Peggy is Coming on Leaps and Bounds in her Foster Home!
15th April 2020
Peggy is a little old lady who sadly lost both her owners and really struggled with the loss. When she arrived at Oak Tree she was very shut down and depressed. She spent most of her time sleeping or wandering around in a confused state. Even when Peggy did go for walks she would hang her head low and didn't take any interest in her surroundings or the people around her. We arranged to get Peggy in a foster home asap in the hope that a warm and loving home would help her to feel happy and safe again. She also needed some dental work which we arranged to get done while she was in foster.
Peggy went to live with Alison, one of our most experienced fosterers (Peggy is the 14th dog that she has looked after for us). In her first week, not much changed; Peggy would eat, sleep and go for small walks but still seemed depressed and confused. However, in week two Alison began to notice a change in Peggy.
Alison writes "Peggy is coming out of her shell. She now gets up on the sofa to sit beside me and lets me stroke her! She’s even letting me rest my arm lightly along her back. It feels like a real breakthrough. She’s eating well and still enjoying pottering in the garden and going for walks; in fact she is quite enthusiastic when it’s time to go out. She’s so much more engaged - so rewarding to see her enjoying the simple pleasures of life. She is spending much less time in her bed and a lot more time on the sofa and sometimes she changes position to press herself against me. She also notices now when I leave the room and sometimes follows me. Such a difference from how she was two weeks ago! Getting rid of eight rotten teeth and home comforts have worked wonders! We now have a ‘proper’ walk every day (in line with stay at home guidelines, of course) and she now takes 3 miles in her stride. She is definitely enjoying life"
Foster homes are invaluable in providing rehabilitation for dogs such as Peggy who would not do well in a kennel environment. We are very lucky to have a good network of foster homes which has allowed us to place most of our animals in foster while we are shut down due to Covid-19. We get lots of applications for dog fostering but we do struggle to find cat foster homes.
Please email volunteering@oaktreeanimals.org.uk if you would like more details on becoming a foster carer.
