Ashbourne Animal Welfare

25/12/2025

Santa paws has been to all of the animals!! 🎅🏻🐶🎁🐱.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! 🎄

24/12/2025

A big thank you to Derby Meteor Pets at Home for supporting us during their Pets Foundation Santa Paws appeal. And an even bigger thank you to everyone who donated at Derby Meteor Pets at Home. Your support makes a huge difference to our charity!

22/12/2025

Introducing Mo!

Mo is a handsome, young chap who came to us after ending up as an unclaimed stray with no microchip… and his time in the pound was up!

He’s only around 1-2yrs old we believe.. he’s a gentle soul, loves people and seems to be good with other dogs.

He’s still being assessed and will be looking to a new home after Christmas!

21/12/2025

Wishing all of our supporters, volunteers and staff a very Merry Christmas! 🎅🏻

Thank you for all of the continued support and help throughout the year!

Santa paws will be visiting our lovely cats & dogs closer to the big day, keep your eyes peeled for the photos!

🎄🎁🐶🐱

17/12/2025

Joey 🖤

Joey turns 1yr old next week… he’s been with us for half of his life! 🥺.

He’s a mixed breed - his mum was a Husky/Labrador and his dad was of Macedonian origin! (He’s medium sized - around collie size). He came to us as part of an unsold litter, along with his brother, Bear.

Joey did go to a home, but sadly it didn’t work out due to his separation anxiety.

He’s a lovely lad.. very friendly and playful, however he can be shy of new people initially. He’s always happy to see the staff and volunteers arrive, and loves to get out for his walks! He really enjoys playing with his toys and is very clever… so puzzle feeders and other interactive toys keep him busy.

He’s reactive to other dogs, however he’s not aggressive - he just wants to say hello and play.. but doesn’t quite know how to do it! Before coming to us, during the crucial puppy learning period, he wasn’t socialised with others apart form the several dogs he lived with. He’s has met several of our dogs here with no issues apart from the initial barking (which can be off putting!) he’s not cat friendly.

Joey does suffer with separation anxiety, probably stemming back from being in a home with several other dogs and living with his 3 brothers until he came to us. He forms bonds with people quickly, and then doesn’t like it when they leave his sight! In the home that he went to briefly he wouldn’t settle until everyone in the home was settled too, and he became very upset when someone left.. often bouncing up at the doors and windows etc. we think Joey might be better suited to a home with a female dog for company, but this may take several meetings to ensure they get along well. He would also need further work on his anxiety to make him feel more comfortable when left.

He’s very quick to pick things us, and is super agile and full of energy! He might be a good candidate for a doggy-sport… but a secure garden is an absolute must!

17/12/2025

Wow! We’ve had several Amazon deliveries over the past few days.. this is only some of the items we’ve received!!

A massive thank you to everyone for their continued generosity and support!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1Z6PJRPQEFRGW?ref_=wl_share

16/12/2025

Wow! We are overwhelmed by the generosity in response to the appeal for Jessie’s medical bills! We can’t thank you all enough… you have donated approximately £1400!! which is amazing!!

And better still Jessie has found a new home, and is settling in well! ❤️

Jessie ❤️
She’s a lovely 9yr old Whippet…with a bit of a story!
Jessie’s story with us starting back in July - she came to us with a group of dogs as their owner was too unwell to care for them any longer - the group consisted of Jessie and Jake her ‘husband’ and 5 of their puppies from 2 litters.. as well as a terrier ‘aunt’.
Upon arrival, it was obvious that Jessie was pregnant again, despite her last litter only being 7 months old.

So, not only was Jessie distressed and upset at leaving the home she was born in, and had lived in for the last 9yrs… within a week of being with us, she went into labour!
We watched on a camera as she had 1 pup, but no more appeared.. we were told that she was expecting 3-4, so the next day Jessie went to the vets to see what was wrong, 3 more puppies came naturally after a bit of persuasion and Dan from the staff being a midwife!… but shockingly she still had another 4 to come!! She was too weak, so had to have a C-section, which came with a risk and sadly 4 of her puppies died pretty quickly.

The next issue was 1 puppy wasn’t feeding, and Jessie didn’t really have much milk.. unfortunately despite our best efforts, including taking the puppies away for hand rearing, all of the litter devastatingly passed away within a a week of being born. Jessie was understandably very confused, so we put her daughter from a previous litter with her for company… which seemed to help.

As time went on, Jessie became a little more independent from her daughter (who was rehomed shortly after). But then the next issue Jessie faced was a big dental! She made it through the anaesthesia again, with shiny clean teeth! (and a few gaps!).

All was going well, Jessie seemed to be a happier dog.. and we began trying to find her a new home… until a recently during her walk with a volunteer, whilst having a cuddle, a lump was found in Jessie’s neck, and it later turned out to be thyroid cancer 😔. The prognosis looked bleak, but after talking with the oncologist we opted to scan her chest, which revealed it hadn’t spread… so she could have surgery to try and remove it!
We were warned that the surgery for this cancer can be dangerous, and sometimes impossible depending on what’s going on around it..

She went for the operation on Thursday, and this is her recovering! Thankfully for Jessie it was a success, and she should be back to her normal self soon!

With our vets bills averaging at £10-12k a month for routine care, and a few more big operations booked in for the next month, as well as poor Jessie’s 3 operations recently… any donations would be greatly appreciated, if anybody is able to contribute (using the link below)

https://www.goodhub.com/go/offerings/ashbourne-and-district-animal-welfare-society/donations/create

Jessie’s story just goes to show that rescue is rarely straight forward, and donations in any form are always needed and are very much appreciated!

Fingers crossed that Jessie is in a home for Christmas! She definitely deserves it! ❤️

14/12/2025

Brad & Beth

Bonded pair of siblings, to be rehomed together. 4 months old.

These 2 were found in a field after being born to a stray mum…

When they first arrived with us, they were very timid and hid away majorly of the time.. Tortie Beth was always slightly more confident, and would sit and watch..

As you can see, they’ve come on in leaps and bounds since then! They’re very friendly, affectionate kittens with very loud purrs!

14/12/2025

Brad & Beth are a bonded pair of 4 month old siblings who came to us after they were found in a field (born to a stray mum).

When they first arrived with us, they were very timid and preferred to hide away! Beth was always the more confident of the 2.. sitting to watch what you were up to.

As you can see, they’ve both come on in leaps and bounds since they arrived and are both now very confident, friendly kittens.. with very loud purrs!

13/12/2025

Another puppy! 🚨
Sprout - 6month old Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross.

Sprout is a handsome young chap who came to us for rehoming through no fault of his own. The family has purchases him as full bred Staffy, but he continued to grow and a DNA test revealed he was in fact only 53% Staffy with a mixture of other breeds in him like Rottweiler, American Bulldog and Dogue De Bordeaux to name a few! He currently weighs 21KG. Unfortunately with 2 young children, they didn’t have the time for him.

Sprout is a great character! He’s full of beans and loves to play! As he’s only 6 months old… he’s a big puppy with lots of energy and likes to push boundaries. He’s super friendly and affectionate, and loves people – he’s lived with children, and could live with older children again as he’s a little too boisterous for little ones.

Sprout is sociable with other dogs, and loves to play! He’s already met a couple of dogs in our care and not been an issue – but he looks like he might like to play rough. Sprout could share his home with another dog, but existing dogs would need to be neutered. He has been around cats (in the garden), but did chase them.

We’re not sure how big Sprout with grow.. but he’s definitely going to get bigger than he is now! It would be preferable that his adopters have some bull breed experience, but a willingness to learn with him would also be great. We would strongly recommend training classes for him, not only to further his education… but also to help strengthen the bond between him and his new family.

It was reported that in the previous home he was a chewer. He is also crate trained, and used to being left for a couple of hours. We are looking for a home where he wont be left for long periods of time, as he is still a baby, and needs lots of interaction.