Happylittlegreensquirrel Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 (edited) Sorry I have not been around much , Mark and I are back in Sri Lanka for a few weeks and we are working flat out with our small team ( there are 5 of us in total ) dealing with more dogs and requests than ever Dogstar has become a victim of its own success ! and we have a waiting list of over 30 animals awaiting sterilisation as well as increasing demands on our resources each month firstly is Dogstars Midge , Midge has been in our care for 2 weeks now and we have seen a lot of improvement already , clearly she has a lot of healing to do yet but she is getting there. Midge is actually outside our normal area but once we had seen her we had to take her and her temple under our wings so she is now a dogstar dog Midge There is a short video of Midge on our website here http://www.dogstarfo...010/06/30/1296/ Whilst feeding Midge we were alerted by the Monk to a street dog that had a "growth" on her leg , she was trapped by our driver and Mark and taken to our vets for emergency surergy to remove not one but 2 tumours ( the one on her leg and a mammary tumour ) Mark named her Peggy and she is now recovery at the vets house cared for in the day by her landlady whilst the vet is at work its not all so harsh , Barney another new Temple dog has had surgery for a broken leg ( pictured here cuddling with Mark Dogstars Boola is busy being pretty and Dogstars Milkshake ( one of the original 5 Dogstar dogs ) is busying "helping" the monk whilst he digs a trench Sam and Mark Edited June 30, 2010 by Happylittlegreensquirrel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranirottie Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 They are such heartbreaking "before" pics but the "after" pics of the dogs show them actually seeming to smile. Well done Sam and your team,you are doing a fantastic job. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griff Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 oh my word..... those dogs are so lucky that they found you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegk68 Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 The luckiest dogs for sure Griff. Wow Sam, those photos.... Amazing, amazing job you all do out there. Thank god for Dogstar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizzie Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 OMG I think Midge was as skinny as I've ever seen a dog in my 10+ years of rescue involvement. Well done to you all for your dedication in helping these dogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilly1712 Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 Oh God, you can hardly believe a dog could be that thin Well done Dogstar for doing such a fabulous job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fee Posted July 1, 2010 Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 I don't know how you do it sometimes, Sam. Seeing Midge in that state is heartbreaking Loads of good thoughts for her and all the poorly ones, I hope we'll be seeing some 'after' pictures of her looking better very soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merledogs Posted July 2, 2010 Report Share Posted July 2, 2010 Just reinforces what I've always thought, you do such a fantastic job out there And to think that a pound or two a month goes a long way and makes such a huge difference to these dogs. Keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happylittlegreensquirrel Posted July 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2010 Thank you all , yes to an extent I am "used to" dogs like Midge and we just deal with her as a normal dog on a feeding plan etc but then I look at some of the photos of her and I think bugger me she really is as thin as we have helped I wrote this on my website today ( abridged version on facebook ) and it does show just how much a pound a month does really mean to us Dogstar is not a big charity, in fact it costs us on average just £ 25 a day to feed all our dogs, provide free sterilizations, vaccinations, and veterinary treatment & medication. Even so we struggle some months to raise the money required and Dogstars 3 unpaid trustees make up the shortfall. No amount of money raised for Dogstar is ever too small and it can be a life changing sum for the vulnerable animals we deal with We have just signed a lease on a local property that will be used as a part time fixed clinic , base for our mobile clinicsand accommodation for vets and visitors/volunteers. There is a lot of work to be done on the property which the 3 trustees are funding privately (so your donations don’t get spent on paint for example) the rental and running costs are included in the £25 a day costs. Previously we were offered land to build a purpose built hospital on but even with donated land the build costs involved were at least $30000 US and with a recession plus fluctuating exchange rates it remains a potential option longer term but not one that would make any immediate difference or offers best value short term We believe are a very efficient and cost effective Charity and we can do so so much with £25 a day but our weakness is fund raising. In the next year would we not only want to secure the income for our £ 25 a day program we want to expand to £35 or even £45 a day. Which would result in more animals treated and vaccinated, more animals sterilized and more litters of unwanted animals prevented. In short an extra £10 or £20 a day would help us reduce and prevent even more animals suffering. Can you help? Do you have any fundraising or PR experience, media connections, or help provide veterinary equipment or supplies? If you can help in any way at all please contact us at [email protected] If they could, the dogs we treat like Midge would thank you too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesB Posted July 2, 2010 Report Share Posted July 2, 2010 Everyone involved with Dogstar is doing such an amazing job Sam, I sent you a message about helping with PR a little while ago (getting PR/media students involved etc), but I'm wondering if it has dropped off your radar - I know you have more than one or two things on your plate If you want to have a phone chat when you get back to see if I can help, I will PM you my phone number. I'm not a big grand PR agency or anything, I'm just a little freelancer, but I'd love to help a bit if I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happylittlegreensquirrel Posted July 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2010 cripes Jules I am really sorry if I didn't get back to you and yes please to having a chat Mark or I try to answer every email/message/pm we get within 24 hours and update the website, forums , twitter and facebook and the sponsor dog scheme updates in as near to realtime as we can If anyone here has emailed us previously and we didn't get back to you please give us another go sometimes we do get a back log and things do get missed ( or end up in the spam folder for no reason at all ! ) we do get a lot of junk mail , hoaxes and also the odd "angry of amersham" type emails which can take up our time and stop us answering the real stuff actually one of the things we also need is a PA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happylittlegreensquirrel Posted July 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2010 Whilst feeding Midge we were alerted by the Monk to a street dog that had a "growth" on her leg , she was trapped by our driver and Mark and taken to our vets for emergency surergy to remove not one but 2 tumours ( the one on her leg and a mammary tumour ) Mark named her Peggy and she is now recovery at the vets house cared for in the day by her landlady whilst the vet is at work there are some photos of Peggy via this link , they are by there very nature quite graphic and some people may find them hard to look at ( but equally its the reality of what we do here and why ) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=191883&id=70714279469&l=df149f8794 and Mo's text Here's Peggy the street dog who normally lives near Beragala Temple (Midge's home). Dogstar had been called there almost 2 weeks ago by the worried monk - Peggy had leg and mammary tumours which Dr P removed. Here are some photos of Peggy's progress - she's doing really well and should be able to go home next week. Luckily, a very kind dog owner here offered to 'foster' her for Dogstar until she's fully recovered. Peggy's treatment so far has cost under £ 20 so far and is part of our £25 a day budget , its the best 20 quid I have spent in a long time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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