This story shows how important our amazing foster mamas are! When we find tiny abandoned puppies, or kittens, one of our foster mamas steps in, takes them into their home (and their heart), and cares for them as a mama would…… this means feeding every couple of hours, day and night, watching them carefully for any health problems, and doing everything in their power to make sure the little ones grow up to be healthy and strong so that they can be adopted. Sometimes the dogs or cats that need foster mamas are in a bad way, and need a lot of extra love, time and patience to help them heal and be ready for re-homing, without these amazing people we would be lost.

This is the story of Minnie (formerly known as Naomi).

We had a phone call from a tourist, who was on holiday in Sitia, and she had found a tiny little ball of fur behind her hotel. One of our volunteers went and met her, and this is when Minnie entered our lives…. She was tiny… not even a month old…. So we knew that she would need a foster mama if she stood a chance to make it….

Maria Proistaki is one of our amazing ladies who will often take in these little angels and be their foster mama’s, and this time she took in little Minnie….

Maria took little Minnie home, and set her up with a little bed, and safe area, i say safe area, as it is important that she doesn’t wander all over the house, and it helps her learn to use the puppy pad for her toilet.

And so begun the long days and nights, with feeding every 3-4 hours, and making sure she felt loved and was ok. This meant that if Maria needed to go out somewhere and would be missing for a few hours, she would either take little Minnie with her, or arrange a puppy sitter for her.

Once she had been with Maria for around a month, she was strong enough to meet Marias other 2 dogs…… Minnie thought this was amazing… as you will see further below there is a big size difference between Minnie and Marias dogs! this did not stop her for one minute….. charging around and causing all sorts of mischief…. she definitely thinks that she is a lot bigger than she actually is!

Little Minnie was doing great! and was now ready to start looking for a new home… so her photos were put on our facebook, instagram and website…. and the waiting begins…. Whilst she was waiting, she was having a lovely life with her foster mama and family… playing, going for walks and even went to the beach!

And it was the last photo that actually caught her future mamas eye!

A good friend of Tracee Walton happened to be with her, when i sent her some photos of little Minnie…. A lovely lady names Caroline Gill. Who had previously had a Greek rescue dog named Arthur, who unfortunately had passed away earlier this year…

She saw little Minnie and feel in love straight away!

This is the hard part of being a foster mama…… normally when we get the news that a dog is being adopted it is a happy day, but for a foster mama it is a 50/50 sort of feeling….. half super happy, and half super sad…. the little baby that they have had in their life for the past few months (sometimes even longer) is going to be leaving them.

The arrangements where made, and little Minnie would be leaving with the Zounis Pet Travel. An amazing transport company, that transport dogs from Greece to England in a special van, where they have special cages, with blankets and toys. They make regular stops and send updates to all the families waiting at the other end.

Little Minnie would be making a pit stop in Athens first of all, where the wonderful Tracee Walton (once again, helped us a great deal and made all the arrangements for us) would foster little Minnie for a week whilst her paper work was being finalised and her passport prepared.

We were sent regular updates on how Minnie was getting on, through out here journey…. and like the little princess she is, it was not long until she had made her way to the front seat of the van! with a special cushion…

On a cold wet morning she finally reached England, and met her new family…. and it was love at first site for all of them… she has settled in straight away, and is loved more than anything in the world.

We would like to say a huge thank you to:

Tracee Walton: her help and knowledge is invaluable

Maria Proistaki: for being an amazing foster mama, and taking such good care of little Minnie.

Zounis Pet Travel For the brilliant care they take of the animals they transport, we would recommend them to anyone who needed ti transport their beloved pet

And everyone else who helped Minnie.