ZENA (named for racing as Purple Pixie)
Sex/colour: Female Fawn
D.O.B: July 1998
Last recorded owner: Not found
Last recorded trainer: Not found
Races contended: None found
Stadium: traced to Yarmouth
Last recorded race: N/A
Came to AfG: June 2002
ZENA (named by AfG) was brought to our attention when a couple on a
council housing estate contacted us, as they and other neighbors were
concerned for the welfare of a Greyhound, kept in a 2nd floor flat,
being left for hours day and night.
They heard whining,yelping and banging noises coming from the flat and
rarely saw the occupant and noticed the Greyhound was hardly ever out
for a walk.
We visited the flat, 3 times over various hours of a day and heard the
poor Greyhound whining.
On our last visit late evening, it was obvious no one was at home,as
there was no response to our visits, we left a note, asking the occupant
of the flat to contact us.
The neighbors also caught the woman entering the flat and told her we
had visited several times noting how long the Greyhound was left.
The following day, we were contacted by a man who arranged to hand the
Greyhound over to us.
We met the man and the Greyhound outside of the flat, he said he did not
own the dog, she belonged to his girlfriend who was mostly staying in
his home with him and that she left the Greyhound in the flat as it was
not clean indoors.
With information gained from neighbors, it was believed the poor
Greyhound had been kept at the flat for at least one month.
We had a foster home for Zena to go straight to and once there, the meet
up with the resident rescued hounds went very well.
Zena seemed just tramatised when we picked her up, being left alone for
hours in a flat with no access to the outside and no human or canine
company, this was to be expected.
Zena settled in well in her foster home, enjoying the company of the
resident hounds and access to a garden and long walks with lots to
explore in the outside world.
After a settling in period Zena was neutered.
Sometime later, Zena had a fit at home and emptied her bowels and
bladder and tried to bash her head on the wall, so she was taken outside
in the garden, away from the other hounds, to stop her doing harm to
herself.
The fit ended with Zena exhausted, followed by a long sleep.
A few days later was the 2nd occurrence, luckily when a foster carer was
at home, the same procedure followed until the fit ended.
The next day Zena went to our vets and blood tests were taken.
The only diagnosis at the time, was that Zena had experienced epilectic
seizures, this could have resulted after experiencing some sort of
trauma injury to her head.
We explained to our vet all we knew about Zena so far and that we found
no racing records for her, so knew nothing of her background apart from
the neglect she had suffered in the flat.
Zena was put onto epilepsy medication, followed by careful monitoring in
her foster home and regular vet visits and blood tests.
We did some research and although no racing owner or trainer was listed,
we did find information at Yarmouth Greyhound stadium that Zena had at
one time belonged to Greyhound breeder/owner/trainer Carl Appleton and
there were notes that Zena had possibly had a bad reaction to an annual
booster (which Greyhounds racing at licensed tracks must have annually).
Apparently the vet at the track noticed Zena having a fit and decided
she could not compete in races.
Allegedly Appleton was trying to get compensation from the company who
made the inoculations but it could not be proved this caused the fit.
Luckily, Zena was in a foster home where there would always be one
member of the family at home so Zena would not be alone if more fits
occurred.
After several vets visits and blood tests, our vet was happy that Zena
had the correct amount of epilepsy medication to keep her fitting under
control.
So Zena continued to enjoy her life of freedom and fun.
Sadly a few weeks later, Zena had another fit at home, it was very bad
this time and she did not recover quickly like before
We took Zena to our vets, who declared her ‘brain dead’ she was in a
coma and nothing could be done for Zena but for the vet to let her go.
We were all heartbroken for Zena, as she had such a bad start and
finally found the great life she so deserved, only for her life to be
tragically cut short.
Zena was only age 3 1/2 years when she came into the care of AfG.
We are not sure if Zena received harsh treatment from her so called
‘owner’ at that flat, as left for so long, Zena would have no choice
than to have toileted in there and if she had fitted in there all on her
own this would have caused her to toilet, and had possibly been beaten
because of it, sadly we cannot prove or change that but we were relieved
the neighbors showed concern for Zena and contacted AfG, at least for a
short time,Zena experienced love,respect and comfort.
All the time Zena was in her foster home(apart from when she fitted) she
was clean in the home and friendly with all other dogs and people.
We know Zena had at least one fit before she was given away and as the
previous ‘owner’ knew so, he was still more than happy to offload her.
Photos below show Zena settling into her foster home and out having fun.
Photo above shows Zena in AfGs care, loved,happy and well cared for.
