The Karass Sanctuary

14/07/2020

The Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice and The Karass Sanctuary, which I run alongside each other here just outside Kirkcudbright in south west Scotland, have recently merged into one charity. To make it simpler, I'm going to merge the two pages into one, and I'll post updates on aw the folk who live here in the hospice and sanctuary on this page now, The Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice and The Karass Sanctuary. I willnae be doing updates on this page any longer, so to keep following us aw here, please give this page a like!

It'll be aw the fun of making daft dugs, cantankerous goats, bonkers sheep, grumpy pigs, h***y cockerels*, dramatic chickens, and dickheid turkeys talk in Scottish. Whit's no tae like?!

*Yesterday, I caught Lord Flashheart sh****ng a Warburton's tea cake. Expect this calibre of content and we'll be grand.

The Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice: Another way, in life and in death.

Karass: A group of people linked in a cosmically significant manner, even when superficial linkages are not evident.

14/07/2020

You are aw so kind to us here at the hospice and sanctuary, I wouldnae be in the position I am without you, and I'm bursting to tell you! I'm publishing a book next year!

I have a publishing deal with Quercus in the UK and English-speaking territories, and also with publishers in Italy, the Netherlands and Germany. It is called "No Life Too Small" and it will be published in Spring 2021. It will tell the story of how The Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice came to be; meeting and losing Maggie, the diagnosis of Crohn's, and the stories of aw the folk along the way - George, Osha, Georgia, Maya, B, Brannigan Shennanigan and many more - who danced with me until it was time for them to take the path I couldnae yet follow. It's a celebration of how much is possible, despite the inescapable, motivating unknown we edge towards on life's horizon. More news to follow as it comes :)

I might be a bit absent for a while, as there is only 8 weeks until the deadline for the manuscript now!

Ebb and flow, we come and we go, presence and absence taking and leaving pieces of ourselves and each other, creating and filling spaces.

29/06/2020

I'm no sure you'll be able to make them out (you can see wings and a couple of beaks!), but these are the swallow weans who are in a nest in Gimli and Elisa's hoose. Every time I go in mammy and daddy take flight and circle above in a worry until I leave and they are straight back in to the weans. I try not to spend too long in there just now so they areny withoot maw and paw for too long. I think there are three, but it's hard to tell!

29/06/2020

Ma Main Man! Here's Gim enjoying his physio session yesterday. He loves a massage that lad, but then who doesnae?!

He's doing well, but his bad leg is getting weaker. He gets pain relief and supplements of turmeric, linseed oil, apple cider vinegar, nettles and soon willow bark (which contains silicin, the precursor to aspirin) to help keep him a smooth operator, and daily physio of massage, infra red light therapy and pulsed mag therapy help keep him mobile and loose.

Thankfully, we have something in the works to help ease his burden a bit... his custom-made Gimmer Zimmer, prototype coming soon!

28/06/2020

After a couple of months of no quite feeling my best, on Wednesday my body finally had enough and had a wobble. I was exhausted, my muscles were cramping, I couldnae put one foot in front of the other and my legs wouldnae hold my weight, and I wasnae sure I was going to see Wednesday night! It gave us aw a bit of a fright and dad and Adam wisely insisted I went to A&E! They did some tests but they've no found what's causing it, as it doesnae seem to be Crohn's for once! My feeling is that it's just a bit of stress, a bit of tiredness, and I'm no very good at eating so probably a bit of running on empty. It's aw just come to a head, and I got the warning shot that I need to eat better, sleep better, and relax better! I'm on the up now, feeling tired but much brighter, and a lot more positive than I have been the last few months.

I'm blessed to share my life with everyone here, and the only thing I can do and want to do is make sure they are as content and happy as they can be. I cannae change anything other than my own wee bit right in front of me, and the aulder and shooglier I get the more I realise that Auld Shoogly had it right; being content and making sure everyone you love is content right here and now is sometimes the only answer to even the biggest and most complex, overwhelming personal and collective challenges. There's nowt for it but to keep shooglin on and dance through the fire. Aw Bran did was choose to be happy in spite of it aw, and look how far his paws reached round the world!

Here is the Lesser Spotted Archie with a couple of his 'grandweans', and Adam with The Wean; thanks so much to dad and to Adam for helping take care of everyone this week and for literally and metaphorically hauding me up!

04/06/2020

Ken isnae doing so well. He really doesnae like folk very much so it's really stressing him out when I try to give him his Emeraid, and just now he got into such a panic that I thought he was having a heart attack. His breathing is getting worse again, and he cannae walk. He's in the sun and breeze, on his own, which is what I feel he wants. I gave him some reiki and flower essence, and left him be. Though the instinct is to comfort him and for him no to be alone, that's only the right thing if it's what he wants, and I've had enough flying kicks to know that he's no a fan of the wummin; "Gaunnie just put the food oot and get tae, wummin?"

I think he might leave during the night, and if he doesnae it's going to be a difficult one as it'd be helluva stressful for him to have someone inject him.

I found another lassie, Maggie, dead in her coop this afternoon when I was cleaning. Again, nae signs. She had ascites and her comb was blue, so I think her heart gave out.

I hope Ken finds his way to his brother, peacefully.

04/06/2020

02/06/2020

The Wean on board!

I got a call on Saturday afternoon from a lovely local lady asking if there was any room at the Inn for this jackdaw wean who had fallen out of his nest. He'd already been taken away from the site he was found, so couldnae be returned. He's thin and he has a damaged wing.

I wasnae hopeful the first night as he was weak and no that interested in food, so I could only get some Emeraid into him drop by drop. He must have had a good rest and that wee bit nutrition has done the trick, and the next morning he was screaming at me!

He's thriving now and very demanding!

22/04/2020

I'm so sorry to let you know that the third hurdle was too high for Jill to fight her way over. The untreated cancer had already spread through her body and she had metastases in her liver and lung. Her liver was much larger than it should have been, and had been compensating for a long time. Her body was already decaying beyond repair before we met. Combined with mammary tumours and an open pyometra, it was time for Jill to leave her old and tired body behind.

I pleaded with the vet to be with her, and they very kindly worked out a way for Adam and me to spend her final moments with her outside in the sun. She was almost unconscious but she knew we were there. I took her some wild flowers and we took her Wee Spoon to see his Big Spoon. He was on Jack Russell Alert because there was STUFF EVERYWHERE GOTTA EXPLORE!!! so he had a time out in the car so we could get some peace! She knew he was there though, her Wee Spoon. I called them Big Spoon and Wee Spoon because of how they lay in bed the first night they arrived here from the pound.

We only knew each other for 24 days but of course it was long enough to fall in love! I'm so grateful that our paths met; even though one of us was taking our final steps, it was a pleasure and a joy to walk beside her as she took them. After a week of her hu***ng my leg incessantly and shouting in my face for hours, seeing that frantic worry and stress melt away as she got lost in the moment and forgot to worry was the best thing. She lay upside down in my arms and squirmed on my knee going "aaaaaaaeeeeee eeeeeeee eeee aaaaaaaaaa" as I stroked her bare Staffie belly for about 2 hours that afternoon!

There were only a few days between that moment of her settling in and her becoming ill with pyometra where she felt well enough to really enjoy her new home, but we packed a lot in and we had some really lovely moments. Even in her last days she enjoyed being outside in the sun and the wind. I'm so grateful for every one of our moments; I'll take any number of happy days in the sun wi a pal over none!

Before she left I promised her I will take care of her Wee Spoon and make sure he is happy. My friend Caroline said that maybe Jill needed to make sure and find somewhere safe to leave her Jack before she left.

I didnae want her to leave, but we don't always get what we want. After she left, I said "Where have you gone?" but that's no for me to know; my bit is here, and I'm so grateful to have been able to walk beside my new friend until her path took her somewhere I couldnae follow. Safe travels, Big Spoon. I'll keep yer Wee Spoon safe

18/04/2020

If ye cannae beat them, join them!

16/04/2020

Big Spoon isnae feeling quite herself this morning :( Let's hope she's on the up soon.

Jill isnae feeling quite herself this morning. She's in season which I think might be part of it, but she's shivery the day and seems to be a bit sore, and she's licking at the tumour a bit too. I've had a phone consult with her vet and she suspects an infection in her mammary tumour made worse by the surge of hormones, and possibly a low lying endemic infection so I'm away down the street to get her antibiotics and some tasty treats for some pampering, and I'll start her on meloxicom for pain and inflammation, too. Let's hope Big Spoon is feeling better soon