A non-profit organisation set up to rescue and re-home shar peis in need.

BLOAT

( GASTRIC DILATATION VOLVULUS)

I've felt compelled to put something here as I listen everyday to the sadness of people who have lost their dogs to this condition.

Once thought to only affect large chested dogs, Bloat can strike any dog and is the biggest killer of dogs other than cancer.

Our Pucheen nearly died as a result of this condition and spent 7 hours on the table with our vet, his nurse and us, trying to save her. We were lucky. She was given a gastric torsion to attach her stomach to the wall and hopefully this will prevent her stomach from ever twisting again. Having said this, most dogs that get bloat and survive, WILL get it again. It is imperative if you suspect bloat that you get your dog to a vet immediately .

We first noticed that Pucheen was walking strangely. He legs were slightly apart and initially her stomach didn't look any bigger, however within twenty minutes, she started to swell. We suspected bloat and rushed her to the vet, however the vet didn't agree and wanted to leave Pucheen to see what would happen!!?? Terrified I contacted my vets nurse, she contacted my vet and within 30 minutes she was on the table. Ordinarily that 30 minutes could have been her death warrant. Thankfully, we had moved so fast, that she survived.

Things to look and listen for:

The belly feels hard and if you put your ear to it, it is silent. The stomach makes constant noise, when bloating these normal gurgling/rumbling sounds stop.

If you can not hear anything immediately get a small amount of soft food into your dog mixed with powdered charcoal. We now keep this in the house ALL the time and it's readily available from your vet. A daily treat of 3-4 charcoal biscuits will help to prevent bloat.

Hold the dog and lift it's back legs up over your knee and 'drum' with your fingers and the palm of your hand on the tummy. Like burping a baby, use a reasonable amount of pressure and move your hands up and down the length of the abdomen. Do this until the dog burps or farts. If after 3-4 minutes, nothing happens, lower the dogs back end and again listen to the stomach. If you hear any sound at all, repeat the exercise. If there is no sound and no air brought up or down, ring your vet and tell them you suspect bloat and that you're bring the dog in immediately. PLEASE make sure your dog is placed on fluids and x-rayed. If you're wrong.well you DO get a bill, however if you're right you will have prevented your dog from a horrible, painful death.

Pucheen HAS bloated since that awful night. In fact, after the operation she bloated at least 3 times, but knowing what to look and listen for and using charcoal and the 'patting' procedure, thankfully she has always passed wind in one way or the other. I never thought I'd be grateful for her farting, but I confess it's now music to my ears.if not my nose!!

WARNING

We were contacted recently by another rescue, concerned that two of our dogs had been seen advertised for sale.

We searched the internet & found that this woman,

Michelle Riddell, 87 Castle terrace, Ashington, Northumberland.

01670 523 775

07974419531

Riddell100@aol.com

Had advertised our two dogs for sale. She had seemed perfectly decent & caring, but has apparently been doing this for some time. Re-homing dogs & cats from rescues etc and then advertising them for sale.

Do a Google search on her telephone number if you have any doubts.

Our two dogs were never to be separated, but in her adverts she had stated that they could be sold separately. There is only one thing that seems to motivate her & that is selling the animals, for profit.

We contacted the various web based adverts that had our dogs for sale & asked that they removed the ads.

We found three:

www.Pets4Homes.co.uk

www.Gumtree.com

www.petsclassified.co.uk

She did not send a donation to us & did not honour her agreement to have the dogs neutered. Despite exchanging various emails stating that she would.

In our opinion, this woman is extremely devious and we would advise ANY rescue that comes into contact with her to be extremely careful & think very carefully about re-homing any animals with her.

We contacted the Police and have now repossessed the dogs & they are safe.

Thank you to Kay, Will, Jacqui, Craig & PC Jolley for their help.

They are now available for adoption again...

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Today I had a few moments to reflect on what we have achieved and what we have lost, since starting Shar Pei Rescue and Welfare UK .

When we started I had no idea just how much this would take up my life. The daily struggle to find funds for medical operations, petrol for moving dogs, mobiles, home telephones, paper etc. The 'hate' emailed my way from breeders who are upset at my opinions. The accusations and pettiness of those who should be concentrating on running their own rescues. The lack of a social life, the people who telephone at midnight to ask about adoption, the cruelty some people show to dogs and the pain of losing them. We have lost so many this year. Some days it seems like I have the monopoly on heartache and sympathy cards.

Then there is the other side. The cuddles from my own and those I save. The wonderful people who adopt, the amazing commitment of foster mums and dads, the kindness and humility of some and the achievement when we find the 'right' home for our dogs that need them.

So much has happened since we started. We probably cover more welfare than actual adoptions, but when we help someone to keep their dog, instead of giving it up, then we have achieved as much as finding a dog a new home.

I could never have survived without Neill. He keeps my feet on the floor when I shove my head in the clouds. I have seen the spark come back into a dogs eyes. I have been faced with a set of slobbery, pearly whites that want to bite my head off, and known that I can take away that fear and replace it with the willingness to trust a human being again. I have laughed and cried when dogs have destroyed my home, taken up my space in the bed, stolen the duvet, relaxed into my arms when I've removed them from kennels, have finally brought their tails up or have died in my arms.

There is a lot of pain, commitment, anger and distress in rescue.but I wouldn't change it for the world. This breed gives back tenfold whatever you give to it.and that includes aggression!

We've been going quite a while now and I'm not ready to let it go just yet!

Thank you to all those who have logged on, taken an interest and those who have chosen to love this breed.

Roma

....................

Do YOU feed your dog

iams?

Read this before you purchase anymore...

http://www.iamscruelty.com/

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My plea on the front of this website HAS brought a response from the palace to my own letter, however without many, many more people doing as I ask, I do NOT believe that the Kennel Club of Great Britain will listen, even though Her Majesty has asked for my written permission to forward my letter to the Kennel Club . Hopefully, coming from the Palace may actually, for once, encourage a response??

Her Majesty's Senior Correspondence Officer states:

'Careful note has been taken of the content of your letter' and Her Majesty has asked me to thank you for your letter'

We beg you to PLEASE take the time to send a letter to Her Majesty. I have written a letter which can be downloaded, should you not have the time to phrase your own, which can be printed and sent to the Palace. All you have to do is pay for a stamp and SEND it! PLEASE, PLEASE help me to make the kennel Club properly regulate the breeding of pedigree dogs, so that together we can call a halt to so much unnecessary suffering and often death, that so many 'breeders' just take as part and parcel of the breeding and showing of pedigree dogs. Breeders with 'good practices' will also want to see changes to the way the Kennel Club is run and I ask them too to write or download my letter, in the hopes that Her Majesty will withdraw her patronage and changes will have to be made?

I have spoken with the BBC about their programme 'Pedigree Dogs Exposed' and will provide a link to their website so that you may ask for the programme to be shown again, in the hopes that even MORE people see and understand that things HAVE to change.

Letter to be downloaded.

PDF version:.......................Click Here

MS Word Version:..............Click Here

Place your own name and address at the top right hand corner of the page and sign your own signature at the bottom. THANK YOU

WE recieve over 1000 hits every week, if only HALF of you made the effort to print & send this letter, we are convinced that we would make a difference !! PLEASE DO IT...

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Would those who wrote to Buckingham Palace on our behalf, please let us know whether they have recieved a response.

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Shankley makes it onto

Page 3 !!

Article in Daily Mail 11th December 2006

Click on the picture to read the full article

This is such good news for SPR&W UK, and indeed the lovely Shankley. An article in Battersea Dog & Cats Home's magazine prompted the Daily Mail to contact Adrian & Stephanie, to find out more about his fantastic face lift. This in turn prompted GMTV to run a story on Shankley the following morning. Not only has this boy had cosmetic surgery, he's becoming a superstar!

==============================

It was reported today in that national press that Shankly the Shar Pei, a dog who was at the time residing at the Battersea Dogs and Cats home had undergone a facelift to remove excessive wrinkles from his forehead, at a cost of £1,000 to the charity .

The dog, who most people know, would naturally have wrinkly skin, could not see for the the wrinkles that were hanging down from his head and covering his eyes.

Whilst those reporting in the main stream media are busy trivialising the story, referring to Shankly, who is named after the legendary Liverpool football manager, as a "poorly pooch" and comparing him to a Hollywood celebrity, the dogs home are clearly benefiting from good PR. Going so far as to publicly congratulate themselves in the Daily Mail.

"The operation demonstrates the first class veterinary care Battersea gives to all our animals, even if their requirements are a little unusual."

Whilst nobody would deny that Battersea deserve all the good PR they can get, they missed a trick with this story as there is a far more serious subtext to it than the press have let on.

We may all find it quirky that a dog was so wrinkly that it needed surgery, but the bigger issue must be, how did it get that wrinkly? Nature surely wouldn't have let a dog's natural physiology get to a stage where, in the wild, a Shar Pei who couldn't see would be nothing more than a meal on the wider food chain.

Perhaps breeding standards are to blame here. The Shar Pei breed is famous for its adorable wrinkles, even to the point where advertisers have cottoned on the cute factor when selling us beauty products. But look back at a picture of a Shar Pei from ten or twenty years ago and you'll see that whilst they have obvious wrinkles, they are no way to the magnitude that the dog would ever need surgery.

It is almost as if certain, unscrupulous breeders are breeding these dogs to order, to satiate a public demand for quirky and unusual looking dogs and it has clearly gone too far in this case and one dog has had to have his face sliced open to correct a problem nature would never have let happen.

Of course nature can be cruel and often throws up mutations and malformations, but if this is the case, then we can be thankful that Battersea and their wonderful staff were on hand to help, whilst being mindful that too many dogs are going under the knife to correct problems that didn't used to be there.

This article was taken from K9 Magazine, the lifestyle magazine
for dog lovers and is available in both digital and print
formats. You can get more articles, features and advice at
http://www.k9magazine.com

All content © K9 Media Ltd

Interestingly, we have been bombarded with abuse & spam emails from a few parties, in the Shar Pei breeding "Mafia" since we started up, because we expressed these views.

We are shortly to release a list of breeders that have refused to take their dogs back,forcing it to go into rescue. Our forms encourage owners to contact the breeder first, but often the owner is refused any help & pointed in the direction of rescue organisations...

Its interesting that all of the comments that are made are made annonomously...

Tells you something doesn't it?

They'll talk the talk, but few actually walk the walk.

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Moult or Mange?

I am no expert on Fox mange, even though I've had the dubious honour of being infected by it, but twice a year I get inundated by people who are convinced that their dog has mange when in fact, they are just blowing their coat. A lot of Shar Pei , when moulting, can become itchy, grumpy and look very, very tatty. The hair falls out in patches. Round holes appear in the coat and condition is lost. When Dillon moults he looks so scruffy I hate taking him out, hence the photo to help you recognise what a moult can look like. Brushing really helps to remove the dead hair and if I'm honest , I gently pluck Dillon to help him get rid of the loose fur, A bath in NEEM shampoo may also help.

Shar Pei generally moult twice a year, so you'll soon be able to recognise the signs and not panic. Of course if the scratching becomes too much, large patches of fur around the neck, chest and hind quarters fall out and scabs appear..well.it could be fox mange, but regular doses of stronghold cures and keeps it at bay, so put your mind at rest and dose your dog every three months.

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Streptococci Bacterium

Recently we lost one of our rescue dogs to this horrible bacterium. It is the equivalent of the disease MIRS which is plaguing our Hospitals at the present time.

Though we can not be 100% sure, we think she caught this devastating illness from a cat scratch, so PLEASE be warned and clean any open wounds.

The symptoms are: High temperature, discharge from the nose, ulcerated mouth, lack of appetite, weight loss and extreme lethargy. If this is picked up quickly by a vet and antibiotics are administered immediately there is some hope, if not..

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We would like to thank Michelle, Lee, Juliet, Jay and Jukka for braving the weather at Popham airfield to raise money for Shar Pei Rescue and Welfare UK this past weekend. I would also like to thank all the hairy bikers, their friends and relatives for cuddling, stroking and generally taking an interest in our dogs and the rescue and giving us their support and money to help us keep going.

We could not continue without the overwhelming support from those who have already adopted dogs who stay in contact and make sure that the rescue survives.

I am humbled by the support that you all give us and despite getting so wet that I thought I was melting, we again raised needed funds, in circumstances that would daunt the average person.

Thank you, ALL of you.

Roma and Neill

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Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food.

Please note: Placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food, does not stake a claim for it to become your dish and food, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest!

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king-sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep at right angles to each other, stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out at the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle, I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob, or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered AND I have been using the bathroom for years on my own, canine or feline attendance is not mandatory.

The proper order is to kiss me, THEN go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

And for your comfort, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

RULES FOR NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND MIGHT WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS

1. They live here; you don't.

2. If you don't want hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. ( That's why they call it "fur"niture).

3. I like my pets a lot better than I like some people.

4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours, and does not speak clearly.

Finally, remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because...

They eat less

Don't ask for money all the time

Are easier to train

Usually come when called