Keeping Donegal pets safe during the Stormy Season

With red and orange wind warning issued in Donegal over the past week and, no doubt, further storms in the weeks to come, Animals In Need (AIN) is appealing to everyone to take steps to keep their pets safe.

It should be obvious that all animals need to be brought indoors in advance when a storm warning is issued.

With their enhanced hearing and the dangers posed by hazardous objects flying around, being out in a storm is a terrifying experience for an animal.

AIN received numerous calls about lost and found dogs during Storm Isha.

The majority of the reports regarded frightened, loose dogs who had been found by members of the public, but there were also calls about dogs that had gone missing.

Please thoroughly check that your fences and gates are intact before you let your dog out after a storm, as many of the canine escapees had ran off and got lost due to fences being blown down.

Thankfully, all of the dogs were reunited with their owners.

ABOVE: Check fences are secure before letting your dog out

AIN also received a call about a very sick kitten that was found in Dungloe.

Unfortunately, the rescue mission to collect the kitten had to be postponed as AIN’s volunteer had to turn back due to the severity of the storm.

However, the kitten is safely with his finder who is taking care of him for now, until AIN can collect him.

The stormy weather has also affected cat adoptions, including the rehoming of two cats who were booked to go to live on Tory Island, but as the ferry is cancelled this week due to the bad weather, when they will be able to get to their new home is currently unknown.

Despite this, overall it has been a fairly good week for cat adoptions, with several cats and kittens going to new homes locally.

Regardless of the weather, AIN’s volunteers still have to carry out vet runs for sick and injured animals, and a kitten called Constance had surgery to remove a damaged eye during the week.

When Constance arrived at AIN in the run up to Christmas, her eyes were so inflamed that it was not noticeable that one of her eyes had shrivelled in its socket.

ABOVE: Constance on arrival and before surgery

When the condition of her eye was later revealed during a veterinary examination, it was decided to wait until Constance was bigger before carrying out surgery so that she could be neutered at the same time.

Constance is recovering well from surgery and when she is fully fit, she will be looking for a special home.

AIN would also like to stress how important it is that animals are never given human medication unless it is under veterinary supervision.

Even low doses of common household medicines such as paracetamol can be fatal for your pet, especially with cats.

Another example is anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and aspirin, which can lead to digestive, kidney and neurological disorders in animals, potentially resulting in coma and even death.

There are good reasons for medication being species specific, so always check with your vet before giving any medicine to your pet and keep human medication stored well out of the reach of your pets – particularly dogs, who tend to eat now, think later.

Finally, AIN would like to say a huge thank you to Mackle Petfoods for their continued support.

This week they made a huge donation of Naturo and Brandy pet food to AIN, which will be very much appreciated by the rescued dogs.

To help AIN’s animals, please donate €2 to AIN’s ‘Help Us To Help Them’ fundraising appeal via your phone by texting the word ‘KITTEN’ to 50300. Every cent goes directly to the rescued animals for their food, bedding, vet bills, worming treatment and vaccinations.

Animals In Need Donegal is also on Facebook and has a website at http://www.animalsinneeddonegal.com.

For further information on adoption, fostering, volunteering etc, please contact the main helpline on 087 1356188. For cat/kitten enquiries please call 087 7644420.