12th November 2024
We are pleased to announce that Alfie has his forever home. His wonderful foster family have officially adopted him.
We feel it is right that hounds that are within the BRNGB family who are on palliative care should have their own official family and not cross the bridge as a “foster dog”. BRNGB will continue to support Alfie financially and support his foster family emotionally.
Alfie’s medication for his tummy was reduced for a short period to see whether or not these could be stopped altogether; sadly it wasn’t to be as he quickly started suffering with an upset stomach again, so he will remain on these.
Despite his poorly teeth he loves to chomp on chews.
General heath wise his wonderful family can see that he is deteriorating. He is still eating, playing, having zoomies after his dinner, he’s a happy boy; but they can tell he’s not as he was.
Alfie’s wonderful family will keep monitoring him, and will keep him happy and safe until Alfie decides enough is enough.
We are hopeful to see him at the Southern Christmas Party, but we also know that is a long way off for this wonderful, poorly, at times grumpy, but mainly funny and loving hound.
22nd October 2024
You will remember Alfie joined us in September at 11 years old, after he was found at home, alone with his owner who had passed away.
We discovered shortly after his arrival, Alfie has a very large cancerous growth on his spleen and it was decided, along with the vet that surgery was not an option for Alfie so he would be kept comfortable and happy until he's ready to cross the bridge.
It's been a bit of a rollacoaster the last couple of weeks with Alfie; early October he was suffering with a very upset tummy, but he was begining to trust and come out of his shell, giving kisses and hugs to his foster parents.
Here's a little update from them from over the last couple of weeks:
Alfie has been to the vets, this is what he thinks is happening:- the growth is putting pressure on stomach making the food pass quicker through the digestive system causing the upset tummy. He has given him 2 weeks worth of Metrovis to slow down digestion, hopefully stopping the runs, he is then to stop them and see what happens. If it happens again maybe he needs to be on it for life.
Regarding his teeth, the vet agreed we leave alone, they are very bad and totally stink, but he thinks unfair to put him under for a dental. He even went to bite when vet looked!
Loxicom he's to stay on as the vet believes it is best for him as a painkiller and it's not caused the runs, but obviously stopping the pain. His stomach lump slightly bigger and we have been told he could have days or months left, but he will go down hill very quickly when the cancer is causing major issues. We will of course keep a close eye on him.
Positive note Alfie very happy and pain free, loves his mushy grub and even played with toy today
Then a week later:-
Alfie is like bloody puppy! He's been playing with the others! He loves a game of bitey face and loves grub. He can only eat soft food and special soft treats and can be grumpy git at night but not a problem he's very loved and pain free. We love his attitude!
His tummy totally settled on meds so we are starting to reduced them and will continue monitoring if he needs to go back onto them.
22nd September 2024
A update on Alfie, the Hound who came to us after being found with his owner who had sadly passed away.
He's doing really well in foster; he is confused and a sad boy which is understandable, but he's being loved and left to get on with whatever he would like to do. He's enjoying time outside and will watch the other resident hounds.
We now have his date of birth and he is 11 years old.
Alfie has had his vet check. His teeth need a lot of attention but at the moment we, the vet, foster mum and the team, are all in agreement that we let Alfie settle emotionally before we consider any treatment for his teeth. He has medication to help with the pain and will have soft food.
The reason why we are not rushing into any surgery for his teeth, is because Alfie is a very poorly boy. The vets carried out a scan on his tummy (which they did at no charge) and have sadly found that Alfie has a large cancerous growth on spleen which may have spread. This would explain extended stomach and him being uncomfortable.
Alfie has (from what we have managed to glean from vet records) historically suffered with bad ear infections, this has certainly come back; has had bouts of pancreatitis so his diet needs to be looked at.
So the plan for Alfie is to keep him happy and comfortable; wait until he has emotionally settled and then re-visit what his options are. We are devastated to say though, at present Alfie's option seems to be to keep him comfortable, pain free and look after him until he tells us it's time for his final journey. We do not believe that Alfie would be well enough to undergo exploratory surgery and from the scan even if we did decide on this, we do not believe surgery will help him.
We hope you all agree that this is best for Alfie? We will of course keep in close contact with his vet and ensure he does not suffer at all.
If you would like to donate to Alfie’s care, the link to do so is below.
We also have this fabulous raffle running for Alfie and all the other hounds in our care if you would like to buy a ticket.
https://brngb.org/blog/please-welcome-goldie
https://brngb.org/support-brngb/donate
18th September 2024
Please give a big BRNGB welcome to Alfie.
We were contacted this afternoon by a dog warden who had been contacted by the police after finding Alfie in his home with his owner who had sadly passed away.
The warden asked if we were able to collect Alfie rather than him to go to kennels as the owners family were unable to take him. We of course were willing to assist and within a couple of hours one of our fabulous transport angels was on route to meet the police at the house and collect Alfie. The collection had been arranged with the blessing of Alfie's owner's family.
We don't know how long Alfie had been on his own, the Police had been going in and feeding him and also a neighbour had been going into him. We understand that when Alfie and his owner were found he was very protective of her and guarded her against the police. Our transporter has reported that he is a very loving hound and seems to be very happy to have human company, we hope his nature continues in this manner as we're sure he's been very stressed over the last few days.
He's literally arrived in foster in the last few minutes and is very scared and nervous which is totally understandable. He will be given time to relax and decompress.
We have also managed to make contact with a friend of his owner who has managed to fill in some blanks for us.
We belive he's between 10 and 12 years old. Once he has been to the vets we will know more.
Alfie will be assessed and have any treatment he needs.
Alfie has no belongings with him so we have a wish list below, we have also included a link if you would like to donate to Alfie's care as well as a link to this months fundraiser which will help towards Alfie's care.
**Alfie's wish list has been completed in record time - thank you so much - if you wanted to donate the link is below where you can donate towards his treatment and care instead
Our condolences go out to Alfie's extended family and our thanks to his transport team and his foster who Alfie will be with this evening.