Galway SPCA

*Introducing Wriggles* On Monday we answered a call from someone wanting to surrender their dog.. Nothing new there as we recieve calls everyday from people wanting or needing to surrender their dog.Sadly we are not often in a position to help as our kennels are usually full of stray and abandoned dogs who are struggling to fend for themselves on the streets /fields. But we take each call as it comes and when we need to prioritise, thats what we do. And this little girl became a priority once we heard her story. Many of you will remember Waddle who arrived to us in a similar ,if not worse state and who we worked extremely hard to rehabilitate and what a success story he was 🥰,so we knew what we would be facing when we agreed to take in this little one. Bought 2 weeks ago at 4 years old and obviously been used for breeding ,she had suddenly lost the use of her hind legs a week ago for no apparent reason,leaving her paralysed. A vet visit revealed that Wriggles does have some feeling in her hind legs which is good news and after a chat we have decided to wait and see how Wriggles progresses on her own for the time being. Of course that doesnt mean our team.wont be working with her ..... helping her balance (if only for a second ,doing little physio exercises on her legs and we will be looking into bringing her for water physio on a weekly basis with an experienced hydrotherapist and some wheels .🥰 The main thing now is to ensure Wriggles legs stay unharmed and that she doesnt cause sores or open wounds to appear as she moves ,dragging them behind her. We have no idea yet whether Wriggles will ever fully recover but we are dedicated to ensuring we give her every possible chance going . We got Zorro back up on all 4 paws back in 2017 ... We got Waddle up and running too in 2023... And we will remain positive and determined that 2025 will be the year we get little Wriggles up aswell ... Team Galway Spca do not give up... And what a sweet,living,kind

*Helping Blaze* Back in October we saw a plea on a pound page of an old,emaciated ,broken dog with hanging tumours that just could no longer cope with pound life. He was at the end of the road and the pound felt it was kinder to end his suffering if nobody stepped forward. So we did ,thinking all we could do was maybe offer this boy a month or so of love and care as he seemed so far gone. Blaze went into a temporary foster home and with their care plus the amazing care of our vets at A Country Practice Vet Clinic he slowly started to gain weight and strength.In time he had his benign tumours removed ,thou we decided not to neuter him. For the last two weeks Blaze has had to come back into a kennel within our sanctuary which is never what we wanted for him but unfortunately cant be helped and he is now starting to struggle with kennel life. He is one of the sweetest,kindest,most affectionate,chilled out dogs who is approx 8/9 years old and possibly Mastiff x (size of a rottie) ..he is a little deaf and whilst he has no medical problems with his eyes,his eyesight is that of an older dog also. But he still has a pep in his step and really doesnt require or ask for much,infact he asks for very little which is why we are really hopeful that its not too late to find Blaze his retirement home .. A home with someone at home most of the day and with a good sized garden or a field would be the icing on the cake as Blaze would be content with just exercising around at home though he does like a short walk too. He loves his comforts and will happily snooze away on the sofa ,snoring his head off🤣. Blaze is housetrained and walks well on a lead,thou he doesnt much like travelling in cars as he never left the back yard in his previous years .. We have no background on Blaze with children and he hasnt met many other dogs though we were told he was removed from a back yard with a female staffie before entering the pound . All we are hoping for is to find Bla

*Lyles The Greyhound* Lyles arrived into our care back in August . Not yet 2 years old but already deemed "finished,not good enough and unwanted". A beautiful,gentle and truly affectionate boy who showed us everyday just how grateful he was for this second chance at life and he made the most of it...running in our fields,chilling in his bed or doing what he loved most,giving hugs. Teaming up with our friends at Pet levrieri ETS in Italy we were delighted to hear that Lyles had found his forever home with Roberta(an italian now living in Copenhagen). So last Sunday we transported Lyles to Dublin Airport where his new mum and dad were waiting .They had flown in the night before,booked a hotel and were now ready to take over the ownership of Lyles. A flight into Amsterdam, another into Copenhagen and finally Lyles was home. Such a brave boy ,coping with so much (flights,cargo,new noises,people) but one whose future depended on rescues working together to ensure he had one. So many Greyhounds have to go through journeys such as Lyles just to find their forever home and whilst we are thankful that homes in other countries exist for our beautiful hounds,we cant help but feel its unfair and stressful that they have to go through it. Simply because the volume of Greyhounds bred here in Ireland far outweigh any potential home offers. Lyles is one of the lucky ones and he now faces a life full of adventures,security and love. Because of two teams who care passionately about the Irish Greyhound. Please remember ...Greyhounds make the most amazing,winderful,chilled out,affectionate family pets who require little exercise ...just a whole lit of love❤️❤️❤️ #unwantednotretired #greyhoundsmakegreatpets #greyhoundsofinstagram #adoptdontshop #teamworkmakesthedreamwork

*GOAT UPDATE* Many of you will have already seen our video from yesterday as 2 of our team rushed to rescue a male goat being literally "gnawed on alive" by the dogs that live on the same site as the goat...as our team arrived they witnessed a collie dog and 3/4 terriers lying around the helpless goat gnawing on his legs..No frenzied attack,no shaking or ragging ,no dragging of the goat,just gnawing on him ...it was a very upsetting and bizarre attack. The injured goat was seen by our vet yesterday and pain meds,antibioctics and a tetanus was given also his legs were shaved,washed down,dried and soothing cream applied. His little female friend who was unharmed(a feisty little girl) had also been bought to safety . This morning we checked on and fed both and at lunchtime today we bought both goats out to a secure paddock to let them graze for an hour or too. It sokn became evident that our injured goat had suffered some severe nerve damage to one of his hind legs as he struggles to weight bear or walk on it but we are continuing his meds and twice daily treatment. He is still not out of the woods as infection or poisoning of his blood can still occur but we are doing all we can to give him every chance possible. Once we realised today how he was struggling to walk down to our paddock we had to come up with a way to get him back to his indoor pen without too much stress.. So as you can see in the video below ,we came up with the best solution possible and once on the trolley he actually seemed to realise it was all for the best. We have named him "Vincent Van Goat" and his little friend "Goatilocks". They are once again tonight tucked up on a deep straw bed with plenty of haylage ,warm, safe and loved. We would like to thank everybody for their kindness and support during this stressful time and an even bigger thanks to those who have so kindly already donated to Van Goats ongoing care and treatment... If you would like to help by donating please see th

*WARNING DISTRESSING IMAGES* Today we recieved a very distressing call to our sanctuary from a member of the council who was at a site near Portumna,just a couple of kms away. We were told that there were 4/5 dogs attacking a goat and in the background we could hear the agonising screams of the victim. Two of our kennel quickly arrived and at first they thought the dogs were just lying on top of black rubbish bags until they realised it was infact the distressed goat and they were gnawing on him as he lay there helpless. Quickly difusing the attack they could see this boy was in trouble though he still managed to scramble to his feet to try to escape.Another smaller female goat appeared (thankfully unharmed). Securing the injured goat didnt take too long (long enough when all you want to do is get him to safety ) but his friend was having none of it but we also knew she couldnt be left behind incase she became the next victim. 40 mins later and both goats were on our van and we were ready to leave. It was at this point our two staff looked at one another and asked the same question. What were we going to do with 2 goats once we got back to our busy dog sanctuary but they also both knew that as a team we would work through this problem...because we had no choice but to. We used a small dog paddock the furthest away from our kennels where we felt the goats would not be intimidated or scared by our dogs (our sanctuary had to keep running as normal) and we finally managed to get both goats in and they seemed to realise they were in a much better place now. With our vet already en route for dog healthchecks we promised the injured goat he would soon be treated and cared for. What lay beneath his hair once shaved showed us the full extent of his injuries ...it was as though the dogs had been just eating away at him as he lay motionless on the ground ,too weak ,too scared to fight back ... He recieved antibiotics,pain relief and a tetanus jab. He is not out

Littolle Spry has arrived into our care and we think its safe to say she is literally jumping for joy. Spry has been waiting patiently since JUNE this year in the pound for us to be able to rescue her and finally we were able to keep that promise.... Happy Days 🥰