Freddie’s Story…

He was an older gentleman who we took out of Ashton dog pound in north Dublin in 2008.

He had been found wandering around the streets of Dublin by dog wardens. His owners didn’t come forward, and so Freddie was handed over to the care of Westie Rescue Ireland.

As you can see, Freddie was in a bad way. He was starving, full of worms, mites and fleas. His coat was very badly matted, he even had twigs embedded in his fur, which were scraping against his skin.

The hair around his face had tangled up so badly that Freddie could neither see out past the hair, nor keep his eyes clean. His eyes became badly infected, and sealed shut with dried pus. His sight would never fully recover. His ear were also full of infected pus, he must have been in agony.

His coat was so badly matted that it was hard to tell which end was his head, and which end was his tail! In fact, pound staff could not tell whether he was male or female, he was so bad.

Freddie came straight home and was clipped immediately to get rid of that awful coat. He struggled at first, as he could not see nor hear what was going on. But he seemed to realise that whatever was happening was making him feel better, and soon calmed down.

Once that awful coat was removed, and his eyes and ears cleaned up, Freddie was delighted with himself! He had a new lease of life. A few days later, he went to our vet, he was neutered, and treated for those eyes and ears.

His dew claws had grown around in a full circle and were growing back into his legs, resulting in a painful bone infection, which was treated with strong antibiotics. We put him at over 10 years of age.

It’s never easy to rehome an older dog like Freddie, but luckily for him, he was spotted on a rehoming website by Sinead from Co. Tyrone, who came down to meet him and they both fell for each other! He knew that Sinead could see past his various health problems, and he knew that she was a kind, gentle lady too!

At this meeting, we found a lump on Freddie’s neck, and decided that before Freddie moved to his new home, we’d have him checked out with our vet, who did some tests.

Several weeks after Freddie had settled in with his wonderful new mam and dad, we got the test results back. We were all devastated to learn that poor Freddie had an aggressive tumour in his neck. It was a shattering blow to us all, especially his new mam. Freddie only lived for another few weeks.

However, although we didn’t know him long, we can be happy in the knowledge that Freddie’s last few weeks were simply fantastic! He looked great, he was in great form, and he had adoptive owners who adored him and made those last few weeks great fun for him. And in the end, they gave him a dignified and pain-free death.

It’s always a horrible thing to lose a beloved pet, but it is our duty, as responsible owners, to make sure the dog doesn’t suffer and is allowed to go before he loses his quality of life.

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A couple of months later, Sinead adopted an adorable Westie pup from us. His name is…
Freddie II…!