Gables Farm Dogs’ and Cats’ Home has come to the rescue of a neglected 3 year old male Old Thyme Bulldog who they have named ‘Tonka’.

‘Tonka’ was tied up to a sign in the car park at Gables Farm Dogs’ and Cats’ Home on Sunday 15^th May. The Home was already having a difficult time due to the demolition of the Merafield Bridge outside their entrance on Saturday night, and as a result had stopped the intake of animals to enable them to move their existing animals to a kennel block that was out of the blast zone.

Deputy Manager Ruth Rickard said: “After the difficult weekend with the demolition taking place the last thing we expected was for an animal to be tied to a sign in our car park. It was a very unsafe place to leave a dog with the large volume of traffic that was on the roads on Sunday and also all of the machinery that is just outside our gate. We managed to catch the owner before he made his getaway in a taxi so that we were able to get some details and have the dog legally signed over into our care. It is very upsetting for us that we have been unable to take in animals during the time of the demolition but we had to reduce numbers in order to be able to move the animals as far away from the blast aspossible. We have spent a lot of time making sure that the dogs and cats have been kept safe and calm during this period. Most people have been very understanding about the situation but unfortunately when Tonka’s owner contacted us by telephone he would not accept that it may be a few days until we could help and decided to come and abandoned his dog in our car park.”

‘Tonka’ will need to be castrated, vaccinated and he has inflamed skin folds. He is also currently having eye drops twice daily and may need eye surgery for entropian and cherry eye after further tests.

It is estimated that it will cost the Home in excess of £500 to treat all of his health problems and ensure that he can live the rest of his life pain free. If they are lucky enough to raise more money than is needed it will go into general funds for the other animals.

 The Home has a non-euthanasia policy and never gives up hope of finding a new home for a dog or cat. They will do whatever they can to find a home for an animal; this includes behavioural and veterinary care. All of the animals have a full health check when they arrive at the Home. They are also neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and treated for fleas and worms.