Niall Harbison Profile picture
Dec 21, 2023 8 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Genuinely the best boy there ever was. Sorry to say that Derek left us this evening. He was the most unassuming, gentle, gracious and loving older gentleman I’ve ever met. I know he touched lots of lives but he’ll leave some remarkable memories… (1/8) 🧵 Image
He never wanted much in life at all. His health went downhill very fast in the last 24 hours but we managed to get a little walk, some sausages and we slept for 3 hours together. It was perfect (2/8)
Derek come in on the 15th October last year. He had no dignity, nobody cared about him and he was hours from death alone. My dream last year was to get him to Christmas 2022. It turned out to be a lot longer even though his healthy started horrific (3/8)


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It was amazing watching Derek get better. Derek always tried to talk. Like when he was in the vets in the early days he was clearly saying “thanks for the help now don’t leave me” (4/8)
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Of course Mr Derek loved his VIP suite. He never had a thing in his life before and he was so proud of it. He used to put himself to bed early. For man months he just slept in their recovering from his hard life. It was his haven (5/8)

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As Derek got better he made a few friends. He used to be the only one to hand around with Britney and he took little Rodney under his wing when he came in. Little Del Boy and Rodney 🥰 (6/8)
In the last 2 months Derek has been living with me. If he loved his VIP suite the the couch was the luxury he never knew he needed in life. He was always as quiet as a mouse in the corner. My theory is Derek was so quiet and kind to everyone as he didn’t want to risk ever going back to his old life on the streets. I always think of him as just the most grateful dog ever (7/8)
He passed gracefully and surrounded by all the people who cared for him and with his belly full of sausages.

My friends said to me I should take younger less sick dogs next to ease the pain but I disagree. It was only 14 months but every day was cherished and meant the world to Derek.

Derek. The best boy there ever was. Not even a doubt about it 🥰 (8/8)Image
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More from @NiallHarbison

Mar 20
We rescued Apollo 7 weeks ago.

To say it has been complicated would be an understatement but we have some unbelievable progress now… (1/7) 🧵 Image
He is a wild street dog. It took us a week to catch him as he was so scared.

We got him just in time. An injury on his nose was being eaten alive by maggots.

I didn’t know if there was much we could do… (2/7) Image
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Our medical team worked for weeks. We found out it was a treatable cancer.

It was a huge team effort and we started to see huge progress but then it all went bad… (3/7) Image
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Read 7 tweets
Feb 21
Bit of a tough day. Got a bite on the arm from a dog.

They look so small but if anybody has been bitten before they know the pain.

It got me thinking about the pain dogs suffer…. (1/4) 🧵
My 2 teeny tiny bites came from Apollo. Total accident.

We got tangled in a bush and he got spooked and I lose the leash. I had to grab his leg at risk of losing him. He panicked. He don’t apply pressure

To say I’m in agony and complaining non stop is an understatement (2/4) Image
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At the same time I’m dealing with Velvet. She was attacked by a pack of dogs. She has about 15 puncture wounds. 30 stitches.

Yet she’s rolling around looking for belly rubs just a day later.

Dogs are insane wit their own threshold (3/4)
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Read 4 tweets
Feb 3
I’ve been involved in a lot of hard dog rescues in my time. But none quite like tonight.

We’ve been trying to catch this boy for a week after being sent this photo. He’s a wild street dog.

It looks like we’ve saved his life… (1/7) 🧵 Image
We’ve failed on 6 previous attempts. Sedation, traps, nets and many of us in the fields. He has been too scared.

We’ve probably used 50 man hours trying to catch him.

We even darted him once but he got away into the jungle (2/7) Image
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We got him tonight after an epic chase.

It was life or death. The wound on his face was full of maggots and flies. I’ve shared the pic from a distance to not shock but his face was being eaten alive (3/7) Image
Read 7 tweets
Jan 9
On the 23rd of October Stormzy came into us with a massive brain injury.

He couldn’t walk or even support his head.

Today 11 weeks later, Stormzy was adopted and went home with his forever family… (1/8) 🧵 Image
He’d been hit by a car. His owner had frantically been looking for a vet.

He was told in this pic that he needed to pay to put him to sleep. He didn’t have the money so he had to take him home for 4 full days and just watch him hopelessly (2/8) Image
Our vet said just give him time. It was incredibly painful to watch him suffer so much. But the medicines and rest really did work.

He couldn’t walk or eat himself for weeks. But the swelling stated to go down (3/8)
Read 9 tweets
Jan 6
An incredible outcome…

She came to us 6 weeks ago with tumors on her eyes and inside her mouth.

To see her today is a thing of beauty…(1/5) 🧵 Image
Her owners were distraught. They are not well off people.

They came to us at Tina’s hospital hoping for some sort of miracle.

Even I thought she might have to be put down when I saw her the first day (2/5) Image
I can explain how amazing our medical team are.

They diagnosed it as TVT cancer. This was her 6 weeks ago being treated outside as it is transmissible.

She kept nearly choking on her blood and she couldn’t see a thing (3/5)
Read 5 tweets
Jan 5
This was the first photo I was ever sent of Stormzy.

His owner had found our contact details. He was told he had to pay to put him to sleep but he didn’t have the money.

That was 2.5 months ago. Stormzy was getting some big news today…. (1/7) 🧵 Image
He came to us on a little wooden “stretcher” his owner had made.

Stormzy had been hit by a car and had a serious brain injury. Things did not look good (2/7) Image
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For a week his head was “stuck” like this. His neck wasn’t strong enough to control what it was doing.

We fed him via a drip and out vet said give him time to see if the swelling would go down (3/7) Image
Read 8 tweets

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