Friday 29 September 2017

Eight little wonders

The end of August Nikos, our vet, called to say that a man had found puppies next to a bin just outside Potos. The man couldn't bring them himself because he was in a wheel chair.
Tanja hurried to Potos to get them. On her way she was called by Jannis, the other vet in Limenaria, that tourists had brought him puppies that they found in Potos.
When she arrived at Jannis, she saw that it were 8 little puppies with their eyes and ears still closed, so they were very very young. One puppy was already very weak and fighting for its life. It was clear that it was gonna be a tough job to raise them.


Tanja took the puppies home and immediately made some puppymilk. In the time the milk was cooling down, she cleaned the poor babies as good as she could, because they were not only dirty but also smelled terrible like fish and were full of fish scales.
First Tanja tried to feed the little one that was very weak, but unfortunately there was not much life in her anymore. After she fed the others, the little girl had died. Rest in peace sweetie.


The puppies needed names, so Tanja asked on Facebook suggestions for names with a V. Many good names were given, easy to pick 7: Victoria, Viktor, Valentino, Vera, Vamp, Valerie, Virgil.
All babies were doing well and also little Vera got stronger.

The first days of September were filled with feeding and cleaning and it was time to give them their first proper bath. Not an easy job because they had no idea what was happening to them. But after they were rubbed dry, they enjoyed getting warm in the sun.


To our great sorrow a few days later totally unexpected Vera died. In spite of the fact that she drank regularly, she always stayed the weakest. Rest in peace little Vera.
At September 11 we had to let little Victoria go. Nikos did what he could, but she got weaker and had problems breathing. Another little soul passed away.
We were also worried about Virgil who was fighting for his life. All the others were doing well.

Later also Valerie got weaker, and she and Virgil were going up and down. There were days that we thought they wouldn't make it. But after they started to eat soaked puppy food they got stronger every day. They really liked it, and it was so much easier than bottle feeding.
Until today they are all doing fine, three male and 2 female puppies, born around August 17.

Half September Sabine from Austria came to Thassos and brought a car full of donations. She also helped feeding and cleaning the puppies, which was a great help and relief for Tanja.
Thank you for that dear Sabine.

From Germany Karem and Kirsten brought an adjustable fence for the puppies. Tanja had seen this at Claudia. Klaus and Claudia had bought it for Jack so he couldn't move around too much because of his injury.
What a relief, because before Tanja had barricaded an area for the puppies in her shed but that made it difficult to get in and out of the shed. Now the puppies have their own place, where they can play and sleep during the night. Karem and Kirsten donated this fencing, and we thank them very much for that.

And what else is there to say? All puppies are growing very fast, play around in the garden, meet the cats and discover new things every day.
But have a look yourself, pictures say more than words…

19-09-2017

29-09-2017