Missy the 3 legged vixen

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On March 12th I received a message from a lady by the name of Angie who is part of an amazing group known as the Fox Angels with regards to a young vixen who they had managed to capture after running around for over 7 weeks with bones sticking through her left rear hind leg and foot down in Surrey.
Needless to say by this stage her leg had become badly infected to the point where it was a miracle that she was still alive. However, this little vixen was certainly made of stern stuff for which she kept going back to a lady by the name of Valerie who had been feeding her from when she was a cub with all her siblings and parents. Whilst Val was desperate to call for help, she was also so very attached to Missy and so much so that she was scared that a call for help could lead to euthanasia which in truth it probably would have.
Therefore thank god that she stumbled across the Fox Angels who help to rescue foxes who have been injured or harmed. Trying to keep a long story (and this is a long story) as brief as possible, she (Missy) was captured and thankfully the local veterinary practice operated on her which unfortunately meant amputation of her infected leg.
Lee, from the group did all the running around for which he said the smell was horrendous, but he and others within Fox Angels i.e. Angie, Jude and Lynne were adamant they would go to whatever lengths it took to keep her alive. Thankfully our little vixen did come through the operation and then 3 days later after great care by Lee and his family, she made her way up to Norfolk to stay with me whilst a super new home was being built for her at a local sanctuary which I have been involved with for several years now and run by a lady called Lyz. The first few days really were touch and go for which by day 3, I thought she had gone. Thankfully she was just in a very deep sleep whilst recovering from what had been a huge major ordeal. The stay with me lasted for 23 days with at least 8 visits out to her each day from 6am to midnight. These daily visits included at least 5 feeds combined with clean outs of the cage which she had to be confined in with Lyz administering all the needed meds. During this time, the Fox Angels were constantly asking for updates whilst also offering support so as to make sure our girl got through this.
Get through it she has and what an inspiration. Where there is a will or should we say a spark of life, there is most certainly a way. This clever little fox not only twisted me around her little claw, but hundreds of others who have followed her journey from all over the world on a specific facebook fox group for which she is now in her new home living the life. It has been one hell of an experience whilst also being one hell of a privilege. It is far too easy to say it will be more kind to put an animal down when in truth all it takes is just going those extra few miles to say no, let’s give it a second chance. Our girl Missy has most certainly proved that.
A huge thank you to local businessman John H for all his support and of course to Karen G whilst not forgetting all those other many people who have supported this amazing journey of Missy the fox from the busy streets of Surrey to the calm of Norfolk….

Neil Featherby
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Hogs hogging all the food :)

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It is almost hard to see that the bald ball in the picture is a hedgehog but it is. He is one of around 200 hogs currently being cared for at the main site.
He was brought to us with really bad mites, poor little thing, but is now being treated and doing really well.

The two tiny hogs are babies overwintering with us - too tiny to survive hibernation.

Every day we go through 45 tins of cat food to feed these little monsters. Where we would normally ask you to maybe buy a tin or two, now we feel it would be bad to encourage you guys to go outside unless necessary. So instead we have placed an order for £468 worth of tins from Aldi. At just 39 pence per tin, it is a really good price 🙂

Could you sponsor a tin or 2? If so, PayPal to [email protected] or go to www.hallswood.co.uk and click the PayPal button there to send a donation (you can use a card there).

Help us feed these little dudes for another month 🙂

xxMaria

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Old does not mean not worthy

Hallswoods belief is that everyone deserves a chance - sometimes that means a warm safe home with us for the rest of an animals or birds life 🙂

Most time that will be at the sanctuary, but sometimes a volunteer or member of staff will help out.

This is a story about Rachael and Raymond 🙂

"My job every day at the sanctuary is to check all the animals as I go round and feed and water them all. One day back in October I went in to feed the racer pigeons. I saw this pigeon sitting on the floor at the back of the aviary. I thought the poor little thing had passed away as Lyz has told me many of the pigeons in there are quite old. I walked up to him to pick him up and he was alive! So I took him in to the hospital and was told to put him on a heat mat to warm him up a bit. He was in the hospital for a few weeks after that. So I said to Lyz I would love to take him home. She said I could! So I called him Raymond. He is very old man and he can't fly or perch very well . But he is happy eating drinking and cooing at my house. Since he has been in mine he walks a lot better than what he did do. He still can't fly but he walks around the living room like he owns it lol."

What bird is your favourite?

I must admit I do love pigeons. They have the most beautiful shiny feathers!

xxMaria

Did you know that many of the pigeons brought to us have canker? You can find the tablets we use for this on our amazon wishlist 🙂

https://amzn.eu/9uE8XXQ

 

Cookie – A feral gone soft :)

Meet Cookie!
Like many of the cats at the sanctuary, he is not wearing a collar. This is an indication that he is not necessarily 100% cuddly 🙂
Cookie came to Hallswood a few years back as a feral and brought two friends with him: Tommy and Baby. Feral cats makes up a large part of our resident cats and for obvious reasons, these are not re-homable. Instead, they will be neutered and live with us for the rest of their life.
Today Cookie has decided that he actually don't mind a little bit of fuss but don't try to pick him up 🙂

Jerry the stable cat

Jerry is now approaching 16 years old and has been with us for 9 years.
He came to us from Monkey Island he was a fighting Tom causing mayhem in the area.
He was in poor condition, underweight with an active infection, and was covered in scabs and scars.
He was neutered and vaccinated and it was hoped he would integrate into our older colony, but after trying for 10 days it was realized this would not be possible.
Jerry absolutely detests other cats.

We had to consider the welfare of other cats and it was decided that he should be moved to our horse field which is about 2 miles from the sanctuary. Here he’s the only cat and he has complete freedom and all his needs are met. As he is an outdoor cat a house with a catio would severely distress him. He hates to be restricted and used to bite. After 6 years he realized that any restrictions are temporary and no longer bites.

Jerry is very happy at his kingdom down the horse field and will reign there for the rest of his life.

Wildchild

She’s called WildChild for a reason even Lyz can’t catch her !!
Wild Child is now 4 years old and arrived as a very feral kitten. Her siblings were all quickly tamed and rehomed but not Wild Child.
She roamed freely around her foster home until one day she climbed into a crate to have a rock in her hammock.
That was it! After a bit of kitten wrestling, she was into a cat carrier and off to the vets to be neutered.
During the operation, it was found that she had growths on her uterus. They would have killed her in the future so spaying saved her life.
To this day she is still untouchable. She loves other cats and is fascinated by kittens.
She will come to Shona’s lap for treats and every night she will sleep on Shona’s blanket beside her, but even then she can’t be touched. Flea drops have to be administered by squirting from a syringe.
For obvious reasons this lovely girl will never be rehomed but will have a forever home with Shona.