To kick it off with 12 days to go is Dr Jen O'Dwyer, an amazing veterinarian and member of the Cherished Pets Foundation Board, pictured here with her cherished girl, Cilla.
The beautiful Cilla is a senior rescue dog who has found her forever home with Jen and her partner Bear.
On the eleventh day of Xmas we celebrate the amazing and incredible Twiggy and Snowy Smith and their human, Michelle.
How special these three are to Cherished Pets!
Michelle is a community pet educator, and takes Twiggy and Snowy in to schools to teach children how to behave around dogs, and how to better understand them. Michelle is one of our amazing volunteers who is always so keen to commit her time, and to bring her girls, to CP events.
Thank you Michelle, Twiggy and Snowy for ALL you do for cherished pets everywhere. xxx
On the 10th day of Christmas we bring you the loveable Darcy, (a griffon bruxellois) whose human is Glenda, our CP Community Vet Nurse. Darcy has been getting in to the Xmas spirit with public appearances at our events. Last seen at the Christmas in the Grove last week, where he opted for a snooze on the job in his Santa suit.
Darcy will be at our Wallington's WRG Christmas Fair tomorrow 10am-1pm. Come on down for a Xmas pat.
We love you Darcy. You are a charming boy!
Post your cute, christmas animal photos in the comment section so we can enjoy some festive cuteness!!
On the ninth day of Christmas we bring you Prima Molly, much loved cherished pet of Natalie, our Program Manager!
Molly is a rescue girl who has taught her mum many things and she is our #1 office dog for CP.
Natalie is also a qualified dog trainer and has taught Molly some very cute tricks which they both love to demonstrate at our meetings.
Our glam-girl is loving the photo attention recently and was ever so happy to pose with her decorations for this shot!
We love you Molly xx
On the 8th Dog of Christmas we bring you Jez.
Ah Jez. If he were human he would be Jack Black. A great big goofy loveable boy with a heart of gold and who loves nothing more than a good romp and play with anyone who is willing. He is a package of enthusiasm, kindness and passion for life. As the rescue dog of Emily and Sam, Jez has found his forever loving home. It's taken him a while to trust that life really can be this good, but it is.
We love you Jez. xxx
Our Seventh Dog of Christmas is the formidable Jake!
Jake once belonged to our special Cherished Pets Foundation client, Rob. When Rob moved into a nursing home, we rehomed Jake to a wonderful local family, the Norrish Family, where he is living his best life. Jake is often recognised when they are out and about, reminding us of the special bond shared between Rob, Jake and our community. Our volunteers maintained contact with Rob always, taking Jake for visits including the final farewell at Rob's funeral earlier this year.
Jake emobdies so many things that Cherished Pets exists for, and we are sure that his cherished human, Rob, is smiling down on Jake and his new family this Christmas.
Jake and Rob feature in our CPF video along with John, their special volunteer through 2016-2016. https://www.youtube.com/
We love you Jake! And thank you to EVERYONE who has been a part of "Team Jake" since 2015
Less than a week to go so we're bringing you two Sixth Dogs of Christmas!
Meet Dexter (at the back) and Delilah. Their humans engage Cherished Pets for our case management service - to support them all through life's phases.
Last year Dexter suffered an unusual auto-immune disease that thankfully responded to treatment. However, more recently, the delightful Delilah was sadly diagnosed with an inoperable tumour so she is currently in palliative care.
These two, and their people, are very special to us. We are sending buckets of love for this cherished Christmas
Our Fifth Dog of Christmas is the amazing Jett, cherished black lab of our very special CPF client, Adam.
Adam has been a recipient of CP Foundation's community service project over the past two years which has included general health management and respite care of Jett during times when Adam has been unwell.
Jett is one of those mega-enthusiastic dogs who loves life, and loves everyone. And we all love him! His favourite human is Adam and their favourite thing is going to the beach together. When Adam was unwell, Jett moved with ease to his other humans, CP Volunteers Helen and Justin who continue to stay in close contact.
CP is a family in so many ways. The connections our pets facilitate in our community are huge, and this is one beautiful example of how and where our program facilitates community and new friendships.
Adam and Jett are part of the CP community for always, and we will support them both through all life's phases.
Our Fourth Dog of Christmas is EVER so special. Meet Teddy, or Ted, with his cherished human, Tess.
Literally rescued from doggy death row, Ted has reinvented and rediscovered himself as one of the incredible Otways Conservation Dogswith the Conservation Ecology Centre. His passion for serving his people and his environment is like no other. He is one of the meet and greet canine crew at Great Ocean Ecolodge but loves nothing more than to be on deployment for a quoll poo detection survey in the Otways.
He is a hard working, dinkum, conservation loving boy whose favourite time of day is cuddling up with Tess. They are both looking forward to some well earned down time over Christmas and perhaps a visit from Santa too!
Find out more about the amazing work that Shayne and Lizzie are leading in Cape Otway here: https://www.conservationecologycentre.org
Our Third Dog of Christmas is pint-sized Wonton, a teeny tiny Griffon with big attitude! Wonton is the much cherished pet of one of our amazing photographers, Emma Malone, who supports our activities by capturing beautiful images of our pets and their people to share in our social media and other publicity. Emma ran our pet photo booth at our 2017 Outdoor Cinema Event and Wonton was a star! Always up for a pat, Wonton aspires to celebrity status. Follow her on Instagram at @lilwontonsoup.
We are blessed to be supported by four amazing photographers, so this is our chance to give them a huge shout out of Christmas cheer:
Thank you to Emma Catherine Studios, Rachael Walker Equine and Pet Photography Phil Hines and Great Ocean Road Photography for all you guys do to support Cherished Pets. Without your images we would not be able to bring our stories and good work to the community.
Ask us about our Cherish Sessions too - dedicated professional photographic shoots of pets and their people to capture the beauty of the bond we all share.
Our Second Dog of Christmas is Flo, and this post is dedicated to all our cherished pets who have passed.
Flo was a rescue dog, ex-puppy farm breeding bitch, who found her way into our home and hearts in 2010 and then died from an aggressive cancer in 2015. Years of confinement, poor care and over-breeding took its toll on her ravaged body. Mentally she was also damaged with serious anxiety, but in our family she found acceptance, safety, love and security. While she was never really a fan of the Christmas trimmings she trusted us in all that we did and we can still remember her joyful barking as she played in our garden with our other dogs.
We know that many people in this beautiful community have lost cherished pets in the past year. Today our thoughts are with you and your memories of special times gone by.
Please feel free to post a tribute, or a photo, in the comments section of this post, and let's remember with love our cherished passed pets. xxx
Our First Dog of Christmas is in fact not a dog at all, although Marmalade the Kitten thinks like a dog and we are so in love with this super cute photo that we had to include him somewhere!
We are also mindful of the fact that our social media is often dog-heavy, but we are all about all pets, cats included!! Cats are awesome pets for so many reasons, except when you are trying to decorate the Xmas tree!!
As a tiny kitten Marmalade was rescued from the side of the road by dear friends of CP, Melissa and Julie. How lucky is this cat to have wriggled his way into the hearts and homes of one of the best families for pets on the Bellarine. Also lovely as he literally turned up not long after their other cherished cat tragically died too soon, perfect timing for both this cherished pet and the family. Marmalade's life sure is full of love, joy and good care!
Who else has kitties who love to play in the Xmas decorations .. share your pictures here. We love to see them!
