Pets in Italy

Vets in Ancona to Set Up Italy's First Clinic for Strays

I’ve just read a heartening news report about an enterprising group of vets in Ancona, Le Marche

who are setting up a veterinary clinic so strays and abandoned animals can get free treatment.

Here’s my translation of the story, which is by Giovanna Maria Fagnani :

The idea for a hospital for strays – the first of its kind in Italy– came from a group of Ancona vets led by Dott. Luca Giovagli. The vets, together with the voluntary association Rapid Dogs Rescue from Mantua have set up a fundraising page on Facebook to help raise money for their project.

The HQ of the organisation, named Vet Rescue is in Ancona via delle Grazie 50 and work on renovating the building has just begun. The clinic will be open to the public in four months. In the meantime Giovagli’s staff have already begun helping dogs in distress. The objective of the founders of the clinic is to make it a national reference point  above all for environmental associations which need veterinary help and it hopes in the future to create other centres throughout Italy.  “It’s absolutely no tour intention to substitute ASL but just to make life easier for the volunteers and associations who have to use their own money to pay for things not provided for by Asl,” said the founders on their Facebook page

24 Hour Emergency Care: The clinic guarantees a 24 hour veterinary service including an  emergency service on public holidays. Vet rescue will have a consulting room,  an operating theatre, an analytical lab and an X-Ray room. The free consultations are only for stray animals.  However those who donate to the project , with a minimum of Euro 35 will be able to benefit from a free annual check up for their pet plus a free basic vaccination for their pets.  Veterinary students who would like to do on the job training there will be very welcome. Should the project not go ahead as planned, all the money donated will be given to national animal charities.

FACEBOOK – The Vet Rescue page on Facebook has already had 3364 people sign up and this figure is growing daily. However the donations so far number less then a thousand Euros. Time is pressing “ We have to get everything done in four months  because after that various permissions start running out.”

If you want to contribute then click here.

 

 

Don't Forget the Cats!

I know the site has become a little dog-centric lately, but I don't want to forget about cats. Having got three myself plus the extras we feed - also three at the moment - I love cats and it can be hard to rehome them. Anyway I've just posted details of another three lovely strays that need homes. Can you help? Here's the link to the cats and kittens page.

TGIM!

Yes, that's Thank God It's Monday! I've always loved the start of a new week so I think I shall launch a one woman campaign to replace TGIF - doubt many people will take me up on it though.

I'm actually knackered having been up since 5.30 and it's only ten o'clock in the morning now! The three dogs now come to my side of the bed and nuzzle me until I wake up (yes I know - solution don't allow them in the bedroom) and as I am an early riser anyway I have come to the conclusion it's better to just get up.

This morning before 9 o'clock I pruned a bush, dug up three potato plants which yielded a bit less than I thought, walked the dogs in the woods, fed dogs, cats and crow, put weeds on the rather dry looking compost heap, fed myself and read three chapters of a great book by Sharon Oddson called Once Upon a Tuscan Table about the Trattoria Garga in Florence. Highly recommended!

I did my stint at the Canile Casentino on Saturday. I was a bit worried that it was going to be too hot to work as we have been having a major heatwave, but in fact it was fine as the kennels is in the woods and it is actually quite tolerable there, which is good for the dogs. Although I arrived at 9.30 the volunteers had already started and so I got to take two of the shyest and most troubled dogs for a little walk on the lead, Beverley, whose story you can read here if you scroll down and  and Bebo, read his story here, again scroll down.  The volunteers are gearing up for the busiest time in the dog pounds as the Italian holiday season is approaching, prime time for abandoning animals rather than putting them in kennels.

Ok, time for a cup of tea then it's back to work - writing work, which is great as I can do it sitting down!

Settling In

Our internet rescue English Setter Gaspare has been here a week today. He is getting used to our routine and ZsaZsa the lab and Maia the mongrel have more or less accepted him - in fact you can see them holding hands in this picture! He is now known as Gassi and is a real comedian. I have never seen a dog enjoy playing with a ball and toys so much in my life. He throws the ball for himself  - well more of a hurl really - and then races after it and repeats the exercise.He is a dedicated lizard hunter and that is something that needs a serious approach and lots of concentration- you just never know when those lizards might come popping out from under a rock - eternal vigilance is called for. It occurred to me the other day that they may have been all he had to eat when he was abandoned in Avellino, which kind of brought a lump to my throat.

As he gets stronger he is getting more lively. At first taking him for a walk was like having a balloon on the end of the lead, but today we saw a couple of deer and it was all I could do to hold him.

Fortunately there have been no more escape attempts - I think he knows when he is well off - and the cat situation is improving very, very slowly. They will now eat their dinner on the wall looking down at him. As long as I am there and say a hard 'No' he just sits and looks back at them, but I know what he is thinking.

I haven't had such a tall dog before and so that takes a bit of getting used to as he has very long legs and can jump like a gazelle. He leapt onto the wooden table we have upstairs, the one we feed the cats on (or used to feed the cats on), in one bound and has managed the same thing with the wall we now feed the cats on. It wasn't quite one bound for that one but he hauled himself up onto a stone pillar and then used that to stand on the wall. We have a mountaineering dog!

We managed our first night out with friends on Wednesday, I was hoping he would copy the other two calm dogs, who always sleep patiently until we return. It was with a sense of trepidation that we opened the front door, expecting to see half a house, but everything was in its place although he had managed to get hold of the empty cat food sachets which were all over the floor. It could have been worse...

My technique at the moment is to wear him out with lots of playing, walking and a bit of training and then I can work while he is crashed out on the chair. When he gets fed up of that and thinks I have been at the computer too long he comes over, sits on his haunches and puts both paws on my knees. What a character! I can't imagine life without him now.

Gaspare is Home

Gaspare arrived on Friday after a four and a half hour trip from Milan. His 'foster parents' Daria and Alessandro drove him down and he arrived about midday. Alan and I were a bit nervous about how the first meeting with our two would go but apart from a lot of barking from Maia and a little bit of growling initially they have settled down fine.

Despite the heat we took him on a walk around the garden and the first thing he did was jump in the fishpond! Daria was mortified and I thought it was hilarious!

After the emotional goodbyes, lots of tears as they had looked after him for two months, we were on our own with him. He ate well but was a bit scared of the massive thunderstorms in the night. He slept under the bed, poverino. He also encountered the cats and was a bit shellshocked but didn't really do anything. But that was just the first day...

'He does everything with gusto, doen't he?' said Alan the next day after we had seen him emerge from the pond for the third time and then throw himself at the water bowl. He drinks lying down with his huge paws either side of the dish and I seem to remember reading somewhere that strays do this to protect their food or drink. He discovered cat chasing with a vengeance - the prey drive is strong when something runs away - and also jumped over our wooden gate and went loping down the drive. I grabbed the lead and went after him and he was easy enough to catch having just stopped at the bottom of the drive on the other side of the road. We knew the gates were jumpable, although our two girlies have never attempted it, and so I resorted to my faithful friend the internet for a solution. I quickly found a site detailing a dog proof method of DIY fencing involving angling an extra piece of netting at the top of the existing fence, and then spent Saturday morning sorting that.

I guess any thoughts of having a grateful stray leap into your arms as violins play and the sun sets is a bit romantic. The reality is that he is a lively dog who needs training and must be very confused, having been from the streets near Avellino, to the volunteer's vet surgery, to Milan for one night in his first attempt at rehoming, to Daria and Alessandro's and now to us in the space of about three months. I am taking things slowly and quietly and he is gradually learning our routine. I did another round of fence checking and closing yesterday as he got out again but guess he is just curious as I caught him easily the second time too.The cat thing is a bit of an issue as we have three tame strays who virtually live in the house and they are currently all terrified. We are managing to feed them and they will get used to him and vice versa gradually.

He is now lying on the chair in the office as I work,fast asleep - for now ! He is a lovely, scatty, lolloping loon and we love him to bits although it is going to be no picnic.

The Big Day Approaches

Well, I'm just back from a short trip to the Uk to see my Mum who is recovering well from her broken hip. I have been in touch with Daria and Alessandro who are fostering the dog we are adopting, Gaspare, and he is coming tomorrow morning at 11 am. We are so excited!

The castration couldn't go ahead as when Daria took him to the vet in Milan it was discovered he is very anaemic. They suspect Erlichiosis as they have run a batch of other tests which have proved negative thank goodness. Alessandro rang me to tell me last night and of course to see if we still wanted him in view of the health issues. In fact it makes us want him even more. As both my two dogs are sterilized there is no problem on the castration front and we can get him 'done' later.

I am a bit nervous of how the other two dogs are going to accept him and the three 'wild' cats but am hoping it will all go smoothly. No point stressing about it. It'll take time. Mind you, I have been madly watching every available episode of The Dog Whisperer on satellite tv and picking up a gazillion tips.

Gaspare is coming early (well late morning) as that gives the dogs more time to get used to each other, I'm still deciding whether to introduce them on neutral territory as the garden is pretty big and it is soooo HOT here at the moment that the thought of going into the next door field for the introductions is making me feel quite faint! I talked to my Mum's dog's 'foster Mum' Jenny while in the UK and she had twelve (yes 12) dogs staying with her on the day I picked Maxie up. She hasn't got the luxury of going to neutral ground with so many dogs coming and going so they just have to get on with it. I reckon I will take a leaf out of her book.

OK, I'll report back on how we get on as soon as I can! Fingers crossed.

Gaspare

Well, last Friday I decided to go and see a dog on our dogs looking for adoption page. Gaspare the English setter who was abandoned in Avellino (in the south) and then hit with sticks (breaking two ribs, two teeth and given a nosebleed) by locals who thought this pitifully thin and gentle dog was some threat to a child he approached, hoping for some food. His story really got to me and I did email about him but then fate intervened, my Mum broke her hip, I had to rush to the UK and Gaspare was on hold.

When I got back I found out he had been adopted in Milan (800km from where he was abandoned) BUT... the people only kept him for a night before handing him back saying their dog had attacked him. So Gaspare was staying temporarily (or 'in stallo') with a lovely girl called Daria and her fiance Alessandro. She was off to the States in mid July and so Gaspare was once again in desperate need of a home.

I thought and thought. Was it the right thing to do? And then it came to me. I'd go and see him. Obvious really. Then I'd know, wouldn't I? And so I took the train to Milan (4 hours each way), met Daria and Ale and Gaspare at the station and went to their flat for a couple of hours before getting the Eurostar back.

Gaspare is adorable. Gentle, friendly, a great big softie. How anyone could do what they did to him is completely beyond me. He's still thin but putting on weight, Daria told me he's gained 3 kilos since she's had him! Of course I knew the moment I gazed into those big brown eyes that I wanted him and so he is coming to stay for good next Friday, once I get back from another short trip to the UK. We have asked that he be castrated first and that is best done there as I don't want him associating this new home with any trauma. Daria says he knows he is going to a new family. I hope he does. I can't wait.

First Day at the Canile

Well, I am now an official volunteer at the Casentino Canile. I'm on the rota and yesterday morning was my first time, from 9.30 - 12. If strays have to be in a kennel then this is the one to be in. They are housed in two blocks, both immaculately clean, with a good amount ofspace. The first bloc is the quarantine one for new arrivals and the second one houses males on one side and femals on the outher, but not facing each other. there's a central corridor and then the kennels are either side with a small run.

I met a really nice couple of volunteers Hilkka and Falvio who showed me the ropes. First the food is taken to the kennels and placed out of reach. The females are let out for a good run around the fenced wood in which the kennels are housed while one volunteers hoses down the inside and then the outside. I copied Hilkka who went into each kennel in turn and brushed it out. Once done we put the bowl of dog food (top quality vet standard croccanti) and a slice of meat in the covered part of the kennel and close the door, then on to the next one. The 'girls' were out for about an hour, although some were taking advantage of the shade in the trees as it was really hot. We gave them cuddles and brushed them and then it was the turn of the boys, so we followed the same routine. The males were a lot more energetic, there was one with three legs who ran more than any of them and a huge good natured Rottweiler called Boss who was a bit of a soppy date really.

I wore old jeans and a t shirt which was just as well as while sitting grooming one of the dogs one crept up behind me and peed on me! 'Hmm, he tends to do that!' said Domenico the charismatic head of the volunteers as he gently chastised the naughty dog!

I'm off again in a minute to a meeting at the kennels, so all in all quite a busy 'animal' weekend!