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Introducing Roo - a very lucky little lamb!

Roo is a Blue Faced Leicester. He was brought to the Liverpool rescue by a supporter who found him laying at the side of a road in Wales, in a very poor condition and unable to stand.

When Roo arrived with us the joints of his legs were badly swollen and very hot.  He was diagnosed as having a severe infection that attacks via the animals umbilical cord and can potentially spread throughout the whole body.  Our vets felt it very unlikely that Roo would survive!

However ... this is Freshfields and we don't give in when it's obvious the animal in question is not yet ready to give up the fight!

Luckily little Roo found himself a very determined foster mum, in the form of Collette, one of our kennels staff.  Collette nursed Roo around the clock, taking him into her home with the rest of the family (see pic of Roo on a blanket with Jack Russel cross Tilly), giving him food, warmth, medicine and love and in a few short weeks he was staggering around on his swollen legs.

Hydrotherapy was recommended and a bath was set up on the farm and filled with water so that Roo could exercise his legs without placing weight on them.  Our vets were still very sceptical and Collette was warned not to get to attached to him as there was still no guarantee he would fully recover.  It was of course too late to say 'Don't get attached' the damage was already done!

Anyway ... Roo has come on in leaps and bounds (well not literally, but he is nearly there)!  We didn't want to share his story widely too soon for fear of jinxing him, but he appears to be doing really well. He has grown an awful lot, the painful swelling in his knees has virtually disappeared and he spends most of his days ambling around the field with his mates Ballerina, Rowland & Larry. Larry is another of this years rescues, a Scottish Black face who was brought all the way from (you guessed it) Scotland because he had a broken foot and was otherwise to be destroyed.  Larry is also doing well, a little too well if the size of his belly is anything to go by!  The two of them are great pals.

As always, Freshfields is very grateful for any donations received for the care of the animals, including our little friends on the farm.

More photo's to follow!