S.O.S AGAIN

Saturday night I attended the 40th anniversary of CIWF, Compassion in World Farming, and thoroughly enjoyed the evening in the company of such good people- all passionate about animal welfare- but more of that in my next main blog. The point of today’s piece is that I had asked Celia Hammond to be my guest and had presumed that she was continuing to save the cats at the Olympic site after the latest publicity saying she was. Well, I was astounded when she told me that she has been banned again. So far she has rescued around 150 cats . She goes in with her team at night and works all night trapping them as they come for the food set in the traps. They do not interfere with the demolition work at all as they are gone before the men arrive and yet she is being denied access once again. Please- wherever you are tell your local newspaper about this scandal and look up the details on Celia Hammond’s website where there is also a petition you can sign. The excellent animal charity PETA is entering the fray but Celia needs all the support she can get. We can all do our little bit  by writing to Lord Coe at the Houses of Parliament in London or indeed telephoning the press office to tell them what is going on. As of Saturday Celia Hammond was definitely not being allowed to rescue the cats at the Olympic site and without her help they must surely die. Celia is at www.celiahammond.org

Thank you for your support, Alexandra Bastedo.

www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk

NOVEMBER NEWCOMERS.

              www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk

      The happenings over the last few weeks at the sanctuary would have made the subject of a documentary. One little ad for volunteers has provoked an enormous response- over 40 people in all have contacted us- and made a huge difference to the running of the sanctuary.  There is usually a fall out of people who are curious rather more than serious who fall by the wayside but so far- fingers crossed- this seems not to be the case. Everyone seems to be most conscientous and enthusiastic and the animals are benefiting enormously. There are 2 retired firemen, one ex- prison officer, a mechanic and a builder with three excellent sons who are also tackling fence repairs, electric fencing, the mending of stables and chicken sheds etc. and for the first time with requests for drills, saws, and various sizes of nails and screws I have become a regular at the hardware stores. So we now have teams of between three and six people a day who, after all the hard work of cleaning is done, are regularly grooming and hoof-picking all  the donkeys and ponies and brushing all the cats and – apart from looking wonderful- the animals are enjoying all the attention enormously. The only problem is the occasional feline or equine  jealousies that arise so having teams of people working on more than one at a time are a good idea.  Hansel, one of the recent arrivals gets very jealous of his little delicate friend, Gretel and Starsky and Hutch, the donkey clowns, never help very much as they always pick up and run off with all the brushes and combs which we then find scattered round the paddocks.

                    At the week-ends we almost become an academy providing work experience for teenagers studying to be vets or doing agricultural or equine courses or animal husbandry. They tend to stay all day and when the work is over ride Shabba and Marty round the middle paddock which is wonderful as it keeps them exercised and young Marty keeps up with his training. Amazing advances have been made with Nutmeg the ten year old, blind- in- one- eye pony. She had ended up with a dealer and was destined for the abbattoir but someone intervened and brought her to us. Since then with a major de-worming program she has become very fit and is now being lunged, ridden and even jumped. Wouldn’t it be nice if she ended up winning the International Horse Trials!  On the rescue front we had a call from Riding for the Disabled which sadly had a horse that could no longer be ridden and which they no longer wanted. We are full to capacity at present but I did manage to find it a home with friends who have too much paddock and a lovely stable so she will live in comfort for the rest of her days.

                             The 2 kittens we took in- one black female called Midnight and one white male named Jaspar-are both being neutered tomorrow. Both are wonderfully affectionate and will be needing good homes in the near future. Little Camilla the Chinchilla cat who was a gentle soul was very worried by dogs and most other cats. At the moment she is on a trial placement with a couple with an elderly Siamese and so far the reports are hopeful , so fingers crossed. We have also taken on Paris a young deaf neutered male feline from Brighton Cat Refuge. They wanted a home far from roads so we fit the bill. But- as with Ollie, the deaf white Persian, they are always a worry as if they are missing it is futile to call as they can’t hear you. The other cat that has a major problem is Tatiana the tortoiseshell former feral. I have been talking to Matt the vet at Arun vets in Pulborough and wait to see what the verdict is on her damaged leg. She goes in on Wednesday and may have to have orthopaedic surgery or at worst amputation. Fortunately the coffee morning Holly, the owner, gave us at her lovely Sparks Yard shop in Arundel has brought in a little money which will go towards this months vets’ bills. December 8th we have another fund-raising event at the Christmas Fair at the Assembly Rooms in Worthing along with the Mayor and little Jill, our tiny Shetland with the bandy legs.Other people have also kindly contributed towards our animal adoptions for Christmas presents with Sage, the turkey, Acorn the pig and Starsky and Hutch being the special favourites!

                                   Acorn and Hazel are now fully recovered from their drunken episode but had developed nasty sores on their backs. I couldn’t work out what it was until I saw a magpie on their backs pecking away. Now each morning they are sprayed with purple spray and veterinary wound powder and I am adding cod- liver oil and sulphur to their food to help with the healing internally. Sage, the male turkey, is taking his role as protective father far too far getting very angry with us when we try to clean out the turkey quarters and when his wife Onion wants a break he struts about with his turkey children under the umbrella of his wings.

                                      The only thing I could really do without is the hundreds of wild ducks that are eating us out of house and home. I really do believe that in their various quacking sounds they are talking to each other. Our poultry orchard and ponds are really hidden away so they would not have chanced upon us. They have to be  telling all their friends that the ABC Sanctuary has a very good bird cafe! We take in another 16 unwanted domestic hens shortly but more of that next time when I will also report on the Christmas Fair in Worthing on Dec. 8th with the little Shetland.

                                   Apart from that- which is quite enough- and the farrier’s visit this Thursday which lasts most of the day with so many hoofs to do- with less fireworks and the new volunteers life for the moment is easier and the animals are happy which is as it should be.

       I am now writing an animal health blog  called the A to Z of healthy hints which you can get on: www.abcanimalhealth.wordpress.com

                                     That is all for the moment,

                                                   All the best,

                                                            Alexandra Bastedo.

Copyright Alexandra Bastedo.

THIS WEEK’S ANIMAL TIP:

If you have a horse or pony with an allergy to dry hay instead of soaking the whole hay net which makes it very heavy you can boil up a full kettle of water. You then put the haynet in a dustbin, pour the boiling water over it and put on a lid. After a few minutes the hay will be thoroughly steamed and damp and ready to serve up but still light in weight.

SHOW-BIZ:

My husband’s play “Visiting Mr. Green” starring Warren Mitchell continues its triumphant tour round England. This week it is at Peterborough and next week at the Theatre Royal Brighton. My husband, Patrick Garland , and I were 2 of the presenters at the Theatre Royal’s 200th Anniversary celebrations last weekend which proved to be a wonderful evening. You can read more about that on www.alexandra-bastedo.com

I also did a talk on the theatre in Derby for the  Women’s Institute last week and will be presenting the Mantovani Concert with Ed Stewart in Poole on January 27th 2008.

                                More next time. Goodnight. Alex B. 

S.O.S

My friend Celia Hammond who does such wonderful work rescuing cats and running inexpensive veterinary hospitals for those in need has been banned from rescuing the animals at the Olympic Site in London. She has already spent many nights with her small team of helpers trapping the numerous cats and getting them away to safety. She was then banned from saving any more but when the press made a fuss they let her in to rescue them again. Now they have banned her and her helpers once more. Tessa Jowell and Sebastian Coe- Lord Coe- need to know this as the demolition contractors are going in and could possibly bring down buildings on top of the animals without giving Celia Hammond a chance to catch them and finish the job she set out to do.. Surely this is cruel and morally wrong. Please if you care about this situation write  either to Lord Coe or Tessa Jowell at the Houses of Parliament, London. 

                              Thank you, all the best,

                                       Alexandra Bastedo.

Acorns and Acupuncture.

                              Every season brings its own problems and this autumn it is acorns. Horses, ponies and donkeys are able to eat a few but too many can be harmful so every morning along with the manure we sweep up all the acorns. So much so that Phoebe, the donkey, who is quite the glutton of the  group is having to wear a grazing mask to limit her intake.

                        After the 3 day drunken orgy of the pigs last month  from which they finally recovered I had kept them locked in their enclosure to avoid a repeat performance with an overdose of fermenting apples from the orchard. I was somewhat alarmed therefore when Acorn, the boar, started to scream loudly every morning as he tried to get up. This time I had to resort to calling out Emma the vet responsible for saving Katie and her two lambs. As farm vets usually only visit herds or flocks I think it makes quite a change for them to visit animals that actually have names. She was thrilled with the progress of Katie, Kim and Kylie ” But” she said ” Acorns are poisonous to sheep so they must go back in the field .” We had so enjoyed the company of the 3 tame sheep following us  around that they were occupying the same acorn strewn ground near the house as the pigs and were  only going back to their pen in the barn at night. So now they are spending their days with Shabba and Marty, the two horses and the two Wiltshire Longhorn castrated rams on normal pasture.

                          Back to the pigs and I explained to the vet that they were about 16 or17 years old. Of course pigs are usually eaten a lot earlier than that so elderly pigs are not animals that vets often come across. Emma needed to take Acorn’s temperature and to listen to his chest to ascertain what might be wrong with him. “You cannot catch a pig” is the saying and so it nearly proved. With nothing to get hold of Emma had to lasso his top jaw which took several tries as Acorn instantly recovered and entered the fray pitting  his full body weight against us. Finally the rope was in place and I was given the task of hanging on to it with all my strength while she did the examination. His chest seemed okay and she decided to remove his one tusk which was almost touching his cheek and potentially painful. However taking his temperature by his rear end as he reversed into his sty was far too dangerous. In the end she decided to give him a large dose of antibiotics to guard against all eventualities and suggested some glucosamine for his elderly joints. Four days later the screaming has stopped and he is back to his normal self rootling around the acorns, a perfectly safe  and natural food for pigs with Hazel , his wife.

                               Some time ago I had used acupuncture on my dobermann, Little Dorrit, to great effect. She had been moaning with pain and the conventional vets had suggested xrays and painkillers. Instead I had decided to go to Mark Elliott, the homeopathic vet and he decided to use acupuncture on her. The screaming stopped and she came out of the surgery her perfectly normal self. This time I resolved to ask Jill Adair, the well known vet and acupuncturist, to come and see Gretyl the little donkey and one of my semi feral cats with a limp. She immediately discovered that Gretyl’s  problem lay in her shoulder and not in her hoofs  and put various needles in that area for twenty minutes. Needless to say she is now doing much better, the cat after an examination is now on antibiotics and glucosamine like the pig.

                         Poppet was returned from her new home as the Siamese that she had gone to live with turned against her. In fact Poppet had learnt some few unsavoury lessons and came back hissing and spitting! Fortunately it didn’t last long and she soon settled in once more with her friend Arthur. However, after two failed attempts at re-homing  Jo and her daughter Hannah, two of my volunteers,  decided to take them to their new home. So far the reports are favourable and they are being well behaved . Hannah has always adored them both so hopefully this will be their final abode. While missing them I have to admit their departure has made dealing with the rest of the feline population much easier as they all had to be locked up in their catteries whenever Arthur and Poppet were let out at night. The former enjoyed chasing anything smaller than him, although strangely, after seemingly frightening altercations none ever had a scratch to show for the encounter so maybe it was all bluff. Anyway now all the felines are free to come and go as they please even if life may prove a little boring without him!

                           The time that Shabba and Marty spent away with my horse trainer friend Sally Cooper has proved to be invaluable. Both have come back with much better manners  and they even seem to be more appreciative and more affectionate. Apart from the training they received I found it immensely valuable to observe the way Sally herself interacted with them. Marty, the large cob, who is only about three, is now responding to an extensive vocabulary and along with Shabba can now be ridden by my volunteers. Nutmeg too, the one-eyed pony, has responded well to training by my volunteers and we suspect that she may have once been a show pony. They all love the attention and it is lovely to see what healthy, happy, ponies they have become. In fact thanks to my assistants and their stirling work they are all looking lovely.

                            Socially, we hope to be taking the little black Shetland Jill- also known as Miss Merrylegs- to the Worthing Christmas Fair on Saturday December 8th and we all also be having a fund raising morning at Sparks Yard  in Arundel in November for the sanctuary . The actual date to be announced very soon on our website www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk 

                          More of the other animals next time,

                            All the best,

                                   Alexandra Bastedo.

SHOWBIZ:

The play my husband has directed “Visiting Mr. Green” starring Warren Mitchell is on a number one tour of England and is receiving rave reviews wherever it plays.

We attended Ned Sherrin’s funeral yesterday and it was very sad to have to say our goodbyes to such an amusing, kind, generous and talented individual. I had spent a very happy time at the Chichester Festival Theatre some years ago playing Kate Nickleby in his musical “Nickleby and Me”. And when he heard I had written my books he very kindly  immediately invited me to promote them on his radio show “Loose Ends”.

My husband, Patrick Garland, and I will both be presenters at the Brighton Theatre Royal’s Anniversary Gala on November 4th.

I shall also be compering a Mantovani Concert with Ed Stewart in Poole in the new year.

Updates can also be found on my new theatrical website www.alexandra-bastedo.com  and my grateful thanks to Ian Carrott of www.doyourownsite.com and Jo Bailey for the design and for their considerable help in getting it up and running so quickly.

Copyright Alexandra Bastedo.  

The New Website at Last!

                             My profuse apologies for my missing show-biz website. However at last the new one is up and running and I would like to thank Ian Carrott of www.doyourownsite.com enormously for his considerable help in creating the new website. The good news is that now it is “in house” we will be able to update it on a regular basis along with the animal sanctuary website  www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk 

The Official Alexandra Bastedo Website is now at : www.alexandra-bastedo.com

                            All the very best,

                                       Alexandra Bastedo

PS. The play that my husband has directed called “Visiting Mr. Green” starring the amazing 82 year old Warren Mitchell is proving to be a big success with the audience often rising to their feet at the end to applaud him. It is doing a number one theatre tour around England and is selling out at most of the venues. I saw it in Colchester and found it a strange combination of humour, irony and sadness. It was most touching.

SLEEPY PIGS

                    Over in Corsica once again to snatch one week of heat and sunshine sorely missed in England this wet summer. However there the reverse has been true as there has hardly been any rain since April 2006. The reservoirs are almost empty and the vegetation is yellow and tinder-box dry. The wild animals have nothing to eat and difficulty in finding water as most of the natural springs have disappeared altogether and the domestic animals are surviving on imported hay. The olive crop is non existent, the figs are dry and unpleasant and it won’t be a good year for grapes and wine either. Back home because of the floods the price of straw and hay for the animals is high and likewise many of the farmers’ vegetable crops have been destroyed. So either way with extreme weather patterns it seems you can’t win.

                        As the last of the five shepherds and their flocks had sadly retired in April I was expecting to miss the sound of the clanking of the sheep bells so I was surprised one morning to be awoken by that familiar melodic sound. Sure enough, there the brebis  were picking their way over the rocky terrain. What had happened? Bibi, the shepherd who had retired aged eighty had found himself so bored by his retirement that he couldn’t stand it and bought another flock! I just hope he keeps going for another 20 years because none of the younger generation wants to keep up that tradition and without it the ninth century village of Sant’Antonino is merely a tourist attraction.For some almost psychic reason I also found myself thinking about Hazel and Acorn, my pigs who are now about 15 and 17 respectively. I asked the Corsican farmers what age they could live to, but unfortunately with pigs being turned into French charcuterie at a relatively early age nobody was able to give me the answer.

                      When I returned to England all the animals were fine and had been well looked after. However I was somewhat concerned to find that my elderly pigs were spending an inordinate amount of time sleeping. Should I call the vet I asked myself, but there were no signs of anything untoward, although I couldn’t help remembering the two maxims about pigs one being that you cannot catch a pig (very difficult) and the other that they don’t get ill, they just die (which has been my experience with one young one in the past which the vet had not managed to save in spite of various injections and antibiotics). I decided to consult my farmer friend next door, Jim Green, who keeps pigs, sheep and cows. Amazingly he got it in one ” I once had pigs that got drunk on fermented apples and molasses in their feed. Have they been in the orchard?” Sure enough upon investigation their droppings were all over the orchard amongst the fallen apples. There was no doubt about it my two reeling pigs were drunk and sleeping off their hangovers. They are now confined to their enclosure grunting their displeasure until further notice and being fed their normal pig rations which hopefully may make them lose weight as well. An obese pig is an unhealthy pig as their faces get so paunchy they can hardly see out of their eyes so a sensible diet will not do them any harm. As a precaution I have also limited the sheep terrain and locked them out of the orchard so they don’t suffer the same fate.

                        Another side effect of this damp weather has been the number of the Shetlands and ponies suffering from sweet itch in spite of the garlic I put in their food. Most of them scent the smell of the sprays and creams at a considerable distance so catching them and treating them takes a lot of extra time. Gretel the newly rescued donkey who arrived in such a bad state is looking very good but I have now added glucosamine to her cocktail of vitamins  for her stiff front leg. Starsky and Hutch continue to play at tug of war with the hose, their special ball with a handle and any other item they can lay their hoof on but do get a little fractious with each other when Chocolate, Phoebe or Dandy come on heat. Nutmeg the blind in one eye pony who was so sweet and self-effacing is beginning to get over confident and played up badly when the farrier came to do her feet. I am now having to pick out her hoofs daily with a combination of bribery (polo mints) and stern words so we don’t have a repeat performance when he comes again. 

                         News of Marty, the young cob, and his friend Shabba who has joined him: they  are with my horse expert friend Sally Cooper and her reports on their progress are excellent. Watching her is fascinating as with a combination of affection and sterness they were soon literally eating out of her hand. I realise I really need to treat them more like I treat my dobermans with that same combination of love and strength and to take less nonsense from them when they won’t behave. Seeing them respond beautifully just to verbal commands was such a treat and upon my return from Colchester next week where I shall be supporting my husband I look forward to them both coming home and intend to keep up the good work!  

                        News on the cat front: Ollie the white Persian who weighed nothing and looked so appalling upon arrival after extensive anti-parasite treatment for both stools and blood has now blossomed and is quite transformed. He looks magnificent. Teddy, the Selkirk Rex, from another source- but with the same problems from contaminated meat- who ended up on a drip twice has had the same medications. From being this dainty, fragile creature he is now turning into quite a bruiser in stature and resembles Arthur, which is not surprising as they are related, though while Arthur loathes most of the other cats Teddy loves everybody and everything. The little white kitten with bad eyes has also been treated and is doing fine (he has also been extensively de-wormed). He and Ollie are now firm friends and are frequently to be found curled up together.

Dramatic news came when a wonderful home came up for the little grey and white cat called Poppet, Arthur’s friend, who had only recently come to us. She had been a nervous wreck having had an extremely nervous owner but was quite altered and very confident by the time she left. I had a phone call from  a lady whose elderly Siamese had died. This had left the other one so bereft that it had yowled for four days and nobody could get any sleep. Poppet was very young-18 months- and got on with other cats- even Arthur which was a remarkable feat so I thought she might be the ideal cat to fill the vacuum. Young enough to adapt easily and young enough not to prove a threat to the remaining Siamese. It worked a treat, the terrible noise stopped and apart from an initial minor hiss peace has reigned.

However no sooner had she left than I had a call from Andy our vet to ask whether we could take on a beautiful young silver-point Chinchilla feline. The owner wanted it to be put down saying it was dirty about the house. As that can often be the result of bad feeding with additive and sugar-laden foods or cruel treatment I agreed to take her on. At seven thirty in the morning a lady arrived with a cat carrier handed her over and left abruptly saying “I do love her you know”. The gorgeous cat was matted from head to foot and is already purring away in Poppet’s cattery. How any one could possibly envisage putiing down a youngster like that or indeed any healthy cat I really don’t know.But more of her next time- I wasn’t even told her name. If you have any suggestions  as to what to call a blue eyed silver point Chinchilla cat they will be welcome and we can be contacted through the animal website www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk . 

SHOW-BIZ NEWS.

I am joining my husband Patrick Garland in Colchester for the week where he is directing Warren Mitchell in the play “Visiting Mr. Green”. I look forward to the return visit as we had a wonderful week there with  Jeffrey Archer’s play”Beyond Reasonable Doubt” two years ago . As Patrick’s play is just about to open I shall let you know how it went next time.

                         All the best,

                                  Alexandra Bastedo

P.S. My continued apologies for the absence of my theatrical web-site at the moment. It will be rectified but at the moment it is beyond my control so please bear with me and in the meantime I can be contacted through the animal site www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk

Copyright Alexandra Bastedo.

                          

MY APOLOGIES>

                  Dear Readers, My profuse apologies for the closing down of my show business web site which over the next few weeks will have some major alterations so please bear with me. In the meantime I will continue to write my monthly blog around the middle of the month and you can still communicate with me through the new animal sanctuary web site on www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk

                        All the very best,

                                   Alexandra Bastedo

August Aggravations

                               It beggars belief that the latest outbreak of foot and mouth disease seems to have been caused by a lapse in security at the Pirbright Laboratories only thirty minutes drive from all my animals. It is extremely worrying and all cloven footed animals such as our pigs, sheep, my neighbour’s goats and Jim the farmer’s cows next door are at risk. Even closer to the laboratory is my friend Paddy Dancey who has wonderful rare breeds of sheep that she keeps at Loseley Farm, what a disaster it would be if anything happened to them. If anyone tried to cull Katie, my sheep, and her 2 black lambs I think I would become hysterical. They are now so tame that we can have long conversations with the 3 of them answering with various renditions of “Baa” ! And they come stampeding over whenever their names are called. That is not to say that I wouldn’t be upset if someone came to shoot Hazel and Acorn my two pigs who are also great characters and have been in the sanctuary for 15 years-or Keats and Kipling, the Wiltshire Longhorns, I would be desolate. So as a result I listen out for the latest news bulletins and have laid 6 foot of carpet in the entrance. 6 feet being the distance covered by one rotation of the wheel of a four wheel drive. Each morning I disinfect it with a serious disinfectant called Virkon in a large watering can. Sunshine dries it out and rain washes it away so either way it is hard work!

                     For a change everything seems to be relatively alright in the animal world with the exception of the new arrivals who always bring their own problems. I have tried a new technique in the ongoing saga of the war on fleas and- cross-fingers -it seems to be working. On the advice of Francis Hunter, my friend who is the retired homeopathic vet, I have given the cats with skin problems sulphur 30 twice a day for 10 days and to little Teddy, the little Selkirk Rex with the chronic flea allergy and a bad reaction to chemicals I have also been administering  a Brewer’s yeast tablet a day (it contains the vitamin Bs that  deter fleas ). Fortunately Teddy likes the taste and regards it as a  treat so giving it to him is easy.So far the results are promising and my flea comb has not succeeded in finding anything for at least a week. As far as the flies are concerned Gretel, the little grey donkey, has to be sprayed at least twice a day and  all the donkeys, ponies and horses have fly fringes put on every morning. I have to hide the spray behind my back as most of them scarper whenever they spot it!

                              When I last toured with the Jeffrey Archer play “Beyond Reasonable Doubt” my friend Maggie Stables (who played the housekeeper) commented that whenever there was a change of cast the dynamic of the group changed and friendships altered. So it is with animals. I usually try to have animals in pairs because it is nicer for them but of course if you have an animal or bird on its own it often responds better to you. This is particularly true of male turkeys who adore you if they are on their own and loathe you if they have a wife. Mine is particularly irksome at the moment and attacks at every opportunity and for such a stupid bird the way he creeps up on you and pounces when you aren’t looking is quite clever! As for his idiotic wife she has been sitting on imaginary eggs for over a month. The females are so stupid that unless you can convince them otherwise they just go on sitting and sitting and sitting until they die. . As a result I have had to make the hutch she chose for her nest very uncomfortable with bowls of water and bricks and have picked her up and ejected her a couple of times a day. She has finally decided that sitting on her nest is a bad idea but instead has periods of madness when she flies out of the 12 foot high enclosure in to the fox territory outside. This means that I am constantly checking her whereabouts and launch myself at her with a rugger tackle whenever I see her! However I have experienced this potentially fatal folly once before and know that eventually she will return to normal.

                            With the arrival of Jack and Jill, the 2 tiny new Shetlands in his field the change in Eddy the little Shetland -whom we had to separate from the others when he was castrated -has been quite remarkable. We have wonderful footage of him playing with Marty, the big young cob, and grooming Freckles the grey Welsh pony but since the arrival of  the 2 new mini Shetlands all that has changed and he will have hardly anything to do with the bigger ponies or indeed us any more. He is spending all his time with his own kind and is now proving very difficult to catch where before he was easy. The reverse is true of Shabba the horse. Marty his cob friend is large and young and was beginning to get a little overwhelming. He has therefore been sent away for some basic training by my friend Sally Cooper which should improve his manners considerably. Heart-rendingly this has left Shabba calling for him at the gate where he disappeared but he has become much more affectionate to human beings in the meantime. However it won’t be long before his pal Marty is back and I expect the status quo will return to normal.

                          In the cat world a remarkable thing has happened. We had a call about a pretty grey and white cat called Poppet whose owners had gone abroad and left her with friends. The friends then decided that they didn’t want her so she has come to us. The only place available was in the pen next to Arthur who hates all the other cats but strangely he has taken to Poppet , the partition between them has been taken down and they are living in perfect harmony together. So now I am looking to re-home Arthur and Poppet together! We also took in a very poorly blue-eyed white Persian called Ollie. When I picked up his cat carrier it was so light at first I thought there was nothing in it. At first we put him in the pen next to Arthur but with the arrival of Poppet he has been moved to my bathroom which is serving as a hospital unit. Finally after a course of Flagyl he has put on weight and  has been going out of the bathroom window and exploring the flat roof. Two days ago a little white kitten with a bad eye arrived and the only place I could think of putting him as we are so full up was with Ollie who is now well. This has proved to be a huge success, Ollie is washing him and the two are now curled up together. They too will now have to be found a home together.

                               On the fund-raising side the evening at the Mill Theatre at Sonning was quite remarkable and I shall be forever grateful to Sally Hughes, the artistic director, for her generosity. You can read more about the evening in the news section of our website www.abcAnimalSanctuary.co.uk  Sparks Yard at Arundel have also announced they will have a fund-raising day for us and for Paws Animal Sanctuary on a day to be decided on  in either November or December.

                           August is always the month of fetes. Last weekend Cat and Rabbit Rescue , Sidlesham, had an excellent fund-raising day and as usual were able to home a number of the cats the following day which the public had fallen in love with. Yesterday I went to their appeal at the Chichester District Council’s Offices about extending their catteries. They take in neuter and re-home 700 cats a year but have to turn away just as many. We have a lot of their more problematical, unhomeable cats here. We await their decision, but I shall be very upset on their behalf if permission is refused as they are desperately needed . This Saturday Brent Lodge, the wild bird hospital at Sidlesham , another very worthwhile animal centre, has its open day and on Sunday Paws Animal Sanctuary at Findon with all their rabbits, guinea pigs, and cats  has theirs.

More details of these fetes are also available on www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk

                      Apart from that I am having to invest in some more fire extinguishers as I came across a tractor with its hay load that had caught fire. I dashed home, collected some slightly antiquated extinguishers and rushed them over to the tractor driver. Amazingly they still worked and helped a lot but the blaze was only totally put out when a local fire engine arrived and finished off the job. However it did make me realise how quickly hay can catch fire so an investment in new fire extinguishers is imperative.

 SHOW-BIZ:

My husband Patrick Garland starts rehearsals with Warren Mitchell in London on Monday with the play “Visiting Mr. Green”. The good news is that the theatre bookings round the country are doing very well.

At Chichester we saw Patrick Stewart in “Twelfth Night” and he was superb as Malvolio- quite the best I have seen and  Peter Bowles in “Waltz of the Toreadors” at the Minerva Theatre opposite is  mesmeric in a very demanding role.By popular demand they are also putting on the 2 plays of Nicholas Nickleby again this autumn. An absolute must if you live anywhere within the cachement area.

            Late as usual-

                         Signing off,

                               All the best, Alexandra Bastedo

              Copyright Alexandra Bastedo.          

HOT HAY

                                       This month has been nightmare tunnel which is why I am late writing this blog- I usually aim for the middle of the month but so far the weather here has been so full of surprises that it has meant a lot more problems and a lot more work At least we haven’t been flooded unlike large parts of England with the torrential monsoon-like weather. At one point we had 2 months of rain in 2 hours. In fact that was why I moved to the top of the Sussex hills four years ago after an exceedingly drenched year. We used to live in the Witterings near the sea outside Chichester but my animals would spend most of the year knee-deep in mud. The land was flat and the rain never had anywhere to go- at least here the soil is well drained and the rain runs off it albeit in torrents over the last few days. However thank goodness my new shelter was finished in the nick of time. There was enough room in the field shelter for all the  5 Shetlands and the 2 Welsh ponies  but they can be inordinantly selfish so when I found Rupert the bay Shetland  sodden and shivering  outside while the others hogged the stable I decided a new shelter was the only answer.  At least now I don’t have to rush out and put a coat on him every time there’s a deluge- usually getting thoroughly soaked my self in the process!

                              Katie and the 2 lambs have an enclosure in the barn but are now spending most of the day outside. I feel a little like “Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow and everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go” except that I am called Alex , there are 3 of them and the 2 lambs are black as coal!  The other 7 donkeys, 2 horses, 2 ponies and 7 Shetlands all have their own stables which is fortunate as yesterday the weather was so vile they all opted to spend the day inside!

                                      I am just so glad I don’t make hay any more. I used to be a nervous wreck ringing up the met office to try and find 5 consecutive days when it wouldn’t rain. That is the perfect time for hay making and in that period ideally the hay is turned twice so it dries on all sides. However when I discovered I could buy in hay for the same price I paid someone to make it  I decided to give all the land over to the animals and buy in the hay instead thereby saving myself an enormous headache. This year it has proved to be absolutely the right decision as the hay makers are pulling out their hair trying to get in the hay. Either they have to harvest it over a shorter period which means it is still a bit damp or they risk it being totally flattened by the weight of water falling on it. I did find some top quality hay that was made before the bad weather but at £5 pounds a bale it was too expensive so instead I bought hay at £2 a bale slightly damp but anticipated it drying out in my closed barn. What a mistake! Now I know why you see so much hay stacked in open shelters. Jim, the farmer next door, put his hand into the centre of the hay bales and said that it was so hot that there was a chance they could combust and set fire to the barn.  With the sheep and donkeys in there at night that was definitely not an option. Instead we have had to stack it on pallets outside at a safe distance from the barn. On top of them I have put coils of wire fencing to ventilate and over that I have put the bad- weather plastic sheeting that I used for my car this winter. I wish I could say that it has done the trick but it hasn’t as the moisture from the damp hay rises and condenses falling down in drops back on to the hay. As a result most evenings have been spent hauling hay bales into the barn, opening them up and shaking them into aerated pieces. A not unpleasant sensation as a warm mist envelops your face as the heat is released from the damp hay. This afternoon Sue and Katie ,  two of my helpers, and Sonia, my neighbour, came to the rescue so only 40 bales still remain outside from the original 80. But it is laborious work so I expect to be busy for a few more evenings yet!However the latest news from my hay farmer is that the field that was cut for my hay is now sitting in 4 feet of water- so he harvested it just in time!

                                             Well at least the animals won’t go hungry for a while- the hay should last about 3 months- although I may have to buy better quality hay for the 2 horses. Nutmeg, the 13 point 3 chestnut pony was finally delivered by my friend Sue Marskell and is proving to be an absolute delight. Her blindness in one eye does make a difference though as she feels a need to be very near you if you are on her blind side as though needing to sense your presence. At first I was a bit worried about Freckles, the grey pony, as she seemed to push him out of the food, but now she realises there is enough to go round that is not proving to be and issue and in the bad weather the two of them plus Eddie, the tiny Shetland, are all happily sharing a shelter.When the equine vet came to give Marty, the cob, his vaccinations, he said that had Nutmeg been treated at the time of the accident she would not have lost her sight. Neglected as usual but with the help of antibiotic ointment and equipazolone the swelling and the weeping eye are a bit better.  Meanwhile Marty and Shabba, the other horse, are enchanted with her presence and are flirting madly over the fence while she in turn has taken a shine to Rhett, Sky’s son, over the fence on the other side. But in her own field Freckles at last has a horsey companion of his own and seems to be extremely cheerful these days!

                                           Other equine or asinine news: Hansel the new brown donkey has really been transformed and is quite a cuddler and even lifts his feet for me to pick where before he just kicked! Gretel the little grey girl is an absolute sweetheart but- according to the vet- will never be quite right and needs a lot of extra vitamins and garlic in her food and the odd sachet of bute the pain killer when her arthritic knees play up. However I have just heard of a product called “No Bute” which I must investigate. The previous donkey residents , Troy and Jacko, of the upper stable are now at their new home in Essex with a charming animal lover called Debbie. They have lovely stables and an immaculate rolling field. When I asked how they were getting on she said they were lovely but that there was just one problem- they had wanted to take them for a walk but  they had refused to leave the field. I laughed- when we had taken in Troy and Jacko the former had been covered in sores from an old rug which had not been taken off. For the 10 years of their life they had gone from field to field, usually without shelter. Now they are in donkey paradise why on earth should they wish to leave!. On the equine front we are expecting 2 mini mini Shetlands shortly- one with deformed back legs so more of that next time.

                                       Bad news or is it good news Arthur, the gorgeous cuddly Selkirk Rex has been returned by his new owner. Not his fault at all- he behaved impeccably- but the lady started to have asthma attacks so I got him back immediately. However there had not been a day when I hadn’t missed him and he is now being allowed out all night while his imagined foes(the other cats) are locked up and happily sleeps through the day when they are out. So he is back for a while. The other real disaster is that the other Selkirk , little Teddy, went into a decline again and ended up back on a drip at the vets. With a combination of drugs he has now improved but I do worry about his long term future. For such a young cat, having suffered from Giardia(intestinal parasites) from birth his immune system is very much impaired. 

                                         The lovely cream, blue eyed Persian and the apricot long-haired cat after de-fleaing, de-matting, de-worming and administering antibiotic creams to eyes and ears finally recovered and have now gone off to their new home in London. I was a little worried as they were afraid of strangers but that evening I was told that the gentle 6 year old son was sitting on the sofa with his hand on each feline grinning from ear to ear and whispering to himself “My cats, my cats”. I must say when I have reports back like that or the one about Troy and Jacko, the donkeys, it makes what I do so worth while. Another Persian has just arrived in very poor shape but more of that next time.

TIPS:

I have just read another  article on animal feeds. Apparently there is now a pill for obese pets. A cat or dog’s natural food would be its prey. The only carbohydrate they would have access to would be the grain in the stomachs of that prey. Mark Elliott, my homeopatic vet friend says: “Are pets meant to eat cereal nuggets?!” I don’t think so. They are also not meant to eat sugar and it is very hard to find cat or dog food without it though Denes (some varieties) and Naturediet seem to be free of it. It often goes under the mis-leading title of caramel in the miniscule print on the packets or tins. So please watch out what you feed your pet. Nobody should need to feed their animal obesity tablets.

NEWS: Big news my new animal web site (totally separate from my acting career one) will be up and running VERY soon so watch this space. There will be lots of new pics- my volunteers and I have taken over 2000-, regular updates and adoption schemes initially, but hopefully it will evolve along with the sanctuary.It is now in its 25th year and moving on to a totally new plane. On that note my thanks to Alyson for her charming letter about my work and for her thoughtful donations to the vet and animal feed bills which as you can imagine are endless!

On that note Monday is a big day as the theatre at the Mill at Sonning- near Reading- is holding a 25th Anniversary evening with excerpts from the plays they have done interspersed with readings of animal poetry. The narrators are Peter Egan and Anthony Valentine and there are many celebrities appearing including my great friend Kate O’Mara. The proceeds from the evening are being divided  between the ABC (Alexandra Bastedo Champions) Animal Sanctuary and Celia Hammond’s wonderful animal trust Unfortunately my friend Celia will not be able to be present as she is rescuing- to a deadline- all the feral cats at the Olympic site in London before the demolition contractors move in. We once managed to engineer the rescue of 77 wild cats together , but that is an episode which is being written about in my next book!

                           Late as usual so I must sign off, but I will update the blog as soon as I know the new animal site is out on the net.

                            All the very best,

                                       Alexandra Bastedo.

Copyright Alexandra Bastedo.

 23rd JULY  THE NEW WEBSITE FOR THE ANIMALS IS NOW UP AND RUNNING:

 you can find us at: www.abcAnimalSanctuary.co.uk

BATTLE OF THE BUGS.

                      Every month brings different problems but this June with its combination of rain and warm temperatures is making the normal problems I encounter with the animals much worse.

I managed to get a week’s holiday in Corsica from the 3rd to the 10th of June but even there they were encountering strange weather. Instead of lying on a sun-bed sheltering from the sun’s harmful rays under a beach parasol wearing a bikini I sat under an umbrella sipping a cappucino at the port of Calvi looking at the raindrops hitting the sea sporting a blue raincoat. At night my husband and I were forced to make up log fires it was so cold.

Back in England  it was distinctly warmer and the flies seemed much more numerous than usual .In spite of the garlic I put in the equine food the horses, ponies and donkeys have  all been plagued by them in various degrees. This has meant an added investment of fly repellent sprays and wipes, fly fringes and face masks which all have to be applied every morning. Needless to say most of them hate the sprays so I get extra exercise each morning chasing them round the paddocks! Even Gretel the little grey donkey is now so much better on her feet that she can run away from me. However, as her intake of garlic is much more recent than the others she gets severely bitten if  I don’t  spray her as well.  On the rescue front my friend Sue Marskell has taken on 2 standard Shetlands for me as at the moment the sanctuary is full. She has also been looking after a pretty 13 hand pony called Nutmeg . She is blind in one eye so I expect her to become a permanent resident here. She arrives this Friday.

In the cat department there is a sequel to the skin problems that some of my felines were encountering last month. Antibiotics had been prescribed for my husband’s elderly Maine Coone but when I took him to see Matt at Arun Vets he discovered that in spite of the flea collar and lavender sprays that I use that in fact the poor cat was suffering from an infestation of virtually invisible fleas. I hate the spot-on treatments as once my Siamese had an open sore afterwards and a kitten developed neurological problems so I have always prefered more gentle measures. However it seems the new breed of fleas is impervious to most alternative natural remedies so I have been forced to resort to stronger chemical measures except in the case of my very elderly or particularly delicate cats. What do I use on them? The old-fashioned flea comb!. It works extremely well but is very time consuming. I have also had to spray all the rooms and catteries – leaving them unoccupied for 12 hours- to kill all the potential eggs that might develop into adult fleas. What a saga!

 The next assault will be on the lice that sometimes congregate on the chickens which must also be proliferating in this warm muggy weather. Apart from the effort of catching each one – often in a fishing net- I then put each reluctant hen in a plastic bag that I have filled with lice powder leaving the head sticking out of the top. That way it is much more economical as the powder doesn’t go all over the place. I shall also be keeping a look out for red-mite  which would mean  spraying  the hutches and scaly leg on the hens which can be killed by rubbing in vaseline.

This year with the help of my farmer-neighbour, Jim Green, I managed to get Katie , the ewe, properly shorn, I had heard that if the timing was correct it should be when the lanolin was rising in the wool and so it proved. When I rubbed my hands in the shorn fleece they were covered in a thin film of odourless lanolin which was quite wonderful. On the whole fleeces no longer have a value- if only the cosmetic industry could find a way of harvesting that lanolin our sheep could have a purpose once again and not just be destined for the abbattoir and the Sunday Roast. Katie’s 2 lambs are thriving and little Kylie has now had the pin successfully removed from her damaged leg. They are both  gambolling and playing as little lambs should.

News too on the dog front. Nellie our doberman has had a ruptured cruciate ligament for which there are 2 possible operations.  One is less invasive but doesn’t always work as the pin can snap if the dog is very active and the other is more major as it involves some form of graft. The latter also meant Nellie would have to be kept immobile for 2 weeks in a small area. With extensive experience of Nellie’s screaming when left alone I knew this would not be a welcome option. In the event the new Xray showed some improvement and with the help of physio and a large dose of glucosamine daily I hope to avoid her operation. But it was a close shave!

That is all for the moment I will shortly report on Nutmeg, the pony’s arrival. The re-homing of Arthur , the Selkirk Rex cat, to a lovely new home with a walled garden- I am on tenterhooks in case it doesn’t work. He is such a clever feline and loved it here but I had to lock up all the other cats when he was let out he was such a bully! Also the re-homing of 2 new indoor cats- one a gorgeous Persian and one a sensitive apricot-coloured long-haired cat. I have cleaned their eyes and ears with the appropriate drops and de-wormed, de-flead – and after a lot of cutting and combing- de-matted them. They will be going to a lovely large apartment in London.

SHOW-BUSINESS.

I have been contacted about touring around England with another play. However as the dates clash with my husband being away in Colchester directing a play with Warren Mitchell I doubt very much that I will be able to accept. It would entail being away from the animals for 4 months which I would find very difficult. The new volunteers are all proving to be excellent but with about 150 animals there is always an awful lot to learn and it takes time.

                                   Late as usual, so a very goodnight-

                                                          All the best,

                                                                Alexandra Bastedo

Copyright Alexandra Bastedo.