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Antonia tells us about one of her rescue operations (check out the pictures in her Fostered Puppies Gallery)
KEFI AND FAMILY (AND WOLF)
A little, black, shaggy bundle of fur had made a nest for her 4 puppies in bushes and tree tops that were rooted in the rock face above the beach at the side of the Mediterranee Hotel in Lassi.
She was getting a lot of tourist visitors going to check the pups were OK and they were, until one day, a lady called Alison said the mum, now called Kefi, had moved 3 of the pups to the other side of the road and was anxiously darting around the nest area, but didn’t dare leave her pups unattended for too long. Alison assumed Kefi had lost one of the pups and as it was never found, it was also assumed it had fallen over the edge of the nest into undergrowth.
Alison spoke to her rep, who phoned me and asked if KATs could help. I spoke to Alison and made arrangements to meet her and visit the nest to discuss options of what could be done. Kefi wasn’t around when I called and Alison couldn’t find her, so we left the pups where they were, in the original nest, in the hope that Kefi would return for feeding time. She didn’t, so late that evening I returned, collected the pups and went with Alison for a drive around Lassi and Argostoli in search of the mum.
We failed, so I took the pups home and kept them with me. They were about 6-7 weeks old so didn’t need bottle-feeding and it wasn’t long before they started growing and were fully weaned. I had never seen Kefi, but after she returned to the UK, Alison sent me a photo, so I would know what to look for.
A few weeks later, I had a phone call from a couple staying at the Princess Hotel in Lassi. Steve and Sue wanted to help a young black dog of about 7-8 months old, now called Wolf, that had, according to the hotel staff, been tied to a tree on some waste land for 5 months of it’s short life. On the return journey to Argostoli after a visit to the Princess Hotel, I saw what I believed to be Kefi, chasing around with another dog and having loads of fun with her puppy-free life. So, I turned the car around and went back to pick her up and reunited her with her pups at my house. The pups started suckling and Kefi didn’t resist – she even accepted an extra puppy that wasn’t one of hers and fed him as well. But, seeing as I’d started the weaning process, I wasn’t prepared to let them get too used to her, and had her neutered as soon as possible.
Kefi’s 3 puppies were named Khalia, Josie and Terpsie. The two girls, Josie and Terpsie went to new homes in Germany on 13th July and Khalia went on 20th August.
Alison adopted Kefi and Steve and Sue adopted Wolf. Both dogs were financially supported for their time in Kefalonia and the journey to the UK. Kefi and Wolf arrived in England at the end of October and are currently in kennels finishing their rabies quarantine. Both dogs have settled in well and both families are very happy.
Check out Antonia’s other rescue tales:
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