Friendly Ferret found in Letterkenny - Donegal Animals in Need

Animals In Need (AIN) rescued four dogs from the Letterkenny Pound during the week, amongst them an elderly collie called Sammy who was found abandoned some time ago.

Sammy was little more than a walking skeleton when he was found but thanks to the Dog Wardens who initially rescued him, he was very well looked after and well fed whilst in the Letterkenny Pound.

Sammy is an elderly gent who has not had an easy life but that is all going to change now.

He has settled into his AIN foster home and will be found a special, wonderful home when he is ready for adoption.

Several more collie dogs have received their Pet Passports, full vaccinations including rabies shots and have been microchipped. They will be heading off to brand new lives in the UK later this month.

Little Lucia is making good progress

The cat rescuers responded to an emergency call out this week, when a kitten was found slumped by the bottle bank in Donegal Town, believed to have been hit by a car.

When the volunteers arrived, the kitten was found lying on the wet stones, so they scooped her up and rushed her straight to the out-of-hours vets.

Whilst waiting at the vets, it became clear that Lucia the kitten was not injured but was skin and bone and unable to move.

Lucia was clearly malnourished, dehydrated, frozen, wet, dirty and unable to move at all and is the most emaciated living kitten her rescuers have ever dealt with.

After her visit to the vet, Lucia was brought to an AIN foster home where she was settled on a hot water bottle and her fosterer gave her subcutaneous fluids hourly to start with and then two hourly throughout the night.

By the following morning Lucia was still unable to move due to muscle wastage, but started to drink syringed kitten milk formula and managed to purr and lift her head and it was not long before she was able to drink by herself.

Lucia is continuing to improve and is regaining her strength slowly, so fingers crossed for this little one.

This highlights the importance of keeping small kittens inside. They can’t fend for themselves and will starve to death, like Lucia almost did.

Sadly, not all rescues have happy endings, as was the case with Dimitri, a sick little white kitten who was featured in last week’s column.

Olivia and her 5 kittens were found under a bush

Dimitri started to go downhill in his foster home and despite being rushed to the vets straight away, he continued to fade and did not survive, he was just too weak and ill.

A heart-breaking end for a young kitten whose life was snuffed out before it had really begun.

Once again, the foster homes are filling up with black cats and kittens, which are often overlooked by potential adopters. If you can offer one or two of them a home, please contact the cat helpline.

Amongst these gorgeous mini-panthers are: Midnight, a 4 month old female, spayed and affectionate, Panther, a 3 year old male, neutered and super placid, Lady, a 2 year old female, spayed, very laid back and friendly, Nadiya, 4 months old, spayed and confident, Snoopy, 9 weeks old , playful and affectionate, Thor, a 4 month old boy, fully vaccinated, independent and chilled, Floyd, a 4 year old, one-eyed cat, neutered and super affectionate, Clover, a one-year-old mum cat with kittens, Brendan, a 4 week old, laid back kitten, Titania, a five week old kitten, nosy and playful and Piper, Posy and Pearl, 3-week-old new arrivals.

Friendly Ferret found in Letterkenny

‘Kitten Season’ should be over by now but AIN are still getting calls about new-born kittens.

The latest family to arrive are mum cat Olivia who had her five kittens under a bush in Raphoe.

With the weather turning wet and colder, kittens born outside have little chance of survival without help.

Thankfully, Olivia and her kittens are safe, warm and well fed in their foster home.

AIN also took in one of their more unusual rescued animals this week, when a friendly, golden coloured ferret was found on the loose in Letterkenny.

If this could be your missing ferret, please contact the cat helpline.

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 last cent goes directly to the rescued animals for their food, bedding, vet bills, worming treatment and vaccinations.

For further information on adoption, fostering, volunteering etc, please contact the main helpline on 087 1356188. For cat/kitten enquiries please call 087 7644420. Animals In Need Donegal is also on Facebook and has a website at http://www.animalsinneeddonegal.com.