Beatrice

Can someone please state (in plain words) what exactly will be happening to this dog and cat? Thank you.

Have paid for two weeks boarding for both of them on Monday but they still need some more help until they can be re-united with their owner. Anyone else able to chip in a few dollars? Every bit helps these guys who are down on their luck at the moment but thankfully the end is in sight.

Thank you for the info, Mita - will do the same.

I am from the other side of the country but would like to help. Can I just confirm that this is Fernleigh Kennels in Wagga Wagga (found them on the internet)?

Pig hunting (if government endorsed or not) is cruel! Pigs are sentinent beings just like your beloved doggies. And regarding pests, as far as I can see the biggest threat to the environment and native animals in this country (and most likely the rest of this planet) walk on two legs. Maybe we should have all our jaws bitten off by your pig dogs and our guts ripped out while being still alive ...

I am so very sorry for your loss, Spirrall - it hurts so very much I know. And I also know how desperately one keeps looking for those little signs that seem to indicate that things are getting better and then they get worse again. But I am sure Ben heard you coming home that night and when he did he knew you were there and with him - that's when he could let go. I am sure he felt very loved! RIP, beautiful Ben.

Thank you all for your thoughts and beautiful words about Bear - I miss her terribly and your kindness helps me a lot. Bear was a very special girl - she was born at the RSPCA in Canberra after her mum Sheba had been surrendered heavily pregnant in 1997. Amazingly, Bear was a single pup. The two were lucky and got adopted together shortly after Bear’s birth. Unbelievably, six years later they were again surrendered at the RSPCA (they were the first dogs that came into the shelter after the terrible Canberra bushfires in Jan 2003). That’s where I met the two ladies a few days before their time was up - they won my heart instantly. Sheba and I had two precious years together before she succumbed to cancer of the spleen. Her baby Bear was with me for seven beautiful years. Two very special ladies!

My heart is too heavy to find the right words, and W.H. Auden must have known you to get it so right. This is for you, my darling darling Bear! Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message She Is Dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. She was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. For nothing now can ever come to any good.

We knew you only for a short while but you stole our hearts immediately. Run free, girl – you were beautiful in- and outside! We won't forget you, Stefie, Michael, Anne and Beatrice

You are so right, Esky - I agree with every word you said!!! If May won't be able to pull through, it is thanks to Stefie, Merna and DABS that she at least will be feeling loved and looked after before she goes. Where she truly suffered was in the pound, alone, abandoned and sick. Now, she has Merna by her side, and is warm and looked after. Robert Frost once said in one of his poems: I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Thank you so much Merna, Stefie, Carole and Esky for taking the road less traveled by because that makes all the difference! May is in my thoughts and I hope she will get well.

Interesting to read that people still think that dogs need meat and are exclusively carnivores - myths prevail! Dogs are omnivores and eat (and are more often than not healthy on) what's available, and it does not have to be meat. I've fed my lot of five dogs a non-meat diet for years and they are all fit and healthy and in better shape than before. There is a very good product around called "Veganpet" which I use as the base topped up with veges, pasta, rice, lentils, beans. They love fruit as treats, or I bake very simple but scrumpous dog bikkies.