A story to put a massive smile on your face today. 😃
There is no dog in the world who deserves this more than Mr Big.
Exactly 2 months ago on the 29th May we found him dying alone in a toilet. He was done.
Well today was the greatest day in his life (1/10) 🧵
Mr big had maggots in a wound in his ear. He was covered in about 500 blood sucking ticks.
He was massively anemic, had tick fever and hadn’t much time left. He was being eaten alive.
We thought he’d lose an ear (2/10)
We set about the long road of building Mr Big back up again. You can see in this video his spirit was broken.
But the good news is it soon started coming back (3/10)
The biggest challenge was his stamina as he has been so weak. But he started walking and then in the last few weeks I’ve got him back running.
The best news is we even managed to save his ear. Mr Big was getting healthy again (4/10)
The best part was seeing Mr Big’s personality coming back. He is a massive goofball, softy and gentle soul. He loves all the other dogs and he adores humans.
Now that he was better Mr Big needed a home. Not an easy task… (5/10)
Because of his breed Mr Big cannot fly. It would have to be a home in Thailand
But it’s not easy to re-home a bigger dog like this with recent health issues.
Then this week he hit the jackpot. A lovely American man and his Thai wife wanted to see him. They came today (6/10)
They drove 800km to come and see him. Mr big went for a swim, ice cream and for a walk. The good news…. It was love at first sight.
We’d done interviews this week and chatted about him but it was official. Mr Big is getting his forever home (7/10)
His new owners bought him this bed and went to their hotel. I was throwing all the beds into the suites as it was hammering down rain. When I came back 20 minutes later Mr Big was asleep under it. He’d had the best day ever and felt safe (8/10)
I fixed him up all nice and cosy for his last light with us with his new bed and toy. His owner is resting before the drive home with Mr Big tomorrow.
Those are the eyes of a dog that is exhausted with happiness and who will never sleep on a street again (9/10)
Mr Big leaves tomorrow morning. His new name will be Henry which I think he suits beautifully.
2 months ago he had nothing. He was done. Now he has everything in the world (10/10)
I’ve a lot more about Mr Big / Henry and his new home on my Insta.
An update on Leo Messi who we saved last week from the jungle with a slice leg.
Everything had been going smoothly until last night 😬
A little step backwards but he’s landed on his paws again thankfully… (1/7)
Leo was settling in well for 5 days. He was getting daily wound cleaning, bandage changes and we were bulking him up. He was as quiet as a mouse and a great patient.
We have to wait 3-4 weeks as he has blood issues and is underweight. Operating would be too dangerous (2/7)
I arrived at 6am this morning to this horrendous scene. It was a public holiday last night and there were unexpected fireworks and a big storm.
Leo had panicked and tried to get out. I can begin to explain how bad I felt. He had shown now signs up until now of being stressed or wanting to break out. He just panicked. Of course I think…
⏰ Should I have been checking him in the night
🎇 How did I not know about the fireworks
🧑🏽⚕️ Should he be in hospital for the 3-4 weeks.
The thoughts raced around my head. We have 16 sick dogs to look after so it’s not always easy or perfect. It would be easier for me not to share this video and say everything is perfect but that’s not the reality of look after sick and wounded street dogs (3/7)
On the 8th Feb I got a WhatsApp message about a little dog who’d been so badly beaten up and slashed he was staggering around.
We called him Billy. Its been a long road to recovery but today was a huge day for him (1/10) 🧵
Billy was so badly beaten and in such a bad shape in general he…
👀 90% blind in both eyes
🧠 Brain swelling
😬 He had severe PTSD
🫨 His balance was gone and he kept hitting obstacles
I wasn’t really sure Billy would make it (2/10)
Things got way worse before they got better. Billy was so bad with PTSD we couldn’t leave him alone. We tried everything including medicine and even classical music.
The only thing that calmed him was being held. We did it in shifts for days (3/10)
And update on Leo Messi. He says he’s sorry for running away yesterday as he didn’t realize it would be so nice here and the humans only wanted to help.
He has started to settle in and there is only good news today (1/6) 🧵
He had a wonderful nights sleep after his dramatic day yesterday. We have a tracker on him now and a proper collar.
He was going in for his doctors appointment today at 10am to start his new life. His biggest problem is he is very underweight and anemic (2/6)
His wound was cleaned up beautifully. He was a great patient. He also had pain relief now.
Because he has blood parasites and anemia we will have to wait 4 weeks before an amputation as he would bleed to death if operated on now. (3/6)
I’ve suffered from depression and anxiety for over 25 years.
I thought I’d share some things that help me. Not medical advice but rather trial and error through many dark days of personal experience.
Here are 10 things that help me battle anxiety and depression… (1/12)
1. Give up alcohol 🍺 🍷
It took a trip to ICU for me to finally do this after 25 years. Nothing has had a bigger positive impact on my mental health and anxiety than quitting booze.
Alcohol is literally a depressant. Cut it out and you’ll be less depressed. (2/12)
2. Move your body 🏃♂️ 🏊
When the dark fog descends or before it does just try to move. It’s often the last thing you can contemplate. But exercise for me has been the key.
Even if it’s just walking 100 yards for some fresh air movement is key (3/12)
This is little Candy. Just a week ago she had no hope in life as a street dog with 3 legs.
She was getting left behind size wise as she couldn’t compete for the food.
It’s the start of her journey but her life has started to drastically improve…. (1/6) 🧵
She was living in the jungle under some old building materials. Candy wasn’t easy to catch even with a missing leg.
She had the usual illnesses like anemia, was covered in ticks and was struggling to stay alive. (2/6)
We can’t be 100% sure but Sybille who is a human doctor thinks she injured her leg when very young. Candy then probably ate her own leg off in order to survive. She wasn’t born like this.
She did a good job as it’s clean and we’ve healed her up in the last week (3/6)