General Chat

Theresa, so sorry to hear about your dog.
And I do believe very strongly that all animals have souls.
They are much wiser and live at a higher spiritual level than we do. A good book to read is "When dogs know that their owners are coming home." (or similar title) it is not only about dogs but cats and birds too. Great insight into their higher selves. You will meet your dog again Theresa, I'm certain of that. Have peace.

yes Sharron they do, twice I've caught them shooting little birds off my roof. I react like a mad woman. 3 more dogs of neighbours died yesterday from poisoning, and today I caught the man I suspect with his teenage son lurking around my land, I ran up behind them and asked what they wanted, he said he was looking for the pups, I asked why and he replied that he wanted to have 3 of them, said he would bring them up as goat dogs. I said you already have 4, you want 7 goatdogs?. I told him they weren't on my land which is true, and anyway they are too young to be taken from mum. I don't believe a word of what he says. We now have a rough idea where they are hiding but don't want to go near in case this man is watching us. This is all so awful and it doesn't fit that he would poison the other 3 which aren't connected with us. Sorry to go on about this, but it is playing about on my mind abit.

Theresa, I am so sorry you lost your puppy, it's heartbreaking to see them ill and know you can't help and they can't tell you what is wrong. I hope you will feel able to help another dog have a lovely life sometime in the future. Sometimes pedigree dogs aren't so strong as the Heinz 57 ones, who seem to have developed more resistance to disease.



It's awful the things that go on abroad, but a lot of it is down to ignorance I think.

I have a very kind and caring Maltese friend with a son the same age as mine so we see each other often when we visit Malta, in fact she calls my son her second son and he could go and live there if he wanted, not that he would but you know what I mean.

Years ago when the boys were young we went round on one visit to find they had a cat, called Ginger, a lovely ginger and white tom. He was kept in a travel cage the sort you take pets to the vet in. He would be let out into their tiny back yard to do the necessary and they would watch him for the few minutes he was outside and then he was brought back in, sometimes they would have him out and stroke him on their laps for a few minutes and he was allowed out to eat but otherwise he was kept in the cage. I tried to persuade her that it wasn't kind to keep him like that but she was scared he would escape if she let him go free all the time. I think in the end they gave him away to someone.
Last time we visited they had moved house and have a little dog, I can't remember what it is but it's really tiny, I think it might be a chihuahua. It races round the flat like a mad thing when visitors arrive and runs all over the furniture which I hate. It never gets taken out for walks and when they go out it's shut in the tiny bathroom or in the son's bedroom.
Our other friends, again very kind caring people, had a boxer pup tied up on a long rope in the garage they run, it can lay outside on the concrete pavement or inside the garage on concrete, no cushion or bed for it and it's left there alone at night, altho now they are building a penthouse flat on top of the garage to live in so maybe it has more company. The 21 yr old daughter had a small dog and in all the heat she was dressing it in pink tshirts and such and carrying it round in a Paris Hilton dog carrier bag, round the shops, at the restaurant - we sat outside - and I had to suggest they asked for a dish of water for it, it was obviously overheating, poor little thing. They had bought a puppy for a cousin who hadn't been allowed to keep it so they had that in the back of the car on old blankets but left it where we parked, they did leave some water for it and left the window open and the carpark attendant watched the car, as my friend is a Police Sergeant and her daughter a Police constable there, so they are well known. That little puppy had the runs and was obviously not well, it needed to be getting treatment not left alone in the car, but they just don't seem to understand how to care for animals properly and it's hard to see them making mistakes but also hard to know how to teach them to be different. I seem to remember the daughter telling me a while back in an email that they had another dog as well now.

At least in China more people are keeping dogs as pets now and not wanting to eat them. I read an article somewhere about it and this woman was saying how awful she felt for eating dog when she was young.

It's a good thing there are animal lovers around to help out and rescue and rehome some strays.
In Corfu, there are some people who have banded together and formed a rescued pets place, and they ask for people to go and help walk the dogs and such, and rehome when they can to British and others who move over there. However, they have had Brits go home and abandon their pets or hand them over because they don't want to pay the cost of taking them back with them. Just like a bit of furniture they leave behind!

Lizx

The same thing happened to my mum in Potugal.
She and her husband had a house built, and a pregnant dog appeared.
The builders fed her and she took up residence in a shed.
She had her pups just before the house was finished, the workmen took the males, which left mum dog and one female, which my mum took on.
The mother dog (confusedly called 'Mum') had another litter, before my mum could get her spayed, and mum and her OH took on these 4 pups as well. Unfortunately her previous pup disappeared.

'Mum' had a habit of digging under the fence and escaping their huge garden - often taking the (by now grown up) 'pups' with her. She did it once too often. They were all poisoned.

They found one 'Mac' - barely alive - took him to the vet . He was paralysed from the 'waist' down. they spent 8 months giving him physio and emptying his bowels for him.

He recovered - and died last year aged 12 - but was never the dog he had been.

So sorry this happened to your dog but do recognise that the Spanish don't care for their pets as we do.
When we lived in Spain,near Algeciras we had Spanish friends and dogs were never allowed inside the house and at night if one started barking they all started.We have a good Spanish friend who bought a lovely Alsatian pup,but after a while they got fed up and kept it fastened up all day.The poor dog scratched itself sore.We said to put it on a long rope in their huge garden and let it at least have a run,but no.The poor dog ended up drinking bleach and died.I was so disgusted that even people we regarded as friends could do such a thing.I told them and said I wouldn't hesitate to report them to the RSPCA,but knowing Spain it would be forgotten.
They also have dozens of feral cats roaming about.I wouldn't take an animal to Spain or any of those Latin countries.

Hey Chica,

hugs from here.

We've just lost our 14week old Great Dane pup to parvo. She had been vaccinated but she was just unlucky.

We are all gutted........I've only ever seen mu hubby cry once in the 18years we've been together and yesterday he cried for 4 hours.

I do hope your doggy and 3 legs and her pups are ok......

love T.x

This makes me feel sick. I would be in prison for interfering if I lived in these countries. We feed anything that looks hungry and have a regular caller twice daily, a cat that was starving in the cold weather. Unfortunately our Lizzie, a harmless looking little cat, sends her off with a flea in her ear if she sees her, so we dont let her out while the stray is here.

omg thats awful
your poor dog,
and for someone to kill a stray cos shes stray, is so cruel, she just had pups too, if she fed the pups it could kill them too,
thats horrendous,

i hope your dog feeling much better soon, big hugs from me

This happened to my son's cat, (20 odd years ago).
My son was 15 at the time and Devastated at the death of his cat.
We never knew who did it, but the pain these people cause I terrible.
I'm glad you pet was saved.
Deanna X

So pleased to hear your dog is now ok. We had many problems with the Spanish over our little dog. She always sniffed corners and twice a Spanish person went to kick her. After the second time I said I would hit the next one who tried to do that - unfortunately we had to have her put to sleep so there never was a third time. Most of the Spanish do not pick up their dogs mess either - only the English.
Love Mary xx

They shoot songbirds too don't they?

I know I will offend someone here, and I really do not mean to. it is not that I would say one group of people is less compassionate than another that is evidently not the case, but I do wish that the churches, including the Catholic church which has been and is still the predominant chuch in some European countries would at least 'allow' for the possibility that animals have souls....

it is historically the case that the Catholic church relegates animals to the same status as inanimate objects. If it were taught by the church that an animal 'might' have a god given soul then maybe those who dish out this cruelty would think twice... if only to preserve their own!

sorry this is one subject I feel incredibly strongly about and one reason why i will never go to Spain, I would be in prison within a week I fear lol.

We can't find 3 legs or her pups, my partner has just been out looking for her again. Hopefully they are hidden up somewhere. If they had got the poison they would have died very fast and the mother would have had to make several journeys back and forth to carry the pups as there are six of them so it seems they must be okay and just moved somewhere else. My dog would have beaten a 3 legged dog to a chunk of fresh meat any day!

Chica, I am glad your dog is ok now, what a dreadful thing to happen, but it doesn't surprise me at all.
When we were in Greece there were stray dogs and cats and someone who lives there said that the cats are allowed to have loads of litters of kittens, the tourists feed them and then in winter when no tourists around, the cats are poisoned and dogs too.

We saw a cat with kittens outside a family's home when we were in Kassiopi, the kittens all had sticky eyes and didn't look well, and the food put out for them was just some roasted potatoes not even chopped up small, in the roasting dish they were cooked in. There is a site I look at sometimes with news of Corfu, and there are always people trying to get others to home stray dogs. One was notorious for fishing, it apparently had followed tourists from it's home in the hills and despite being taken back to it's village, returned time and again for the titbits from tourists and to fish in a stream or by an area where the sea filled troughs, and the poor thing was killed recently by a car driving on the beach.
So much cruelty to animals, even in Malta I have seen it, they have no idea how to properly look after dogs and cats even when they have them as pets.

I hope that poor bitch is ok, and has not suffered a painful death leaving her pups to die too.

Lizx

Rose I agree with you, but sometimes I truly wonder if they do recognize pain in animals. I know I am generalizing here but I have seen so much awful cruelty here (I live out in the countryside) done by otherwise decent working people which THEY CANNOT SEE AS BEING WRONG. I might add that I'm not an OTT animal lover and believe there is an acceptable place on this earth for all animals. but I abhor blatant cruelty such as goes on here. We now have a law passed to protect "working animals" this includes the horse, mule, and working "goat/sheep dogs" but not the goats or sheep themselves. It doesn't include other animals, cats etc. or circus animals either, this is because we still have bull fighting which is supported by the royalty and government.
We found a pig buried alive up to it's neck in the ground on my son's land. (Common practice to starve them for days like this before Christmas) We called police who wouldn't even come out saying it wasn't against the law to do this. We called out 2 vets who said they would be prosecuted if they touched it. In the end we made such a fuss the owner came and moved it elsewhere........ no law to help and no one cared.....it goes on and on ....

Oh well must go to bed. Thanks everyone for your support.

Against nature?? And poisoning isnt? lol

Yes she's fine thanks, but we had almost an hours drive to the nearest vet. We gave her olive oil in the meantime. I sent texts to all my friends on the way and asked them to pray for her, vet gave her injection to slow down heart and stuff to make her vomit and she was put on a drip for 2 hours. She has to now wear a muzzle in case there is another attempt at poisoning. The don't believe in "wasting money" on neutering and laughed at us when we had Sally done saying it was against nature to interfere!

I hope who ever did it gets what they deserve...

sorry but "ignorance and lack of education" is no excuse , even the poorest educated person recognises pain in another living thing and should know better than to inflict it.

We live in the 21st century not the 12th, no country's government has an excuse for not bringing in adequate laws, certainly not a european country.

It's a shame they have to suffer.
I realise they do get out of control but it's not their fault.

I hope yours is ok :))

We went out to try and find the bitch and pups with torch but can't see them anywhere. She only has 3 legs and doesn't go far. We will search in the morning.

Marion unfortunately it is ignorance and lack of education which makes people do these things and until the law is changed and they can prosecute people then all cruelty here will continue. Thanks, I needed abit of comfort.