places where it's warm and furry!

The Lost Dogs Home have done it again.  They have tried to 'explain away' and 'take credit' for the huge number of dog adoptions in January in their facility.

Read Below.

January 2010 has set a blistering pace for adoptions at The Lost Dogs' Home with 220 dogs rehomed at its Gracie Street headquarters. This is a staggering 59 percent increase compared to the same time last year.

“The establishment of ‘Buckley’s Friends in Need Fund’ has helped enormously. Donations to the Fund means that unclaimed stray dogs requiring surgery to remedy health or physical problems can undergo surgery before going up for adoption. There’s no additional cost to the adopter, which in the past may have been a turn-off to someone wanting a new pet,” commented Managing Director Dr Graeme Smith.

Extended opening hours and increased publicity can also be attributed to this exceptional result.

For those in the know, there is a distinct snicker of laughter in the background.

59% more adoptions than this time last year. 

 Mmm, what has not been published is the Impound stat, the Kill rate and the reclaim rate for January to make a serious comparison. Do we just blindly believe the LDH figures they publish??  In fact the LDH since being forced in November last year by The Age article to publish their kill rates (and wear a backlash from donors over their appalling kill history) they have gone back on their word by not publishing one more stat.

The establishment of Buckley's Friends in Need Fund.

You have to be KIDDING.  How many MILLIONS of dollars do they have in the bank, and it has now been decided that stray dog CAN undergo surgery to get them into a home because they NOW have enough money?

I can hear the guffawing from here

And as it was explained to us, Buckley was a goner before a staff member leaked his plight to the Herald Sun, makes it  even more ironic.

So the LDH need more funds, holding the public hostage to save more lives?  Emotional blackmail lives on.  While other pounds/shelters/rescue groups do this as a matter of course FOR the animals, the LDH now decide they will save the dog IF the public will pay for it.  Disgraceful stuff.

A turn off to someone wanting a new pet. 

I can hear more laughter, turning to outrage.  When rescuing in there and more recently the number of people who called and emailed me when Phoenix was impounded, the stories of people begging to pay for surgery of dogs they wanted to save, and being told no by the LDH, was phenomenal.  The LDH charged people for patella surgery or eye surgery if they truly wanted the animal and would kill it if they couldn't pay the extra.  There was no liason about taking it to their own vet and making a payment plan, the animal was just disposed off like a piece of garbage.  I know.  I tried to save a little boy many years ago and was told I would have to pay for both his legs to have patella surgery there and then or they would kill him.  I begged to take him to my vet and was told no.  No life spared I guess.

Extended opening hours and increased publicity can also be attributed to this exceptional result.

Extended opening hours!  More laughter, now hysterical laughter.  For years and years people have begged and pleaded with the LDH to stay open longer on weekends.  The answer was always an arrogant NO.  After the hard hitting publicity in November where the LDH reeled from the public backlash, they finally decided to do so.  Well done LDH, nothing like being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

And the increased publicity, no doubt would be the little puppies with their mouths wired shut, who were also for the 'highjump' except it was leaked to RWL about their plight who then rang Kelly Ryan a journalist at the Herald Sun, who immediately called the LDH.

The 'increased publicity' infact was more like the pressure that was applied over the issue of Phoenix, a little matted dog who would never have passed assessment in this facility.  His story flew around Australia, and the rest of the world and the LDH were inundated with questions of 'please explain." Coming from their very own staff who were distressed with killing spree's as one called them, they spoke out and along with many of the public shamed the LDH into a position where it made it impossible for them to kill Phoenix without receiving exposure for their actions.

While this no doubt made the LDH management (and if they know, the Board) furious, the question remains.  When will it dawn on these people that their sheltering practices are inadequate?

Since Phoenix, MORE people and many in a position to make choices and noise about it, are aware of the appalling practices of the LDH and their bid to hide their agenda from their donors and the outside world.

One senses, that the door opened just a crack and people did not like what they saw.  So 59% more dogs were saved in January.  Does anyone think it will actually happen in February?  I doubt it. 

We see a spike in numbers every time the LDH is forced into the spotlight, not something they enjoy at all.  As time goes on, there will be more spikes in numbers due to people complaining, the media being notified and a pattern will emerge.  Then it will be just a matter of time before the door is opened wide and they will be on full display to the world, and most importantly their donors who have been left in the dark for too long.

A few of us had the pleasure of meeting Joy Verrinder and the girls at AWL Qld when they hosted us for the AWL conference last October on the Gold Coast.  What a remarkable and wonderful group of people they are, now running their facility as a towards no kill shelter and doing the hard yards to make sure the community is doing it's bit too.

Here is an article from the Gold Coast Paper recently. 

GOLD Coast pet owners will need a licence if they want their dog or cat to have a litter, under proposed new regulations slammed by pet shop owners as 'mandatory desexing by stealth'.

The City Council intends to introduce permits to target backyard breeders and cut the number of unwanted kittens and puppies.The State Government-backed pilot program could be adopted statewide.

Pet Industry Association state co-ordinator Paul Westaway slammed the scheme which requires permit holders to desex kittens when they sell them or give them away. Puppies will escape the snip.

"It's mandatory desexing by stealth," said Mr Westaway, a member of the stakeholder group that developed the plan."It is impinging on people's rights."

Animal Welfare League strategic development officer Joy Verrinder, who led the stakeholder group, said cats intended for breeding would be exempt from desexing

.The scheme would reduce the euthanasia of 4000 cats and dogs on the Gold Coast each year, she said.Breeders and pet owners alike would have to apply for a permit if they wanted their animals to breed, and comply with an animal welfare code of practice.

If the permit plan is approved at the council's Monday meeting, it will go out for public comment and is expected to come into force mid-year.

The Pet Industry Association of Australia (PIAA) are the governing body who help Petshops in Australia and promote the selling of puppies and kittens in petshops, the practice being highly lucrative, in the tens of thousands of dollars worth for the petshops.  They are now crying impingement on people's rights, yet fail to consider any 'animal rights' or take responsibility for selling pets to unsuitable homes, or as impulse buys.

In 2002 up to 4000 animals lost their lives on the Gold Coast.  With the GC City council working beside the AWL they have significantly reduced this number to just over 1400 in 8 years.  1/4 of what it was.  That is excellent work indeed.

Here in Melbourne we have the RSPCA and Lost Dogs Home taking up the majority of council pound contracts, those few others left (around 3-4 out of 22) are working with rescue groups and making significant difference to the kill rates.  In 2009 the pound RWL works with, along with other shelters, found that they had not had to kill one rehomeable dog for the entire year.  Something to be seriously proud of.

One has to wonder why the RSPCA and LDH don't attempt to take this initiative up with each council and publically act upon it to reduce the number of animals ending up in their facilities.  A very open lobby to all Councils would be the sensible thing to do (such as what we are proposing with our desexing stance "Save A Life Petition") but of course other agendas will be controlling the play of the day no doubt.

Congratulations to Joy Verrinder, and all of AWL for the remarkable inroads they are making to a) reduce unwanted litters and backyard breeding and b) continue to work towards a no kill solution on the Gold Coast for companion animals.

Gorgeous Gilbert, who is recovered really well from his patella surgery has been up and about, like a few others we know...

Perhaps it is the full moon, or the end of school holidays, but EVERYONE is getting into the dirt.  Gil has decided, according to foster Mum Keira, that he loves rolling in the silt and stuff out in the backyard, and then finds a place to lay down and rest after his shenanigans.

This place of course is the clean folded washing basket.  And he looks quite comfortable too, thankyou!

Al Pal decided to saunter in two days ago when it was stinking hot after a dig, her ugg boots were black as was her snout.  She went into the bath outside in the sun, her Dad calls it 'the Penalty Box'.   Here she is after her bath looking as pretty as a picture....

And finally, Angel, aka The Warrior Princess decided to come in yesterday and tell Mum Lee that it was raining outside.  Um, yes Warrior Princess, we can tell...by the floor and your feet!!

Discovering that it really sets Mum off, the Warrior Princess then decided to do a couple of slides on the floor.  Now that IS fun!

But Mum always gets the last laugh and yup, into the Penalty Box we go.  Happily we are glad to let everyone know Angel has been adopted by Lee and Peter, so we will have more Warrior Princess updates in the future!  Congratulations and thankyou again.

The great news is Theo's retina's are working.  And that means once his cataracts are removed he will be able to see.  Although he has a small amount of damage in one eye, he will be still be able to use it, and that means the most enormous amount of change in quality of life for this puppy!!

Yesterday Foster Mum Marie took Theo down to meet specialist Simon Hurn, and we are delighted that the news is so positive.  All we need to do now is save up a bit for his surgery (around $3000) and book him in for his extreme makeover!  We will keep you posted.

Little Ziggy didn't stay in care for very long.  Foster Mum Jane took him for a housecheck and he romped it in with his new sister, a little scotty terrier girl.  They ran and ran, had enormous fun and just had the best time.  He will be heading off tomorrow which is great and will no doubt be just the ticket for little Zig.

He was so exhausted after his visit he rested his head on the consul of the car and snored on the way home!  Good luck little Ziggy.  Thankyou to Bronwyn and Jane for helping this little boy to his new life!

Well the news is good.  We think.  The testing for Cushing's Disease revealed nothing that overly indicated it WAS Cushings.  Yet, she does have low cortisol levels which CAN indicate the onset of Cushings.  At this stage, with a major surgery looming in the future and a big recovery for that, we are concentrating on getting her well after that, and then re testing her in a couple of months to see if her levels have altered.

So at this stage we are not medicating or treating her for anything and will just monitor her water and urinary in/out and see how she goes.

This means we can start treating her arthritis and help her feel more comfortable and less stiff, which is the immediate thing we can do for Stella.  This involves injections every week for 4 weeks to start off.  Hopefully she will feel the effects in the coming weeks, and help ease her joints a little.  Apart from that she is eating, wagging her tail and roughing up Mr. Soxy's bed!  Foster Mum Marie will keep us updated on how she goes.

Last week when we lost Miss Dolly, Bambi came into care and then Stella, as well as rescuing Ziggy and Jovi, I was doing the invitations for the RWL Cocktail party.

I hope that many of you have received your personal invitations to our event, which will be a very comfortable and happy affair with all of you coming

BUT.  I forgot to put the DATE on the invitation!!!!!!!!!!!

Who is the silliest person inviting you all?  That would be ME.

So

Saturday 17 APRIL at 7.30 pm.

I truly apologize, how ridiculous it is to invite people and NOT give them the day.  What was I thinking?  Not much by the look of things.

Anyway, I hope you can make it.  Sincerest apologies.