Happy tails of rehoming as others still seek that special new owner
Ashbourne Animal Welfare, The Ark, is getting ready for its April Open Day. Here, Wanda Weilczreck introduces us to some of the residents waiting to find new homes and others for whom the wait is over
NO matter how wild the weather may be, Ashbourne Animal Welfare’s rescue and rehoming centre, The Ark, continues to sail on and we are holding our first Open Day of the year at The Ark on Sunday April 7, 11am4pm.
We do hope that you will be able to spring into action and come along and support this! Our cats and dogs would be delighted to see you... especially if you are looking for a new companion!
Our shop will be open selling new gifts as well as our outside sales areas selling books, bric a brac and toys etc. No trip to The Ark is complete without a visit to our tearoom for a cup of coffee and homemade cake...there’s lots more on the menu too, including bacon butties.
We are kept extremely busy with requests to take in and rehome unwanted and stray cats and dogs and as a result are always full with many animals having to be put on a waiting list for admission.
We provide a safe, comfortable and, most important, loving environment. All of this, of course, costs a lot of money and fundraising is very important to us as this enables us to carry on with our animal welfare work so please do come along to the April open day as this will help us continue to help animals in need!
Happily, rehoming of both cats and dogs is going well although there are always fewer enquiries for The Ark’s older residents, particularly cats.
Mr Dibble is a lovely old black cat who came to us in January with his tabby sister Bingo when their owner became too ill to care for them. Both cats were 13 years old and, whilst Bingo has since gone on to a new home; sadly Mr Dibble is still waiting...his age, combined with being a black cat mean he will not be chosen for adoption as quickly as younger cats and those with a different coloured fur coat!
Spider is another black cat waiting for a new home and this very handsome boy came to us with a ginger cat called Pumpkin who has since been adopted. Both cats came to us after they were found dumped at a vet’s in a small cat box.
However, we did recently find a lovely new home for another black cat called Penny who had been with us for 18 months! Admittedly in her case it wasn’t just the colour of her coat but the fact she was a rather feisty lady with “cattitude”! Luckily her new owners love her, although they have renamed her Sassy to reflect her personality!
Christmas Eve last year saw the emergency admission of three more cats in need along with their pal Angel, a pretty collie cross. Their owner had died and they were discovered by members of the family living in terrible conditions altogether in one room surrounded by faeces as they never left the room!
All three cats – Prudence, Precious and Prince – as well as Angel the collie were completely shut down. Angel just lay in her bed in the kennels pretending to be invisible and would not respond to us at all. Similarly, the three cats were in the same frightened state and just hid in their beds. We started work on Angel to gain her trust, although she first had to be bathed and undergo a visit to the dentist...not a good introduction to her new life at The Ark!
However, she gradually started to enjoy going out for walks in the grounds and that having a fuss was in fact rather nice!
Precious, Prince and Prudence also grew in confidence after our staff and cattery volunteers put a lot of time into socialising them and giving them lots of TLC. We are delighted to say that both Angel and her three feline friends have all now found loving new homes.
Some of our doggie residents now doing well in their respective new homes are Robyn, Nancy and Clara. These three springer spaniel cross puppies came to us at 14 weeks old as the result of an unplanned litter.
They were happy, friendly souls and their affectionate nature meant they were soon snapped up for adoption!
Recent arrivals at The Ark and waiting for adoption include Leonie, a one year old husky cross who when only eight months old herself had 11 puppies! She was then sold to someone else when her pups were still only four weeks old and eventually was found dumped and tied up outside her original owner’s house.
Poor Leonie was very underweight when she came into the safety of The Ark and had to be carefully fed small but regular meals to gradually build up her weight.
After such a poor start in life she was very fearful of everything and everyone at first but with gentle, caring handling at The Ark she is now much improved and is very affectionate.
Another young dog waiting to find her forever home is border collie cross Tilly, who is a typical energetic collie and loves walks and playtimes.
New residents in the cattery waiting for adoption include Harry, who was found as a stray on a farm, covered in wounds and with a lot of fur missing! He is very shy but at least he is now safe and sound with us and on the mend.
Yet another stray is Sam, a charming chap about nine months of age and full of mischief and fun.
If you are interested in adopting a cat or dog from The Ark please either visit www.ashbourneanimalwelfare. org or just call the rescue centre on 01335 300494 for more information. We look forward to seeing you on April 7.