Freckles aka Scrappy Yappy Doo by her fosterers is an 11 years old Westie x JRT who arrived in Oldies care in October 2024. When she arrived she clearly had some back-end issues with her walking like a crab, infested with fleas, a sore bottom and needing some love and TLC. Freckles initially cried during the night and when left and it took her a couple of weeks for her to settle in.
Freckles needed to be taken to the emergency vets as she had an anal prolapse. The fosterers were provided with KY jelly, lactactose and pain killers for her and the fosterers were advised Freckles would need surgery. The vets also confirmed that Freckles has a grade 4 heart murmur which would make this more risky. Unfortunately further investigation revealed thickening of the gut track and the high possibility of there being a tumour which would be inoperable. The vets advised palliative care with a stool softener so that Freckles is kept as comfortable as possible.
Due to her medical issues and unknown time left, it was decided that Freckles would be placed in our sponsor dog scheme. This means she will remain in her lovely foster home on a permanent basis, with the charity paying her vet bills for the rest of her life.
As well as her medical condition Freckles is a complicated bunny; she shows signs of food aggression, incontinence at night, needing a lot of reassurance and being with people. Thankfully a month in her fosterers are seeing a lot happier Freckles. She hates doors or stair gates being shut on her and prefers the run of the house downstairs. She does not ask for the toilet so needs lots of toilet breaks and also likes her fosterers to go out to the toilet with her for reassurance.
Freckles loves her walks, she is very nosey and inquisitive when outside. She likes to poke her head in people’s doorways or gardens in case she has missed anything. Freckles loves the park, she walks with a pack of dogs in the mornings and enjoys their company. Her favourite game is to chase seagulls, pigeons and chase squirrels up trees! She isn’t sure of the waves at the beach or water in general.
Despite her health difficulties she is spritely, energetic and lively. She is vocal in the home and will bark at the postman and if on the couch she will growl at passers by just in case they need warning off. She loves to tear up the garden and bark at the foxes and roll in their poop!
Freckles is very intelligent; she knows her way around the estate, garden, parks, cemetery and walkways. She loves a belly rub, plays chase with the resident dog and gets very excited when the resident dog has zoomies. Freckles has to join in too of course.
Freckles loves to snuggle on the sofa and is a little shadow following her fosterers around the house. She is definitely a sociable little dog. She loves her food and will do a little dance for treats. She also enjoys going to the groomers, visiting the grandparents and being out on excursions with the family. She is wary of younger children but engaged with older teens when on her walks. She is very engaging, friendly, pretty and sweet. her fosterers say that they are very lucky to be able to foster her.
If you would love to offer a home to an oldie but your circumstances aren’t suitable, perhaps you would be kind enough to sponsor Freckles, or one of the other special oldies we are caring for in our sponsor dog scheme.