Phoenyx

...same vet that gave penicillin to someone's guinea pig a few years back... Thanks folks, it does seem to be a mild form of wobbles but she is a very odd looking border collie and I suspect it's just a birth defect problem. I've referred them to a local vet who specialised in alternative meds, accupuncture may help her. I'll update when I hear more x Thank you for those x

Hi folks A week or so ago I picked up a lost dog that looked like a collie cross, found the owner and it turns out that Lucy is from a pure working collie litter but was the runt and is, well, not quite right. She's about 18 mths, very small and has wobbly back legs, seems to be neurological and she goes all floppy when picked up (a bit like a ragdoll). She seems to be getting gradually worse but their vet can only suggest PTS... :-( Anyone got any suggestions for treatment/experience of this that I can pass on to the owner? Ta Jules xx

I was going to set Phoenyx Animal Refuge up a a registered charity a while back but as I run it mainly on my own it was a nightmare to try to get permission. I kept it as it is instead. Do LOTS of research and make sure you have a team of a few people round you that you can trust to help run it.

We use the Pet Crematorium here: http://www.pet-crematorium.co.uk/site/ Not near you but most areas have somewhere similar. The Phoenyx Hounds so far have all ended up being PTS at my vets and I've left almost all of them there to be collected. The Pet Crematorium collect them and I have the ashes returned in a casket a few days later. It's a difficult thing to discuss sometimes but basically this is what happens here: Depending on which vets you use the facilities vary. Most have a morgue - either a refrigerated room or a freezer - where they keep the bodies of our pets (sealed in a special body bag) until they are collected and taken for cremation. It's not nice to think of them being 'stored' but at the end it's only their shell that's left behind and it's not for long, I'm sure they wouldn't mind. The staff at our Pet Crem are exceptional. Whether they take the deceased pet from the vets or if you take them yourself they are handled with care and dignity. If we take an animal direct to them, they have a chapel of rest where they'll lay the pet out in state for you to say goodbye in private. I've been asked before what happens to the small animals here at Phoenyx Animal Refuge when they die. Because I have a lot of animals (not as many as I used to these days) and most are old when they come here (and they come here for the rest of their lives, not to be rehomed), I see a lot die each year. I have my own 'morgue', a freezer where the little ones are kept until there are a few of them then they are taken to the Pet Crem for a group cremation and the ashes returned in a scatter box. Logistically I can't have separate cremations for every one, plus I like the idea that they don't go alone. Strange maybe but that's the way I do it. Hope that hasn't offended anyone... Jules x

I can't say don't go over things because you will, we all do but you did the right thing by giving Tess the chance to heal herself. The damage to her neck meant that she couldn't get up but only full rest could have let you know that and she wouldn't have got that unless she was kept calm and away from 'normal'. Yes, with hindsight, it didn't bring the outcome we all hoped for but there was a chance that it could have. I'm sure most of us on here would have done something differently for one of ours if we could but you have to remember that you did what was the best option. You didn't abandon her, you came back, and she knew that. You were with her at the end, she knew you were there, and that's what she would have focused on and what matters. xxx

Thinking of you, I know how hard it is You know where we are xx

From the day that Tess came into Phoenyx Animal Refuge she was very much a Phoenyx Hound but never 100% 'ours' in the way that so many dogs have been. Tess was destined to belong, heart and soul, to Julie Brammer and after 4 years here repairing her damaged little soul, Tess finally got to live with her true soulmate. Today Tess was taken from Julie, peacefully and with grace, and I am so grateful that I was able to be with her also at the end. Sleep safe Tess, you were one in a million and you will be missed for a very, very long time xx There's more than one heart breaking today for you x You know where I am JulesB xx

Lucy looked just like my Jonny, so sorry to hear she's gone xxx

Just seen this on FB, so very sorry Wendy. Wishing Sir H a gentle passing tomorrow xxx

Yay Nog! xxxx

Devastated for you xxx

:GroupHug: So sorry xx

Julie, I am so sorry that you've lost the little fella, he was a lovely (if somewhat strange - in the nicest possible way) cat and you gave him a fab life with you after he'd been unloved and uncared for. Gutted for you that he went so soon and so suddenly. Sleep safe Treacle xxx

Well done Nog

Yantan will have suggested me because I don't generally re-home the animals that come to me, Phoenyx is run as a Retirement sanctuary so they stay here for life. Hope you got them sorted out