Death of her dog led animal lover to launch pet hospice

● Woman sets up centre after loss of beloved mastiff

A woman left her job and spent £25,000 launching an animal hospice after she never got the chance to say goodbye to her dog.

Alexis Fleming, 37, from Kirkcudbright, launched the Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice on March 2016, almost a year after she lost her bull mastiff, Maggie.

In 2015, Maggie, who had lung cancer, underwent surgery and was ready to be discharged when she was rushed back into emergency care. Ms Fleming was two hours from her dog when vets gave her the news and was told there was nothing that could be done to save her.

Determined to make sure no-one would go through the same ordeal, she set up the hospice and has since tended to more than 200 pets, strays, farm animals, abandoned and wild animals.

Ms Fleming – who suffers from three auto-immune diseases, stage three Crohn’s disease, spondyloarthropathy and fibromyalgia – had left her last job as an animal protection campaigner before Maggie died.

She initially raised £15,000 for the building and then another £10,000 for plumbing and electric work, and is now trying to raise another £10,000 to finish her project.

She said: “Maggie was my best friend, so when I knew I was never going to see her again, I was devastated.

“The next day when we went to the veterinary centre to say goodbye with my parents, I just turned to my mum and said ‘The Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice’. It just came to me.

“In a way, I think it was my way of coping. It was easier for me to cope by doing something in her memory, as there was nothing I could do to change what happened.

“I took six months to prepare myself physically, emotionally and psychologically and make sure I was ready for it.

“I thought ‘if I can cope with Maggie’s loss and I’m still here, I can clearly cope with anything’.”

Ms Fleming, her partner Adam, 34, artist and the support of her parents Flora and Erchie, created a place for terminally ill animals on land in Dumfries and Galloway.

The hospice and the sanctuary are located in 4.5 acres of land at the end of her garden, and are run entirely by public funds, costing about £1,500 a month to run.

The hospice may have been built because of a dog but now offers help to chickens, pigs, sheep and other domesticated animals.