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Last Chance Hotel Animal Rescue & Rehome

A recent study (you know the ones…), the largest of its kind, held in Sweden over a period of 12 years, has shown that dogs are beneficial to a person’s longevity, by quite a considerable margin, especially to those who live alone. Us dog lovers know the wonderful companionship that they bring, as well as the benefits of regular walking, which in turn leads to meeting like minded people, and often new friendships. So it comes as no real surprise that owning a pooch can add years to your life; there is also speculation that dogs bring an array of microbes into the home that boosts their owners’ immune systems, so forgive them those muddy footprints! Dogs are great, full stop. Their ability to forgive our moods, always be ready with a greeting when we come home, (even after 5 minutes) and just be there when we need a cuddle ourselves, are part and parcel of this very special family member. There are of course some dogs who are not able to totally interact in that way, because of past abuse by other humans, but they have an amazing capacity to adapt and learn, given the right environment, which is where fostering plays such a huge part. As most of you know already, we rely on a network of fosterers, some very experienced, some who are still learning all about rehabilitation, and many who, although they may not have the experience, have the love and patience, and just the right home for a poorly soul in need. We are always in need of fosterers, the all important stepping stone to a forever home; if you make New Year’s Resolutions, why not add that to your list?

Dogs are great, that’s a given. And whilst some humans and their behaviour are the reason that animal rescues exist at all, thankfully they are in the minority. We have been totally blown away by the generosity of some of our supporters this last month, from donations of duvets for the Birkett-Smith Animal Sanctuary, gifts from our Amazon wish list, to massive support for our Christmas Auction, and a truly amazing donation towards our vet bill. We cannot find the words to express our gratitude to all you wonderful people. We really do have the best supporters ever.

Team LCH wishes you all a fantastic Christmas, with your dogs if you are lucky enough to have one or two, or even more…. and a Very Happy New Year!

New Arrivals

Our doors were closed during most of November, due to various reasons, but still some sad cases crept through. Amber’s owner has gone into a hospice and this lovely dog is looking for someone else to love and care for her now. Oscar, despite having an awful past, and only three legs, is a bundle of scruffy love, a fabulous friendly boy, but for some reason, he too is still looking for a foster home as we go to press. Toby, a 14 year old bedraggled little terrier in need of a dental came in from the pound. He has had a spruce up courtesy of The Dog House, Helston, and looks so much better, and now has a smile to match.
And just to prove that LCH is a rescue for all animals, we have KC, another pony looking for his forever home, two gorgeous 14 week old black kittens now ready for their new homes, and three lady rats who arrived and are now being cared for by our specialist small animal team member.

Top pic: Amber

First 2 Left to Right  - Toby and kittens

Second 3 Left to Right - Oscar, KC, and Rat girls

These are just a few of the incomers for last month. If you would like to follow their progress, and find out more about all the others, please check out our Facebook page and website lastchancehotel.org. We now have a news section on the Home page; dogs are constantly being assessed in their foster homes and information changes regularly.

Happy Departures to New Homes

From heartbreaking incomings to heartwarming outgoings, November proved to be a very happy month for many beautiful souls. Teddy, our cover boy for October, was due to be PTS because he had bitten, but thankfully his owners gave him up to our care. Following some rehab, he now has a fabulous loving home. Jack, who had been in kennels waiting a long time for a foster home, endeared himself to his new carer, - who joined the ‘failed fosterers club’. Busby didn’t wait long for his new home; Betsy has fallen on all four paws with a lovely family, as have Poppet and Charlie.  Lester, who had to have surgery on his leg, has found his forever sofa at The Dog House, and Albert, a Great Dane cross, has finally found a home that suits him. Christmas has come early for all these lucky pooches!

Top: Teddy

First 3 Left to Right  - Jack, Busby and Poppet

Second 3 Left to Right - Charlie and Albert

Third 2 Left to Right - Betsy and Lester

Fundraisers

Our Facebook Christmas Auction

A huge thank you to all who took part in our online Christmas Auction, which ran for three weeks during November, - whether by making amazing and beautiful items, donating goodies and services or making it the cracking fundraiser it is by placing those vital bids. Grateful and enduring thanks to Carla Whiting for organising the huge number of lots, over 300, and keeping the momentum going. This is no small task, and we are very lucky to have you Carla, especially as this is an extra busy time for you too! Not forgetting Helen Morrison, whose skill in collating and organising the final tally for bidders is legendary! Thank you both, have a little rest, until the next one…

Sarah's Nilvember

Following on from last month’s ‘Fundraisers’ item, Sarah Hargreaves exceeded her target of £250 by climbing on the wagon for LCH. Well done Sarah, thank you so much, and thanks to all those who donated to her cause!

If you would like to help LCH with a fundraising event, please contact the team with your idea on 01209 281159 or email Louisa on louisa@lastchancehotel.org.

A Special Appeal for a Special Boy

Meet Prince. This handsome boy was desperate for rescue space, and due to his breed and the fact that he is entire, would have been snapped up by the wrong people. Lots of good rescue folk jumped in and started looking for a safe space, and Sarah offered that space. The problem then became a logistical nightmare; Prince was in Bristol, Sarah in Shapinsay, a remote Scottish island, and Prince had to be out of his home sharpish. We saw Sarah’s and Sally’s pleas for emergency boarding and offered our help. Missy dropped everything and rushed to grab Prince and took him to safety at the best kennel space in Cornwall, and this gave us all some breathing space to arrange transport to the Orkney Islands.

But that was not the end of it; Missy mentioned that Prince was not in a good way, and this was confirmed later by the the fab lady caring for him. Prince is in a bad way, - his back end is deformed. The vets are certain this is due to being confined in small crates, cages or kennels as a youngster, along with poor nutrition. He has massive infected pressure sores, poor skin condition and is very underweight. He can barely carry his back end. Although we know that Prince is safe, and will have his forever home with Sarah, he cannot travel until he is healthy; he needs major vet treatment.
So all of us involved in bringing him to safety, and others too, will be fundraising for this boy. LCH are his fosterers until such time he can travel to his forever home. The teamwork involved in getting him safe proves that working together can produce miracles. Many many people joined together to pull this off, but the hard work isn’t over yet.

If you can help with fundraising for Prince, we would be truly grateful. There are two fundraisers in December for Prince already; Cath and the staff at the Pumpkin Cafe, Truro Railway Station, are having a Christmas jumper day on Friday 15th, and our fab supporter Andrew Russell has organised a Fun Dog Show at Pool on Sunday 17th. Please do pop in to the cafe for a cuppa and bite to eat, and come along to the Dog Show, which has 15 classes plus Best in Show, and is always great fun. You can find further details on our website under the Events tab, and in this newsletter’s Dates for you Diary section.

Thank You!

Amazing Amazonians....

We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of some wonderful peeps this last month, who have sent us gifts from our Amazon Wish List. Joy Hamley, Lyn Stenner, Karen Butler, Michelle Taylor, Ros Pascoe, Kd Kelly, Max, and some anonymous donors, - thank you so much for the coats, collars, slip leads, supplements and toys for the dogs, and food and a cosy nest for the smaller creatures in our care. You are truly stars!

Roll out the Banners

A huge thank you Hannah Du Plessis for the donation of some advertising banners for our information events, very much appreciated.
Some of our team will be attending information events at Pets at Home in Pool and Bodmin during December as part of The Santa Paws Appeal by Support Adoption for Pets. Please go along and show our volunteers your support and at the same time admire the fab banners donated.

Winter Bedding for BSAS

A massive thank you to everyone who gathered duvets, towels and everything else to go to the Birkett-Smith Animal Sanctuary in Dorset. Lots of dogs will stay warm for a bit longer.

Christmas Shoebox Appeal....

Many thanks to The Dog House and all who have donated to their Christmas Shoe Box Appeal. There is still time if you would like to donate items for a box.

Falmouth Marine Band

All the team would like to say a massive thank you to the Falmouth Marine Band for the wonderful donation. We look forward to next year’s Falmouth Carnival.

Toby gets a Makeover

Grateful thanks to Kd Kelly at The Dog House, Helston, for making little Toby look and feel so much better. This 14 year old boy ended up in the pound and is now in foster care. Just look at the difference in him!

Did you Know?

Our Amazon Wishlist, by which you can purchase specific goodies and have them delivered to us, is a lovely way to send a present for our animals! The link will take you straight there for a browse of all sorts of goodies from toys and chews to harnesses, coats and lovely food.

There are also ways to help raise funds for us whilst you’re shopping online, which don’t cost you a penny. Easyfundraising is a scheme whereby you can shop at many popular retailers such as Amazon, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, and they will donate a small percentage (usually 1%) of your order to the charity of your choice, with no extra expense to you. Giveasyoulive is a similar scheme, with over 4000 retailers involved.

Like all charities, we depend almost entirely upon the generosity of our wonderful supporters. We have several ways in which monetary donations can be made: PayPal is easy and convenient for the many people who hold an account.

JustGiving provides another way of donating and also an opportunity for individuals to fundraise for us through sponsorship of a personal challenge. In addition, it allows us to claim back the Gift Aid part of the donation which can add vital pennies.

If neither of these methods are suitable, then we are more than happy to accept cheques if sent to our Treasurer, at the address given at the end of this email.

Happy Gotcha Day!

“Gotcha Day” is the name given to the day a lucky hound first came into his or her forever home. 

Lita

Three years ago we were waiting for our first foster dog for LCH.
The old lady we were expecting was called Nanny (her and Grandma had done 7 days in the pound and at risk of PTS on day 8)
The morning of the run came and all at Last Chance Hotel were heartbroken to hear that Nanny had died overnight in her kennel.
So, always wanting to save lives and not ones to waste a space on a transport run a little old lady called Lita got a place and came down to Cornwall on a very busy run, 7 dogs that day if I remember rightly.
She spent the night in foster and then had her dental done the following day and came to us, she never left, we failed.
Happy Gotcha Day Litte Fajeets (aka Lita) LB

A Cat's Tale

What do you do when your cat decides to hitch a lift to a city almost 300 miles away, and then goes missing in that city? The answer, as ever in this day and age, is to enlist the ways and means of social media, reaching out to complete strangers for help.
Fudge Jenkins, pictured on the left, lives in Newquay, and, being a bit of a wanderer, would often not be seen for days on end. But his owner Parisa Jenkins became concerned when she hadn’t seen him for three weeks, since early October. It’s not the first time the chocolate cat has gone on an adventure; last year he was missing for more than two weeks before eventually being spotted in Plymouth.
The first trace of Fudge was reported when a holidaymaker from Hertfordshire contacted Mrs Jenkins to inform her that she found a cat curled up in the back of her van on November 3, after returning from a trip to Cornwall. This lady had Fudge’s microchip scanned at a vets in St Albans but the practice said it did not have the visit on its records, even though the microchip company had contacted Mrs Jenkins to inform her that the chip had been checked.

Either way, Fudge had since escaped from the woman’s house in St Albans, and Mrs Jenkins feared she would never see him again. She started a campaign, using social media (aka Facebook) centred on St Albans, in the hope somebody might see Fudge. And her efforts paid off after a resident there recognised the missing moggie in his back garden from a description in the local newspaper, The Herts Advertiser, which had picked up the story. Mrs Jenkins said she was in tears when she received a call to say her AWOL pet had been found, on her 40th birthday.
“I can’t tell you all how happy and grateful I am,” she said. “I’m still in shock to be honest about the brilliant outcome. He’s a big part of our lives and he’s a survivor who somehow managed to scavenge food for six weeks.”
The logistics of getting him home then posed a small problem, but Cats Protection in St Albans looked after him until Saturday 18th. LCH team member Louisa Blum was making a brief family visit to the area to deliver one of the LCH kittens, and offered to escort Fudge back down to Cornwall, witnessing a very happy reunion between mum Parisa and Fudge, as this photo shows.

All’s well that ends well, but please Fudge, next time you go off on your travels, please try to stay in Cornwall!

Rainbow Bridge

Old Skibba came into our care in July this year and found a lovely end of life home very soon afterwards. He could not have wished for more, and our hearts go out to his dad, who gained so much companionship from this little boy. We will see you at the Bridge, Skibba. Run free sweetheart.

Last Chance Hotel Christmas Cards

Just a reminder that our very own Christmas cards are available for purchase via our website. Some online packs are already sold out. They can also be obtained at our Hub Shop in Redruth, Petz of Wadebridge, North Country Garage and Shoreline Tattoo Studio in St Ives. The Santa Paws Appeal, hosted by Pets at Home in conjunction with Support Adoption for Pets is held throughout December, and our volunteers Claudine, Janet and Sarah will be at the Pool and Bodmin branches every weekend until Christmas with a selection of the cards and other goodies, so do pop in and say hello if you have the chance.

The Last Chance Hotel Hub Shop

The Hub Shop is situated at 83 Fore Street, Redruth, almost opposite Wilko’s, and open 10am - 4pm Monday to Saturday. Lots of new and preloved goods on sale and hot drinks in exchange for a donation. Pop in for advice about animal related issues, and a browse around! Our 'Sale' days have been very popular.

Volunteers to help man (or woman!) the shop are warmly welcomed, - just a couple of hours a week will help enormously. Please contact the shop on 01209 315547, or drop in for a chat.

Donations for the Hub are always needed, especially ladies clothing in the larger sizes and good quality bric a brac.

Dates for your Diary

Friday 15th December  6.30am until 6pm

Come and see Cath and the staff at The Pumpkin Cafe at Truro Railway Station, who are raising funds for LCH. Drop in for a cuppa and something to eat, and have a go at guessing the number of coffee beans in the jar.

17th December 2pm start
Fun Dog Show to raise funds for large breed boy Prince at Treloweth Community Hall, Moorfield Road, Pool. TR15 3QB

Come and join in the fun, this is always a good show.

Details of these two events scan be found on our website Events page.

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare.
And in return, dogs give us their all.
It’s the best deal man has ever made.

Margery Facklam (author)