Hopeful update on surviving pups

First test results have just come in and they do not have Parvo, Giardia: or Cryptosporidium, so they no longer have to be barrier nursed to protect other dogs from possible contagion, which is a relief and will help to keep the cost of treatment within reasonable limits. They're brighter and starting to be interested in playing, but still not eating well, so the next few days will be crucial.

If anyone would like to make a donation towards their treatment costs this can be done via your mobile.

Text the message PETS00 £10 to 70070 to donate £10 to RSPCA Cambridge. Your phone provider will add £10 to your bill and send £10 to our bank account. If you are a UK taxpayer and you complete the gift aid options we will receive an additional £2.50 at no cost to you.

Alternatively you can donate online using a credit card via

 http://www.justgiving.com/rspcacambridge/donate

Update on the abandoned puppies

They're still hanging on, although the smallest is very poorly with both vomiting and diarrhoea. The vets at the surgery where they were left have very kindly offered to contain costs at £400 for the whole litter so  that they can be given the best possible chance of survival. The fact that only the weakest puppy is vomiting gives a bit of hope that whatever infection they have is not parvovirus, which would be the worst scenario.

The pups look as though they are rottweiler crossed with something else, possibly German Shepherd. The person who left them did at least put them somewhere where they'd be likely to be found and given treatment, but this is yet another example of the potentially dire consequences of breeding animals without having the resources to deal with potential problems.

Bottom line: it is enormously more expensive to deal with any of the multiple things that can go wrong with pregnant or very young animals than it is to spay or neuter.

Update 7th October

Sadly the vets contacted us just after midnight this morning to say the smallest puppy had died.

Vinyls!

Many thanks to the donor of about four hundred vinyl records. We started the mammoth task of getting them out on the shop floor today.  We're now about half-way through and have already raised over £70 from the first sales.

Thank-you also to Nicola and Michael who shipped the first two loads over to our Burleigh Street shop and to Anton for going through them checking for the most collectible ones which are likely to be worth more than the rest. I never knew before that some vinyls were made from white plastic instead of the usual black (they look rather like white chocolate) and are collectible because they're unusual.

We hope (if Nicola and Michael can bear it) to transfer the second half next Saturday and put them out on the shop floor at Burleigh Street on the Sunday.