Progress with the Neutering Project!

Just yesterday this handsome tom cat was released back into its territory. It was very relieved to get back home! He was neutered, wormed and had his ears cleaned and now will live out his life without having to fight for females. We have talked to a lot of locals who feed the cats. I can't but help feel wouldn't it be nice if we could tame them and have them in a big cat sanctuary where they all lived happily ever after and even found homes all to themselves if they got sufficiently friendly with people. What is the best for them? Here is one such sanctuary on the Isle of Mann and have a look at their webcams. What a wonderful place! http://www.manncat.com/

Here's their webcam. http://www.manncat.com/webcam

So it's Patrick's Day and the whole of Ireland is celebrating and half the world too. Hope you all have a great day with your families. The sun is just peeping out now but did hear about some hailstones in Cork! Oh dear.

Plans are afoot in Mollie Cares for more projects and fundraising activities. There are still lots more cats to neuter and I have just heard from a woman who came into the library about another colony of cats that live near her. She feeds them and volunteered to let us trap and neuter them and to bake cakes for any coffee morning or cake sale we might have. How generous and thoughtful people are. So we are still looking for funds and if you have anything to spare please donate with our paypal link above. It's 30 euros to neuter a male and forty for a female. Mollie has alot of friends on facebook and if everyone gave 2 euros we would be well on the way to getting all those cats neutered. Thanks so much everyone xx

Off to the animal sanctuary and Away with the Birds

Here is one of the female cats we managed to trap and take to the vet in Ennis to get spayed. This is her arriving back in Scariff after staying over in the vets to recover. The vet gives them a long-acting antibiotic to cover them for two weeks after the operation.

Last week we went to the GSPCA sanctuary to continue our volunteer work which involves photographing the dogs there to improve their chances of being rehomed. It seems to work as staff have told us that dogs have found a forever home as a direct result of getting a good photo up on facebook. Hurray! We had a great day and Mollie and Maddie got a walk around the grounds. We brought the dogs out in twos and sometime fours (with the smallies!) for a run in the field and took action shots and then some portraits to see their beautiful faces. I do hope they all get loving homes soon. I've been saying to Jamie that we need to photograph the cats soon too as a lot of the black ones seem to be overlooked. Personally I love a nice sleek black cat! I have one and she's black as the night and so shiny and nice to stroke and ridiculously friendly too.

We've just got back from three days at the BirdWatch Ireland All Ireland Conference which was so interesting. It's such a great charity and I really enjoy volunteering with them and Mollie often volunteers at stalls and attracts lots of attention and helps recruit new members too! The highlight was meeting a little boy called Oliver with his bird notebook. Start them young! Birdwatching is such a great hobby for children and gets them out in nature. Here's the birdwatch website where you can join http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/

Donations!

Well, how exciting it all is. I'm amazed at how generous people are and in only three days we have enough to spay three cats. That's fantastic news. We've already paid for two so there's enough to pay the bill for the next one which is great. But I can't stop there as there are lots more cats to spay and some with cat flu. We hope to worm and deflea also if needed.

Luckily there are a few places in town that feed this colony so that is not so much a problem but we will be monitoring them and making sure the ones we trap are well-fed and in good condition. I thought of a good idea that maybe people would like to sponsor the spay of a female cat so they know what exactly that amount of money is doing.

Today I'm relaxing at home after a week of work and busy evenings. I joined a natural cosmetic making class with a really interesting and fun herbalist. Here's here brand new website http://www.empresscosmetics.com/ You could nearly eat the products they are so pure and natural. I'm hoping to make some lovely lip balm and moisturisers soon as I bought raw materials at the class. Pilates is on Monday and our astrology group met on Tuesday so now it's time just to chill out with Mollie, Maddie and all the cats.

Jamie went on a big walk yesterday with the dogs and PBoy went too and he got some endearing photos of my lovely puss following the dogs and miaowing for help at the muddy bits. He's normally so quiet you'd hardly think he was there so he's coming out of his shell at last!! He started out life as a stray kitten. I went for petrol one day and heard a plaintive kitten miaow and went in search of the source and saw a teeny black and white kitten at the back of the garage. On asking in the shop about it I was told it had been crying out there for a few days and noone had even fed it. Brought him home and popped him in a box with some younger kittens in the bedroom. The mother came back and didn't even blink an eye at the cuckoo among her babies. She looked after him as if he were her own and he went on to be her favourite kitten!

So all in all a great week of new beginnings supported by such kind-hearted people from all over the world. Time to go and clean out the car, it's like my second house there's so much stuff in there!

New Charity!

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything. But I've big news so had to tell the world - Mollie now has a charity in her name called Mollie Cares. It's all official. We have a bank account and all and our first project is underway. All along since Mollie's first found fame and all the attention she gets wherever she goes I have always thought that she would be a great figurehead for some type of charity.

I also always believed that something good and wonderful should come out of her tragedy and all the sadness because she is so happy still and has taught me so much about postivity and how to embrace life. So it happened that late last year I met a lovely woman who had picked up a sickly kitten near the library where I work and who had come in to ask the cat lady(me!) if she knew about all these feral cats in town. Another kind soul I know from coming to the library also picked up a kitten from the road which was about to be run over and rehomed it. Both these kittens were saved from a life on the streets exposed to disease and all weathers. I got talking with the lady called Catherine and I said we should set up a local animal welfare group and she came back in the new year and we did it. Just like that!

Above is a picture of Timmy just after being rescued. He was taken to the local vets where they said he should be put down but his rescuer opted to get him medicine and nursed him back to health and look at him now (photo next to Mollie)!

Time to start fundraising.. If you would like to make a small contribution to help pay for neutering there is a paypal link on this blog. Anything will help even a euro. I am looking forward to lots of great fundraising events and ideas and am so proud of Mollie for being the dog she is and how she inspires people and lifts their spirits. Go Mollie!!

So here we are now starting our first campaign. Small steps. There are lots of stray cats in the town that will continue to increase in numbers and continue to be sick and spread disease and be cold and hungry if someone doesn't do something. That's where Mollie Cares can help. With funding we can afford to trap neuter return these cats to at least stop them breeding and eventually the numbers will fall. If we find kittens young enough we will try to tame then and rehome them.

Horsey Neighbours

We had some unsual neighbours for a couple of weeks. It was lovely to hear them munching and to watch them peacefully standing around as horses do. The dogs didn't pay them any mind but the cats went over for a look every now and then. I think it was more jealousy though with Dudley as he didn't like me stroking the horses too much and came over to tell me!

Maddie the Supreme Cuddler!

Maddie beautifully demonstrating her affectionate nature. She is the most cuddly dog I've ever encountered and I've met a few! Her belly has been the soft bed of many a kitten and puppy. Perhaps my habit of sitting her on my lap belly up to calm her as a wriggly wild pup has helped to create this cuddle monster. I think I read it in a dog training book from the library and it worked a treat. It never fails to lull her to sleep with a little stroking of the belly.

Spring is surely here now and yellow flowers abound. It's so nice to go for a walk now with the dogs and not to have to worry about wrapping up so much and the fear of it getting dark really quickly. We love going to Portumna forest park where there are so many places to explore and great green areas to play frisbee or fetch and most importantly there is an endless supply of sticks. Our girls are easily pleased!

Jamie bought a new ball thrower which is so cool as it throws the ball a long way off which tires them out quicker. The orange ball didn't last long though so we're using the sturdy kong tennis ball now. Maddie lost one the other day when it ricocheted off her nose into aninpenetrable thorny thicket. Try saying that fast!!

We took a spin down to Kerry a while back to see a new baby called Betti. Inch beach was just down the road so the girls had a great time running around after their squeaky tennis ball. Moll did her usual running up to strangers asking them to throw it for her. If only she would let is drop for them!

The wheelchair is long overdue a service. The wheels are a bit stiff and need adjusting or replacing. Eddie's Wheels can you magically transport us over for a check up! Maybe I'll try a bike shop. Must get it sorted though as Moll is not going as fast or as smoothly as before and that won't do at all.

TV Star!

Well alot has happened since I wrote last! Mollie was on RTE 1 on foot of being in the Sunday World magazine. Dial a DogWash Ireland kindly groomed Mollie for free before her TV appearance. I couldn't stop feeling her fur and she smelled so nice! Matthew you did a great job. As usual though Mollie wasn't too keen on the hairdryer. We had a great day out and Moll was in her element with so many people to say hello to and get rubs from. She couldn't have been better behaved for the interview itself and even had a play with her teddy live on air! What a star. My nerves were eased by having my best friend beside me to rub when I was being interviewed by Maura. Mollie asked everyone in the Green Room to play with her, no exceptions for being famous or having fancy clothes!!

Moll in Sunday World

I was excited this morning to get the newspapers as today was the day Mollie graced the pages of the Sunday World Magazine along with Maddie. They both look gorgeous as always. Lots has happened since I blogged last. Lisa Jewell came to interview me about Mollie in my home and what a lovely person she is and very understanding when Dudley the ginger cat kept trying to steal the show and sit on her lap!


In December we went on the hotel holiday part of Mollie's big prize to the Twelve Hotel in Barna. It was luxury all the way... First stop was Bubbles and Barks grooming salon in Barna. Mollie didn't enjoy the hairdryer too much but they looked so beautiful when we picked them up with their little Christmas bows. They are wearing them in the photo up above!

Everyone has a bone!

Peace at last. Little Bertie and Puca are quiet at last except for happy chewing noises. The cooked bones are going down nicely. I fostered Bertie and we took Puca in as a stray. In fact he was in the second hand clothes shop in Portumna shelterng from the cold so we had to bring him home. Hopefully the merry duo will be going on the ferry to Wales to a rescue where they will be adopted by loving families. They love playing loud wrestling games with lots of growlng and snarling. It gets a bit out of hand at times and it doesn't help they like to play on the back of the sofa!

It's dark in the evening now when I get home from work so it's walkies by torchlight. The dogs don't mind and as usual Maddie and Mollie looks for sticks and race down to the far boathouse car park to wait for the fetch game. I'm always amazed at how they find the stick in the dark. Puca just runs about after Mads barking and Bertie hangs on to the stick in Mollie's mouth. She lets him. She used to do that with her six puppies. She famously had a rope in her mouth with six collie pups dangling from it. I'll have to root out some old pictures of that. It's still hard to look at pictures of Mollie pre accident though. The fact that she is so happy now makes it a bit easier.

Been a long time coming

Here I am back again. Mollie has had a very interesting year so I think it's time to get posting again. Mollie is in great form and flying around in her wheelchair. In one of my first posts I said my wish for that year was to buy Mollie an Eddie's wheels wheelchair and lo and behold my wish was granted. Thanks to Eileen Hamberger from America who met Mollie by the lake and offered then and there to buy her a wheelchair!!



This year too Mollie won Ireland's Best Loved Dog Competition. http://www.rte.ie/worldanimalweek/topdogs/Thanks to everyone who voted for her. It was an amazing experience to witness all the love and support from Mollie. I'm still finding out about people who voted for her. People are always congratulating me at the library desk where I work. They've seen Mollie and I in the paper and had to tell me! So nice.

another video

Here's Mollie on holidays in Dingle, Co. Kerry. We had a great time!

mollie on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=subblQR-jYs

At the woods. Our new favourite walk. There are two very impatient dogs in this photo. I am having to physically restrain both of them as they are eager to get on with the walk!! Note my wellies around Moll's trolly. They sped off after the photo...

Here's the girls at Portumna Forest Park after their frisbee game. They love it so much and Mollie always carries the frisbee back to the van at then end. The other picture is Mollie at the Brian Boru Oak. Doesn't she look really sweet peeking around the corner?

Just thought I'd put in some cute puppy photos. This was back in December 2007 when Mollie had 6 puppies. That was four months before her paralysis. It's still hard to look at pictures of her running around and playing with Cassie, the neighbour's dog.

This picture shows Maddie, the puppy Jamie chose. She was just way too cute for him to resist and I don't think I could have parted with her either. She was Mollie's favourite puppy too. She would isolate her out to play with her. It was amazing to watch. It was meant to be. Now that Maddie is 1 years old Mollie still licks her when she comes in from the rain. She's still the Mammy!

Walkies

We had some great walks lately. Maddie has been staying with us as Jamie is working close by. Jamie is my boyfriend and Maddie's daddy. She is Mollie's puppy. Well, she's a big girl now. Fourteen months in fact. We had a lovely walk in the rain the other day and were even graced with a flash of turquoise down the river. It was Ireland'd most colourful bird, the kingfisher. Maddie and Mollie missed it as they were too busy trying to find a good stick for the fetch game at the end of the walk!

My wish for 2009 is that Mollie gets a super duper new trolly. Check out eddieswheels.com .

I'm hoping to invest in one of these aluminium framed ones with air-filled tyres. I want her to have as much freedom as possible to go where she pleases and as fast as she wants. Zoommmmmmm.... They are expensive so I better start saving now.

Her homemade one has served her so well but it's getting alot of abuse from a very determined and active collie and it is a bit wockety now.