Meet our permanent residents Meet our much-loved permanent residents who have a home here for the rest of their natural life. If you feel you would like to donate towards their care please click on the button and "Fill a Dish" Our Horses HOLLAND is a friendly giant. At 17.2 hands he is the biggest of our equines, a 21 year old Sports Horse with a lovable, sweet nature. Holland has ringbone (like really bad arthritis) and he was given up by his owners because of this condition. He loves his food and shows his impatience at feed time by banging on his stable door. He slops his food all over his door and his other equine friends slurp it up. He is inseparable from Bella, his very best friend. BELLA is a 17 year old horse. She came to us because her owner found her difficult to ride and her future was very uncertain. Bella has injuries to her back legs which cause stiffness, but she enjoys her quiet life with Holland. She is super-friendly and very well-behaved. Bella has had an eye removed, as she suffered from uveitis, inflammation of the iris, a painful condition which sadly didn't respond to medication. She manages really well with one eye. Our Ponies SHADOW is a Welsh Section A breed. She was an unwanted pet. A 16 year-old, she is cheeky and can be bossy. Patience is not her strong point – she makes it quite clear that the staff don't do anything quickly enough for her, whether it's feeding, leading her in and out or starting her grooming. She loves being brushed, and can't get enough cuddles. She's well aware that she's a pretty girl, and poses readily for the camera, looking over her shoulder and showing off her beautiful eyelashes. At 33 years old, MINDY the Shetland Pony is our oldest equine. She can be grumpy (can't we all?) probably due to her age. She has a condition called 'Cushings' – a problem with the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. She loves kisses and cuddles and we love her independent streak. Her previous owner was moving home and couldn't take her with her. TEABAG (so-called because he decided he liked the taste of teabags when he first came to us) is a 14 year old Shetland Pony. He's cheeky and mischievous, and loves his carrot and apple treats (no tea-bags allowed!). His confidence shines through, so he needs a strong leader to keep him in line. He loves going to fundraising events for us, as he basks in all the attention he gets. He came to us with Mindy. BASIL is our 4 year-old mini Shetland, super-cheeky and full of fun. As he's still young, he can nibble at times, and especially likes chewing the backs of people's knees! He was abandoned, and hard to re-home because he needs special fencing because he's so tiny. He loves Teabag, who treats him like an annoying little brother. Basil is currently out on loan. BAILEY is a Welsh Cob X Shetland. He was an RSPCA cruelty case, found abandoned in a field, having rocks thrown at him. No wonder he gets a little nervous – Bailey has been through a lot. When he gets to know you, he loves cuddles and is sweet and gentle. He had to have an eye removed, as he came to us with cataracts which had deteriorated and become painful. He can be a cheeky 'bruiser' with the other ponies. DOMINO, who is Bailey's best friend, is a Welsh X breed. He had been abandoned and came to us via the RSPCA. He is 11 years old, cheeky and completely obsessed with food. He's had to have laser treatment for benign skin tumours on his underside. CHESTER was abandoned in the area as a foal, he is now around 11 and is currently out on loan. A lovely straightforward pony he is enjoying life as a companion to another pony. Our Donkey DAISY is 10 years old, and was rescued from slaughter to be a companion for our now deceased old donkey, Zoe. Unusually, because she thinks she's a horse, Daisy doesn't miss the companionship of other donkeys and loves being in the fields with all her horsey friends. She loves being around humans, and likes biting people's hair. She'll playfully pull down your hood if you stand too close. She loves bear hugs, and rests her head on your shoulder to get the best thrill. She enjoys coming to our fundraising collections, especially at Christmas, when she gets to wear her special bells. Her best friend is Shadow. Fill a dish for our Horses & Donkeys Our Site Cats Because they're not ideal for re-homing (with some exceptions - please enquire), our site cats live with us furrever and have lots of freedom to roam all around the Sanctuary and beyond. FLUFFY one of our oldest residents who lived for many years in the barn hiding from people now enjoys life inside the site cat area. She shares a room with lookalike Ralph, the door is open in the day and she has her freedom to come and go, but at night they are in and we close the door to keep these oldies very safe. RALPH Another lovely very elderly cat, brought into us as a stray. He is here enjoying life for as long as he wants and lives with Fluffy over night but often seen out and about enjoying himself in the daytime. KEN is a lovely big ginger cat who has made himself very at home here. Problems with his liver which require monitoring frequently mean his stay here is long term and so he enjoys spending his time with the other site cats and has taken it upon himself to become close friends with Madi. They can often be found playing about in the grass outside. RUDOLF just turned up at the sanctuary 7 years ago (he knew what he was doing!). He's shy, but loves his food and is best caught at breakfast time if we want to vaccinate or worm him. He's often found curled up asleep in the kitchen. JOSIE (11-ish) was found, semi-feral, in a lorry engine with her 2 kittens. The kittens were re-homed successfully, but Josie is still very nervous and can't be stroked. Her grey markings are distinctive and she's a very beautiful cat. DAPHNE was 3 years old when she came to us from the Vet in 2017. She was found at Sale Golf Club with a tail injury. She's frankly a bit eccentric, very playful, but not keen on being stroked. She prefers to live in the horse barn helping staff member Eloise with her work. MITTENS is our oldest cat resident at 17+ years old and she has lots of attitude. She has mellowed over the years and can be lovely – on her own terms - and accepts cuddles when she feels like it. She has a wheat allergy and is on a special diet. VICTOR VON DOOM is one of two recently released site cats. Being semi feral he is very shy. Occasionally when its quiet we see him about , he is very similar to Josie in colouring and we think around 12 years old. We know he comes inside at night as we have captured images on a camera trap borrowed for that purpose. MADI is a 1 year old Bengal who came to us via the vet. She has suffered spinal trauma which has made her doubly incontinent, but she's gradually showing improvement. She is a beautiful young cat, very friendly and affectionate but also very naughty. She loves to poke her nose into everything so we have to be very careful not to shut her in one of the containers or cupboards when we lock up. STAN strictly speaking not a new site cat as he was released by us many years ago but at that time he decided sanctuary life was not for him and he moved himself away. Recently we were contacted by a gentleman who was relocating and who had been feeding a shy cat. On capture we discovered this was Stanley. So he came back to us,had a health check and a dental and was re released.This time he has stuck around but he only comes in at night, again caught on the camera trap but at least we know he is fit well and can access food and warmth. Stanley is mainly black with some white on his chest. STANLEY At around 10 years old Stanley is a British Short Hair. He has digestive issues making rehoming difficult in a private setting. He loves to take up this sleeping position - he says he is very comfortable! Fill a dish for our Site Cats Our Pigs GILBERT is something of a TV star, as he featured on Granada Reports some years ago (see our Facebook page). This was because Gilbert, who is a X Pot Bellied pig, started life as a house pig. He was brought up with 2 dogs, treated just as they were, rolling over for a tummy tickle and loving dog biscuits. He came to us in 2013 aged 2 years and we began the process of encouraging him to be a pig! We're getting there. More facts about Gilbert: He's very popular with visitors - and with our big horse Holland, who loves to lick him. He snores, loves splashing in his paddling pool and being brushed with a yard brush. Because of his light colouring and the fact that he doesn't have much hair, we smear sun tan lotion on him in the summer. His dental hygienist has to scrape his tusks down every year to keep him comfortable. He sometimes has a weight problem (he weighs 85 kilos) and has been on the occasional diet, but generally he has gourmet dinners of fruit and veg. He particularly likes plain popcorn, and scrambled eggs with peppers and courgettes! He also loves being fed yoghurt (low fat of course) off a spoon. Because he's a smart cookie, we make him work for his treats by putting them in puzzle boxes. It doesn't take him long to break in! BELLA, not to put too fine a point on it, has terrible manners and a real attitude but we love her. She seemed very sweet when we saw her first as a possible companion for Gilbert, but she had a personality transplant when she came to us. She is the BOSS. She weighs 110 kilos and proceeded to trash her paddling pool when she first arrived. She loves to pull the straw out of her bed, walk it round the field, then put it back in her arc. She eats for England, and especially likes yoghurt and popcorn. We give her super-difficult challenges by hanging her food up in boxes where she can let rip and tear them to bits. When the mood takes her, she flops down on the floor for tummy tickles. She likes wallowing in the mud, and despite her moodiness, she loves Daisy the Donkey. Fill a dish for our Pigs Our Feathered Friends We have Garth the cockerel, 5 hens and 6 ducks who are enjoying a happy retirement with us. Garth and the hens Garth, the cockerel is a perfect gentleman, and looks after his girls with great care. The hens are very cheeky and confident, coming into the cat barn through the cat flaps and eating grapes, corn on the cob and whatever other goodies the staff have in their lunch packs. They're big fans of mealworms and come running at teatime when the staff clap their hands. They all mix well with the site cats. Pedro and the ducks Our biggest feathered friend is Pedro, a male Muscovy duck. He weighs 5 kilos and was found stray in a garden (Muscovy ducks are tree ducks in the wild). His favourite food is shredded kale. His friend Paloma was brought to us after cruel treatment. The 2 Indian Runner ducks are Hoisin and Puddle. Like Duracell bunnies these 2 are always on the go, burrowing in mud for tasty titbits, and they are at their happiest when it has been raining and there are puddles all over the Sanctuary. They love mealworms and corn on the cob. Miss Coco Butter Polish chicken Miss Coco Butter is a law unto herself. She came into us as her previous companions had died. She absolutely loves to be alone and keeps away from our other chickens and ducks. She can often be found keeping Gilbert the pig company or sat on the shoulder of a member of staff! Fill a dish for our Chickens & Ducks