The Penny Jones Animal Hospice

Penny Jones died just a short while ago. Penny Jones was an in-patient at the Eden Valley Hospice, Carlisle in 2006 following a terminal diagnosis and during this time it became clear that a major source of anxiety and stress for Penny was the future and well-being of her beloved border collies, Mollie and Skye.

She didn't want the dogs to be separated although it would have been easy to find a home for eight year-old Mollie but at 16 Skye was too old to be rehoused.

Penny with Mollie and Skye

The Moorhouse Animal Fund agreed to take the dogs although they would still belong to Penny. With her dogs safe, Penny began to respond to treatment and went into remission for a time.

In the few days before Penny died, Mollie and Skye were taken to see Penny in hospital and the children also came to see them.

During that visit a new project within the Moorhouse Animal Fund was considered which would help other folk who might be in a similar situation to Penny. It seemed right that this project be called The Penny Jones Animal Hospice.

It is a principle of Hospice care that folk are enabled to live the remainder of their liveswith love and support through the careful management of pain. That pain not just physical, it is emotional, social and even spiritual. The nurse at

the hospital where Penny died said that many people struggle with this issue and that for some the worry and anxiety for a much loved pet is greater than for the family who remain!

The Moorhouse Animal Fund continues working with abused and neglected animals providing food and shelter and veterinary treatment where necessary and is now providing the opportunity for the Penny Jones Animal Hospice within the Animal Fund.

Now money has to be raised to build and run a separate facility on site which will be solely for the Penny Jones Animal Hospice. This will be adjacent to a lovely little wooded area where a board walk will be created suitable for people in wheelchairs and where the names of the many animals that have been helped by the Moorhouse Animal Fund in the past will be remembered within a short woodland walk.

The Penny Jones Animal Hospice

Rigghead Cottage, Hethersgill, Carlisle, CA6 6HH, Tel: 01228 675119