Kennel News - 18 July 2010

“Tomorrow will be better” has been the motto of the week at the kennels.  For a number of reasons (including Andy being away camping in Wales) it's been a manic week.

We have had a number of new hounds join us over the last 2 weeks and the vets are still catching up with neutering.  That has meant early trips to the vets and on two nights they have not been ready to collect until 7pm, which in turn has meant longer than usual days for the staff.  Henry, who was returned, needed a dental and, although he didn't have many teeth out, he lost quite a bit of blood. His water bowl was a pretty pink colour!  This was on the back of another hound, Mitch, having 12 teeth out and bleeding for three days as they were all larger back teeth.

As well as all this Kent had a relapse!  The week before he had had a reaction to the operation and after five days developed severe bruising and swelling along his chest and down into his legs.  He responded well to steroids and anti-biotics, but as soon as the course had finished he started to swell up again, literally before our eyes.  We whisked him back to Walpole & Bingham and three vets had a consultation over him while he stood as good as gold as if listening to their discussion.  They got a fine syringe and removed some of the fluid which was 16% blood.  This was a good sign as it was not a fresh internal bleed.  We asked them to keep him overnight as a precaution and collected him the next day.  He has just finished his second course of treatment; we are all watching him carefully and so far he is fine.

On Tuesday Jack, who has been with a foster family for a few weeks now due to problems with settling in at the kennels, went out to a permanent home near Alton Towers.  He has gone to live with a lady who works from home, and a little terrier.  So far he is doing well.  Also on Tuesday Hooch went to the vets to be neutered, but he would not wake up from the anaesthetic.  It took two hours for him to come round.  However once he had woken up he was immediately on his feet and wagging his tail to come home to the kennels.  Also on Tuesday 4 long-term homed hounds were returned due to a change of family circumstances.  One has already been reserved, but take a look at Buster, Jerry and Bertie on the Rehoming Pages.  We are hoping they will soon be back enjoying family life.

We had to rush out to get a supply of leads and muzzles, as well as the fresh meat we use to supplement the dried mix, as we were low.

Also this week Peter, Josie & Kim went along with hounds Jake & Sally to Wall Heath Women’s Social Service Club to talk about our favourite topic!!  We met about 80 lovely ladies, who would have kept us there all day if they could have done, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and as usual the hounds behaved impeccably and made friends with everyone.  Sally stood patiently whilst one of our new friends cleaned her teeth so that she could see how it's done as she wants to try cleaning her son's Pointer's teeth (good luck!), and the ladies were all very impressed with Jake's collection of rosettes.  A fantastic £128.37 was donated by the ladies and we'll be joining them again in the future.

On Wednesday morning we said “it will be a lovely calm day today”.  Mistake!  Michelle's 3 hounds have been here on holiday while she has been in Weymouth.  Ellie and Zak were playing in the kennel and Ellie ended up with a rip under her eye.  Off to the vets the van went again.  The eye was not damaged, it was just 2 stitches to hold the skin together and a big buster collar to stop her rubbing it with her paws.  We decided not to tell Michelle and the kids as they would have been back up the motorway as they had all cried when they left the dogs before setting off on holiday.  By Saturday afternoon the eye looked much better and all was fine.  Also on Wednesday we had 4 hounds in from a holding kennel.

There were no calamities on Thursday, but we were busy with Carole bringing along little Percy for small animal testing.  He was a star and gave the hounds a good telling off if they got too close!

Friday saw a 7am start at the Cash & Carry as we had sold out of food and we had hounds to take out to their new homes later in the day.

On Saturday we held the draw for the ‘Pounds 4 Hounds’ raffle at the Stadium.  It has been a great money raiser for the hounds and the cash is still coming in.  The current total is £7327.15 but the final event is being held on Wednesday when Jim Woods, Racing Manager at the Stadium, hosts a Golf Day for the Trust.  Next week’s total will be the final figure for the 2010 campaign.

The lucky raffle winners are:-

Ticket number: 4512 - Sarah Griffiths – Tea for 2 at the Ritz, including rail travel.

Ticket number: 4806 - Kim Billingham, Trainer at the Track - 2 tickets to a tribute night at the Connaught Hotel, Wolverhampton, including a 3 course meal and disco.

Ticket number: 0588 - Diane Whitehouse - Meal for 2 at Gucci’s Restaurant.

Ticket number: 2198 – J Bannister - Champagne tea for 2 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Birmingham.

Ticket number: 2969 - Ken Haynes - Lunch for 2 at Essington Fruit Farm.

Ticket number: 4392 - J Jones - Severn Valley Railway tickets.

Ticket number: 2208 - Selina Corbett – Family ticket to the Black Country Living Museum.

Ticket number: 4763 - Peter Taplin - £30 Starbucks voucher.

Ticket number: 2309 - J Lafeeld £10 M & S voucher.

Ticket number: 5524 - Mr Roper - £10 voucher for the Wing Wah Restaurant.

Ticket number: 0734 - Jane Slater - £10 voucher for the Wing Wah Restaurant.

Ticket number: 0630 - Diane Whitehouse - £10 voucher for the Wing Wah Restaurant.

Ticket number: 2713 - R Pestridge - £10 voucher for the Wing Wah Restaurant.

Ticket number: 4858 - Judy Lane - £10 voucher for the Wing Wah Restaurant.

We will be in touch with the lucky winners this week and get those in the post.

Congratulations also to Gaynor Harper who was picked from the entries of the ‘Tea 4 Two Word Search’ competition.  She gets a carrier bag full of Greyhound Trust goodies.

Today we had a roadshow at Chillington Country Fayre.  This got off to a slow start due to poor weather with showers and very gusty winds.  However, around lunchtime the weather began to pick up and more people started to arrive.  As usual the hounds were great and proved to be extremely popular with both adults and children alike.  The day raised £159.41, most of which was raised through the tombola and the sale of RGT Christmas cards.  More importantly, however, a number of people showed interest in rehoming a hound and went away with leaflets having talked at length to the volunteers.