The chick came to us in reasonable health, although he/she would not have survived long on the ground with no parents. After a hours or so in an incubator to get him warm, we could feed him. Owl’s have to be fed on as natural food as possible. They normally rip parts off their prey and eat all of it, including the fur, feathers and bones and later bring up a pellet of bones and feathers.

We keep a stock of bird of prey food in the freezer, ready for such occasions. After three feeds where we has to force feed, he now readily takes prepared food off us. It will be another few weeks before he will eat completely on his own and several more before we can consider moving him to an aviary to prepare him for release.

She is doing well in an incubator to keep her warm, she is eating and putting on weight. Cat bites can be very infectious, this infection too often kills wild animals, especially when their immune system is weakened by shock. This lucky rabbit is over the worst, we hope we can release him/her in the next few days.

She is around 12 weeks old and is unfortunately blind in both eyes, she also has signs of having been attacked. She has a torn ear and a couple of infected wounds. She is doing fine, she is eating well and running around like a playful fox cub should do. We have cleaned her up and put her on antibiotics.

This little girl though will never be able to be released into the wild, she would not survive. We are hoping that she will be cared for by a specialist fox rescue centre, where she will live with other fox cubs, that are also unable to be released. We only keep wild animals in captivity as a last resort and only if they have quality of life and as natural as possible, full of stimulation and enrichment.

We don’t normally handle wild animals, we need to prevent them from becoming imprinted, however as this fox cub cannot be released, she needs to be fairly tame.

It can be quite difficult to rear single ducklings as they can become quite stressed and withdrawn on their own, constantly crying for their parents, fortunately this chap has done well and is now out of danger.

Initially we had to tube feed him, and put him with a feather duster for comfort in a warm incubator.  It’s over a week now, and he’s eating himself and bathing in his water bowl.

Firstly we need to assess the patient, we need to be sure of the breed and age to ensure we feed them an appropriate diet. We check them over for wounds, weigh them, check for parasites such as ticks, ensure they are not dehydrated and check their general health and treat them accordingly.

Quite often patients are cold, before we can even think of feeding them or administering medication, they need to be warm, for this we use heat pads or incubators. Giving them food or drink whilst they’re cold can lower their body temperature even further putting them at a greater risk.

Once checked over and treated for any immediate  priorities and they are warm, we can think about feeding them. This can initially involve force feeding them and they don’t recognise us as their parents. Force feeding should never be attempted by anyone who is not experienced and trained.

Our days revolve around the young, some need feeding every hour, some every few hours and some around the clock. This is very difficult, especially when looking after so many other animals and working full-time for a living. It’s a good job Beth has an understanding boss who lets her take a menagerie of animals into work each day!

Once wormed and vaccinated, they will be ready to be rehomed. If you can offer them a permanent life-long home, please get in touch. We always offer free advice to ensure you make the right decision and can offer them all the need they require.

Goats make very good pets, but there are a few critical things you need to consider;

1. Goats are herd animals and should be kept in groups of at least 2.

2. You need very strong and high fencing, at least 1.5m.

3. Goats hate rain and mud, they need good shelter, away from the elements.

4. Goats need to be wormed and vaccinated annually and their hooves trimmed every few weeks.

5. They will eat plants, trees and shrubs, beware of poisonous ones, goats can easily be poisoned.

6. Goats should never be tethered or kept on their own.

Billy is a 12 year old castrated male, he came from a dog rescue centre where he has been living for the past few years on his own. Billy is now with other goats, he is very friendly and looking for a permanent life-long home.

Goats make very good pets, but there are a few critical things you need to consider;

1. Goats are herd animals and should be kept in groups of at least 2.

2. You need very strong and high fencing, at least 1.5m.

3. Goats hate rain and mud, they need good shelter, away from the elements.

4. Goats need to be wormed and vaccinated annually and their hooves trimmed every few weeks.

5. They will eat plants, trees and shrubs, beware of poisonous ones, goats can easily be poisoned.

6. Goats should never be tethered or kept on their own.

Please contact us for advice if you are considering re-homing goats.

These castrated male Kune Kune pigs  are so obese that they can barely move, its very likely that they have been fed too much of an inappropriate diet and not had space to exercise and enact normal pig behaviour. All too often people feed commercial pig food to their pets, although cheaper than pet pig food, it is very high in protein and formulated to get pigs fat for slaughter. Pet pigs need a much better diet, one for long term health, to stop them from becoming so fat. Horace and Roland are now on a very strict diet.

They are very friendly, we hope that once they have lost weight, have been wormed and treated for lice they will be ready to look for a permanent life-long, loving home, where they deserve to be treated better than the life they were once use to.

On Sunday 1st April Hens for Pets will be running 2 chicken keeping courses here at the rescue centre.  There is a morning course and an afternoon course.  It you are relatively new to hen keeping or are thinking about keeping hens then this is an ideal course for you.

We still have a few places left and you can book online for the course. The sessions will include refreshments (with homemade cakes, teas, coffees and soft drinks), hands on chicken experience, a free goody bag and all the important information you need to keep chickens.

The courses are held from 9.30am til 12.30  or  1.30 til 4.30. The course is £20 per person or £30 per couple.

Bookings can be made online:

https://www.hensforpets.co.uk/products/getting-started-chickens/chicken-keeping-workshops

This poor girl is Mary, her owners made contact the day they were moving house, desperately needing a home for poor Mary.

Although we were reluctant to take on any more sheep, as we now have 2 rams and 6 ewes, how could we let her down!

When safely at the sanctuary, we managed to cut off some of the worst of her coat, to cut out the matted  mess from around her back end, where she could have easily got fly strike. Then after a once over, we united her with our flock where she is now settling in.

Once she has settled in a while, we will sheer, vaccinate and worm her as well as tend to her feet.

Mary bonding with Badger, they have just met.

Mary meet the flock.

Shaunie runs over to meet his new girl.

Today we were kindly presented with a cheque for £185 by the school, the children raised money by holding a Rocking for Rocky school disco.

One of the classes came to present the cheque today and see how Rocky was. Unfortunately Rocky was his usual self, sleeping, coming out only briefly to see his class mate supporters.

Rocky was taken in by us 4 years ago, he was bought as a so called `micro-pig’ and as all owner soon find out, he grew much  larger than they thought. Rocky soon outgrew the flat he was kept in. Now he has 4 acres to roam around, well thats when he’s not eating or sleeping.

Help us raise   funds for our wildlife hospital;

The event at the Sanctuary includes;

• Meet the rescued animals
• Refurbishments
• Food
• Cakes
• Stalls
• Games

To DOWNLOAD your own copy of the poster   CLICK HERE

The hedgehogs literally inflate, as air or gas is trapped under their skin, they inflate so much that they end up like a balloon, and cannot roll up or even walk. In this condition they cannot move, let alone eat or drink and the internal pressure makes it difficult for them to breath.

Balloon syndrome is a secondary issue, the primary being either severe internal infection causing gas to build up, or damage to the respiratory tract.

The first priority is to deflate him, we did this by inserting a Syringe and literally sucking out the air. Now deflated and the pressure off hi internal organs, we can treat the primary cause with antibiotics. The last picture shows how much better he looks after 30 minutes of deflating.

After 30 minutes of deflating him, he can now roll up in a ball and his breathing is much better, but we’ll have to check him every hour now for the next 24 hours, generally we have had to deflate them 3 or 4 times before they have fully recovered.

This chappie has a break quite high up and so he’s in sling to support his weight. He’s quite happy in this position, he can easily feed and drink. In a matter of a couple more weeks he will be moved to the aviary until we are confident with his recovery, then he’ll be released.