Galgo News

Category: Advice

  • Help feed the rescued galgos and podencos in Spain

    BettysBetty’s Original are purveyors of natural dog food which is wheat, gluten and dairy free and is particularly good for rescue dogs, who have very often been abandoned and had to scavenge for whatever they can find to stay alive.

    I’m pleased to say they have kindly offered a special reduced price deal to readers of Galgo News whereby if you order dog food through them, you can nominate it to be delivered to either Tina Solera, Perros del Sol at Los Infiernos Refuge, who has rescued dozens of abandoned galgos during the course of the last 12 months, or Charl del Rio, who has three or four dogs in kennels until they are adopted.

    All you need to do is click on this link to the Betty’s Original site and you will see the two rescue centres you can help.

    Click on either of the two boxes, Perros del Sol for Tina or 112 Carlota Galgos for Charl. Then click on ‘My Account’ and create an account.

    It is as easy as that! Betty’s will then contact your nominated person and find out what food they desperately need at that particular point in time. You can pay either by credit card or Paypal. Any problems, email Betty’s Original direct.

  • Podenca Andaluz Bebe – off on an adventure in rural France!

    Animal Images 2008 070 250 Yet another story about a podenco! This time it is about mine, little Bebe, my Podenca Andaluz, rescued injured from a Seville motorway 2 1/2 years ago. My vet operated on her injured leg, and now Bebe is the fastest Pod on 4 legs!! I haven’t been able to train her to come to me when she is outside of the house, the vet thought she was about 5 or 6 when rescued, so probably too old to train. So when we walk the dogs, Bebe is on a harness and long lead, and then on a long tether on a long line when in the courtyard with the other dogs. Our courtyard is enclosed for galgos and Podenco Canarios and Ibicencos, but not the miniatures. We have to leave one or two small escape routes for our cat, in case she ventures into the courtyard when the dogs are loose.

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  • Botulism in dogs – a warning to owners

    Interesting article sent to me. It’s got me thinking, since I have horses and hay. And lurcher Floyd got to a dead leveret before me the other day, and devoured it.

    Symptoms described here.

  • Holiday postcards get out of Spain – donated parcels for shelters can’t get in!

    Correos Spanish postal service 190 As you know, during the autumn and winter I mention how much the associations and refuges in Spain need dog coats for the thin-coated galgos to survive the severe winter night-time temperatures.

    For anyone considering sending dog coats to Spain, please be careful to use a courrier service or a galgo rescue association outside of Spain to ensure safe delivery of the parcel.

    Spain is often described to me by those who live there as a Third World Country; this is an example of the corruption and red tape existing in the postal service.

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  • New Year fireworks can frighten dogs – Baas Galgo suggests Bach Flower Remedies

    For those of you with dogs, especially galgos and greyhounds, Sandra Baas of Baas Galgo has some advice on keeping the canines calm.

  • Denouncing Animal Cruelty in Spain – What To Do

    This is what The Bright Eyes Society says you should do if you come across a case of animal cruelty in Spain.

  • The correct paperwork – identification of a Spanish dog

    Mo Swatek is founder and president of Pro-Galgo. She lives and works in Spain and has considerable experience of the plight of the galgos, as well as all the other abandoned dogs there. Her association has rehomed many of their rescued dogs abroad, including the UK where the DEFRA requirements of taking a dog into the UK are very strict.

    She has written an explanation (in Spanish and German) on her website of the procedures to be followed by the shelters and refuges in Spain with regard to the microchipping and vaccination of all and any dogs which are intended to be taken out of Spain for rehoming, including their transportation, and it is up to the different rescue associations to make sure that, for every dog they take, its EU canine passport and paperwork are correct.

    She says ‘ I work only and exclusively with people that are members of PRO-GALGO INTERNATIONAL and can be trusted. I was fed up of being cheated by rescue groups, not paid, not receiving any adoption fees and not having any information about the whereabouts of our ex dogs… and finding out that no home checks had been done etc etc’.

    Everyone is concerned to help the galgos and podencos escape their lives of hell in Spain, but it is vital that all of us who take one of these deserving and loving dogs check as far as we possibly can that their paperwork is in order, including the passport carrying a photo of the dog.

  • What Killed Karmel?

    So many of you have followed the regular updates on the progress of Karmel’s health, since we first visited the vet with her in April 2008. What killed her?

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  • Pemphigus Foliaceous – Update on Galga Karmel

    30/01/09 Update on Karmel, my galga Espagnol, who has been suffering from a terrible genetic disease for nearly a year now.

    Karmel PF 0109.1 300
    We have been backwards and forwards to the vet. Karmel had been doing very well on Megasolene, 3/4 pill morning and evening. We then introduced Imurel, which is the human treatment for this disease, which does not have any side effects. Unfortunately, after a week, the disease started to break out on Karmel’s face again. We therefore had to increase the dose of megasolene to control this.

    On Wednesday Karmel’s breathing rose to 19 per minute, not exhorbitantly high, but also noisy. Straight off to the vet again. Blood test and X-ray.

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  • Update on Karmel and Pemphigus Foliaceous

    Update on Karmel 22/12/08

    Karmel visited the vet again last week, for a 2nd blood sample for analysis. The results of this blood analysis will be compared with the one a month ago, to see what effect, if any, the megasolene medication is having on her liver.

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