Rehabilitating Roxy
Anything you are able to donate today will help us continue our work rehabilitating and rehoming more pets like Roxy.
Fragile, mistreated, malnourished, frightened, hungry… Sadly, these are words that have been used regularly over the last year to describe some of the animals arriving at our centres. Roxy is one such animal.
If you’re local to NAWT Clacton, you may have already heard about Roxy the Dogue de Bordeaux and if you have, I imagine you will have been as appalled and horrified as we were by the state she’d been left in.
Usually a mild-mannered yet enormous and powerful force of nature, we’d expect a dog of Roxy’s breed to weigh a minimum of 45kg. However, Roxy arrived looking painfully thin with low muscle mass, and barely reached 30kg.
The sight of such a gentle giant fading away is a haunting image that stays with you for a long time. It’s something you never become immune to, no matter how many years you work in an animal rescue environment or how many cases of neglect you see. It never gets easier.
That being said, another thing that will never cease to amaze us is an animal’s capacity to maintain complete faith in humans, regardless of their history. Roxy is a prime example.
With her big soulful eyes, she makes it abundantly clear that all she desperately wants is a person to love her and true to her breed traits, she has already bonded closely with the staff who have cared for her, showering them with slobbery love and affection regularly.
Since arriving at NAWT, Roxy has received special dietary care to help her gradually gain essential weight without sending her body into shock. Her energy levels have increased with proper nutrition, and she’s starting to look like a healthy young Dogue de Bordeaux should. At the time of writing, she’s made it to 43kg and will soon embark on her next adventure, enriching the life of a person she can call her own.
The American Kennel Club says of the Dogue de Bordeaux:
"This dog makes an excellent companion, deeply devoted to their owners. They’re calm, affectionate, docile, and steady"
This perfectly describes gorgeous Roxy, so we’re confident it won’t be long before someone sees what a wonderful addition she will make to their home.
Roxy’s story is just one from an increasing number of pets arriving with significant medical and/or behavioural conditions, which urgently need addressing.
What this means for rescue centres like ours is that not only do vet bills remain high but the average length of an animal’s stay before they can find a home increases (dogs from 31 days in 2022 to 50 in 2023, and cats from 22 days in 2022 to 30 in 2023) along with the associated costs to feed, board and care for them.
This has led to the average cost to care for a homeless pet at NAWT increasing by £273 per animal!
With your backing, NAWT will keep offering animals like Roxy a safe haven where they can put past traumas behind them and begin to heal. So, on behalf of Roxy and all those like her, we must ask you again to please continue to support our work with a donation today. To a heartbroken and homeless pet like Roxy, it means more than you can ever know.
Thank you.