Alfie

Alfred was a very special soul and possibly had the longest list of nicknames to have ever exist. He was born on a truck headed for the abattoir and along with his new best friend Phoebe. Thankfully the driver didn’t want to leave him at the slaughterhouse and he travelled in the truck’s Dog box all the way down the highway until he reached our loving arms.

On arrival it was clear Alfie did not feel as well as his Phoebe. He had a clearly injured leg and looked very sad, so we administered some pain relief and made an urgent vet appointment the following day. After tests and scans it was revealed Alfie had a broken leg along along with severe bruising. When you are a small baby born on a moving truck with hundreds of terrified Ewes, it’s very easy to be trampled. His troublesome leg was cast and cared for but healing was just not progressing, we were left with the choice to either have Alfie put to sleep or to proceed with amputation of the affected leg, we knew surgery was the right choice.

Alfie lived as a very successful and speedy Tripod for 2 and a half years before an unknown illness set in. We thought we had helped him to recover and he had been well for several months after recovery but it seems the damage internally had drastically shortened his life. Despite spending several nights at the Equine hospital who cared so well for our Sheep man, monitoring him 24/7, performing tests, treatments and even a blood transfusion thanks to Gypsy and Astrid’s blood donation, Alfie’s body was shutting down. We received a middle of the night call advising he had taken a bad turn with no chance of recovery, so the decision was made to assist in ending his suffering. I have never experienced a heartbreak like losing Alfie. He radiated love and joy. He was a sweet, happy and cheeky gentleman who lit up our hearts everyday. We miss him dearly and only wish he could have stayed earthside much longer.

We are enormously grateful we were gifted the privilege of calling this special man our friend.