A COUPLE abandoned plans to build their dream home — so they could live with their dogs in a caravan.
Chris Kelly and his wife Ramona Cunningham have also revealed how they’ve gone hungry to feed strays.
The Co Meath pair live with their 12 dogs, who were all abandoned, in a mobile home on the site of what was once going to be their new house — now with kennels for almost 40 rescue dogs.
Ramona said: “We haven’t been able to sit down for a Valentine’s Day meal together in about ten years.”
In the last 16 years, they have sacrificed building a new home, holidays and have even, on occasions, gone to bed hungry after giving the last of their food to dogs found abandoned and in need.
They have given up their sitting room to their own 12 dogs in the mobile, which also houses the cremated remains of five of their pets who passed over the years.
Chris said: “In the early days of our relationship, we decided we would get a dog so we went to a shelter in Collon, Co Louth and of course, went to see a new litter of pups.
“We said we wouldn’t go for a female and even decided beforehand that we would call our new dog Jamie.
“We were there five minutes and a female pup walked over to Ramona.
“She picked him up and wouldn’t put him down again. We still called the pup Jamie.
“We were walking out of the shelter and Ramona looked back and saw all the old dogs that no-one wanted and she cried all the way home. And that was that.”
They had a site at Coolronan, Ballivor for their house with planning permission but that was as far as it went.
Ramona laughed: “We just pumped everything we had into saving dogs and rehoming them so we didn’t have any money to build but we have no regrets. We have heating and light in the mobile and no mortgage to pay.
“It was tough because whatever we earned, we spent on the rescue so some days we did go to bed hungry ourselves back then so the dogs would be fed.”
The couple believe they have saved and rehomed thousands of dogs over the years.
Chris said: “We don’t take rehoming lightly though and Ramona should’ve been a detective because she does more research on the new owners than the dogs.
“We had at one stage 100 dogs here but it was too much because we couldn’t give them all the attention they deserve so we have 37 here at the minute outside and 12 of our own taking up the sitting room in the mobile. At the minute, one is snoring here on the bed with me.”
VETS BILLS
They admit the vets bills can be daunting but say the experts they work with are great, as are people who give donations of food for the dogs and funding towards the hefty medical expenses.
They said: “The local vets are amazing and we have never been under pressure to pay the bills. We give what we can, when we can and we charge a rehoming fee which all goes to pay off the costs. Also we run boarding kennels, so it all helps keep our heads above the water.
“People are really good as well in donating bags of nuts for the dogs. We couldn’t do it without them.”
“We just pumped everything we had into saving dogs and rehoming them so we didn’t have any money to build but we have no regrets. We have heating and light in the mobile and no mortgage to pay.”
Ramona Cunningham
Chris and Ramona are hoping to have a romantic St Valentine’s Day dinner but they won’t be holding their breath.
Ramona said: “That’s the plan but we haven’t been able to make it work for about ten years.
“We would be sitting down at the starters and the phone would ring about a stray or abandoned dog and we then would be looking for it for about two hours so there’d be no point in coming home and heating a main course.”
‘OUR BABIES’
Chris laughed: “The dogs get more than me at times anyway. I came home to a package at Christmas with 12 Santa hats for the dogs!
“Our dogs are our babies. The very first three dogs that we had were extra special and their graves are here outside and we have about five urns here of cremated remains of other loved dogs since then.
“We have seen some really bad cases of animal abuse. We rescued a boxer once who was so emaciated, I don’t know how he survived. His kidneys were like pulp because he was surviving on drips of water coming in through a hole in the roof of the shed where he was kept. He lasted nine months with us before he passed away.
“It doesn’t matter if the dogs get three extra days, three extra months or three extra years in their lives, as long as they spend it in comfort with us, then that’s all that matters. No dog dies here hungry or cold.
“There’s only Ramona and I here so we will carry on giving our love to every dog we can save and rehome for as long as we can.”
Discover more from World Byte News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
