Slideshare presentation on volunteer recruitment and retention

From Adopt a Pet in the StatesVolunteering

Not quite what you'll find in most RSPCA branches because the majority of these are directly run by their management committee members, who are all volunteers themselves. However there are lots of tips we could use.

Calling these weasel words...

... would be an insult to weasels everywhere:

The Home Retail Group, of which Argos and Homebase are members, said it was committed to being a responsible retailer. A statement said: "The RSCPA has advised that it has no current recommendation for the size of a hutch for a single rabbit. In our autumn/winter catalogue we do make it clear that hutches should be used in conjunction with a run, we will be amending the website to that effect. We also offer a discount on a run if purchased in conjunction with selected rabbit hutches."

One reason why there is no official recommendation for the size of hutch for a single rabbit is that the RSPCA advises that rabbits should not be kept on their own!

How volunteers help stretch funding

If you use Battersea's income and rehoming figures as a base for making comparisions (One Battersea Unit)  something rather interesting emerges.

The RSPCA's overall animal rehoming is roughly 10 Battersea Units

On top of this we provide roughly half as many animal treatments as the PDSA

Total RSPCA income (including the branches) is roughly 10 Battersea Units and a bit more than half a PDSA unit.

So, on that basis, the rescue and law enforcement services of the Animal Welfare Officers and the education and campaigning activities are virtually thrown in free.

That rather knocks out the complaints that the RSPCA is spending money on prosecutions and campaigning instead of on practical welfare work.

If the branch volunteer network finally gave way under its workload and threw in the towel, I don't think funds could be stretched nearly as far as they are at present.

Wordle Word Cloud

VOLUNTEERS + RSPCA = ANIMALS getting veterinary TREATMENT and REHOMING

Trial Leaflet Drop

One of our neighbouring branches had success in recruiting shop volunteers (and publicising the shop to get more customers) by distributing leaflets to houses in the streets immediately adjacent to the shop. 

The reasoning behind this is that these are the people who would have the fewest practical difficulties getting to the shop to volunteer for a few hours, whereas someone who had a long bus journey or needed to find car parking, would have much more trouble just getting to the shop.

I put out about 150 leaflets on Sunday afternoon and it will be interesting to see what results we get (if any). Plain black and white laser-printed leaflets are very cheap to do (less than 2.5 p each), so if it's successful this may be the way to go to advertise our shops in a targeted way.

Volunteers will be needed for our Newmarket Charity Shop

We hope that the legal negotiations for the lease of our proposed new charity shop  at 10A Market Street in Newmarket are getting close to a satisfactory conclusion.

Once we have the lease we will need more volunteers as soon as possible, not just to help serve in the shop, but also to help with collecting and processing donated goods to get them ready for sale. Our aim is to at least triple the turnover we achieved at the old shop and that will mean an enormous amount of work for the helpers who sort donations; steam clean and price them and finally put them out on the sale racks.

If you live in the Newmarket area and would like to help, please email treasurer@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Deer!

If you see a very small deer, like the one here, in your garden or even walking down the street, it is probably not a baby, but an adult muntjac deer. Muntjac are quite common in Cambridge and, because they are so small, they can survive in habitats that wouldn't support larger grazing animals and they can get through quite tiny gaps. If a deer is actually on the road you can reduce the chance of it being hit by a car if you shoo it off to one side (although there is obviously a risk that you might be sending it off on the wrong side). As the deer are living and breeding in the city it's not desirable to consider catching them and moving them into the countryside.
(click the image to enlarge it) 

What goes around, comes around

Very frustrating day of phone calls. It kicked off with a call about a cat whose owner had got her via the Preloved website. I'm sure she took the cat on with the best of intentions, but the words: "I rescued her from someone who didn't want her and she was in a terrible state," always make my heart sink. Typically the rescuer initially assumes that all the animal needs is feeding up a bit and equally typically it turns out that the previous owner was probably getting rid of it because they couldn't afford the vet bills. (Incidentally the man who bred puppies from a "rescued" bitch in the Panorama program probably got her in this way rather than from a rescue charity).

Late morning produced someone who'd bought a rabbit from a pet shop a few weeks ago; found "a hole" in its leg a few days later and after several days of home remedies decided the rabbit was ill enough to need a vet. Of course by this time every local vet was closed except for the premium-rate out of hours service. From his description I think the rabbit had probably been fighting with un-neutered litter mates and the "hole" was caused by a bite abscess bursting. All I could suggest was that he should ask the pet shop to fund some of the cost of treatment and that he should contact the RSPCA National Control Centre in the hope that they might be able to put some pressure to bear on the shop.

Closed the shop at 5, cashed up and staggered home, then to the supermarket for some food to keep me going over Sunday, just in time to get the latest call while I was browsing the veg. aisle. Four 9 week old puppies, the result of an accidental mating, and all with diarrhoea. On the plus side the owner had got them registered at our clinic on Thursday, so I could put him through to our veterinary provider. Also (for a change!) the pups were cocker spaniels, not more staffys, so if they can get over their digestive problems they ought to find decent homes.

Preloved and Gumtree seem to be getting more and more of a problem in terms of encouraging people to get animals they can't really afford/cope with. It's not easy to see what the solution might be as in some ways it's a good thing if owners rehome unwanted pets themselves rather than expecting animal charities to take them.

The Numbers

In 2009 the RSPCA re-homed 16,659 dogs. It put down 533 healthy dogs because they could not be rehomed — just over three per cent.

In the same year it neutered 24,861 dogs and provided a total of 217,497 low-cost veterinary treatments for pets (cats, dogs and other species).

Three-quarters of all rehoming is done at RSPCA branches, which are all run largely by volunteers.

We desperately need to increase this volunteer base so that no animals have to be turned away.

If you might be interested in joining the RSPCA, visit www.rspca.org.uk/membership or www.rspca.org.uk/volunteer

More thoughts on Britain's Unwanted Pets

In his book and elsewhere Nathan Winograd promoted the concept of the "No-Kill Equation" listing the programs which needed to be set up if a community was to end the destruction of healthy unwanted pets.

We could be so close...

The No-Kill Equation

I. Feral Cat TNR (Trap Neuter Return)

Like everything else this needs more volunteers, money and effort, but the fundamental argument has been won. Virtually no-one catches feral cats to "save" them by putting them down as it's been recognised that they're essentially a wild animal that loosely associates with humans and that the humane thing is to control numbers by neutering.

 
II. High-Volume, Low-Cost Spay/Neuter
Anyone who wants to get their pet neutered and doesn't have enough money can find help somewhere, though they might need to search for it. We've more or less achieved a point where every puppy or kitten bred has a value to someone.


III. Rescue Groups
There are not enough of them, but one positive aspect of the Panorama program was the fact that local authority pounds were ringing round asking if anyone could take animals whose time was running out. There didn't seem to be any reluctance to release pound animals to small rescues to give them a better chance.

It may help that there seems to be a much less confrontational attitude to saving "death row" pound dogs. Pound rescue groups regularly post online begging for homes with details of animals  who will be put down unless a placement is found within the next few days, but I don't think I've ever seen a post that attempted to "name and shame" particular pounds.


IV. Foster Care
Comparatively few pounds operate as animal shelters in quite the way that they do in the USA and animals are normally passed on to other rescue organisations. Battersea and Wood Green are exceptions. The RSPCA, which is one of the largest rehoming organisations for cats and dogs, does three-quarters of its rehoming via the network of volunteer-run branches and it's probably easier in some ways for volunteers to recruit and assess other volunteers as suitable fosterers.

We always need more foster carers, although we may not be very good at getting back to you immediately because we're so overwhelmed with things that need doing.

V. Comprehensive Adoption Programs
Again, because of the heavy involvement of volunteers, it's often actually easier for us to visit adopters and arrange adoptions at weekends and in the evening when more of us are available.
VI. Pet Retention
Absolutely crucial.

I believe this is a very important area where not enough is known about what's happening on the ground. If large numbers of pets are being put down at vets because their owners can't pay for treatment this isn't really any better than if the same animals were handed in to a shelter that then put them down because it didn't have funds for treatment.

The RSPCA runs a network of clinics and animal hospitals, but in many areas there is not much more than a safety net service of assistance with the cost of treatment at private vets. This may not do very much more than make it possible to treat minor problems like infections and flea allergy and to ensure that suffering animals are put down rather than being allowed to die.

This is one of the most expensive things we try to do and it's probably also one that gets relatively little public support because of a feeling that pet owners who don't budget for their animals' treatment are just trying to get something for nothing.

VII. Medical and Behavior Rehabilitation
Again crucial. Most rescues are NOT putting down lots of healthy animals, but they may be putting down animals who could be saved if more funds were available for treatment.

VIII. Public Relations/Community Involvement
Could do better. Most people have only the vaguest idea what the RSPCA does in terms of rehoming and are extremely confused about the difference between us and the PDSA.

IX. Volunteers
See above. The RSPCA and Cats Protection are both large welfare organisations whose rehoming work is very largely done by volunteer effort.

X. Proactive Redemptions
Chipping! There's also a huge public education issue about how to go about searching for a lost cat and the new problem of injured cats being taken long distances from the place where they were found when veterinary treatment is needed late at night when only a few emergency vet centres are open.

XI. A Compassionate Director
One would hope all shelter directors would be compassionate.

Again, the heavy involvement of volunteers (and low pay for dog pound workers) means that no-one is involved in rehoming who isn't doing it for the animals rather than simply as a local government job.

A caveat: it is possible to lean too far in the opposite direction. For some animals there may be worse things than being put down if they are very distressed by being held in kennels and no foster home is available.

Cat and dog toys

Would anyone be willing to donate some cat or dog toys to improve the environment of our rescue cats and dogs while they're waiting to be rehomed? Toys need to be ones which can safely be used unattended (e.g. tough dog toys like the Kong or cat scratching posts/platforms) without anything that could be caught round an animal's neck or swallowed. 

Please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk if you can donate anything suitable.

Many thanks

Border Collie Year Plates - collectors' item

Danbury Mint Border Collie Year Plates

UPDATE: Now Sold

These were generously donated to us by the sister of a border collie enthusiast who died recently. The set of plates featuring border collies through the seasons is complete except that September is missing.

There are three additional non-set plates also featuring border collies.

We're asking £10 per plate (£15 each  for the three older non-series ones) as Danbury plates are £29.95 new, and these are a limited edition. 

Anyone out there with a particular interest in films?

We're looking for a volunteer to revitalise the music and videos section of our charity shop. We sell VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs and vinyl and would like to make a more appealing display that also takes up less of the shop floorspace so we can accommodate more sales items.

If you're interested, please drop in at 61 Burleigh Street any time between 10 am and 5 pm Monday-Saturday.

Britain's Unwanted Pets - Panorama this evening

For anyone who missed it, the program's still available via the BBC iPlayer.

Initial thoughts:

We urgently need the kind of knowledgeable activity to improve rehoming of difficult dogs that exists in the US:

"Though the public believes that dogfighting is the number-one problem facing pit bulls, a 2005 roundtable discussion among rescuers, breeders, and shelters concluded that the greatest challenge is overbreeding, Reynolds said. To combat this trend, BAD RAP works with responsible breeders, encourages breeders to “slow down,” and conducts outreach in communities where pit bulls are the favored pet. Lack of ethnic diversity in animal welfare agencies has historically translated into a dearth of outreach to non-white dog owners, said Reynolds, but her group aims to change that.
Through a program called “Pit Fix,” owners can take advantage of free spay/neuter surgeries for pit bulls at the East Bay SPCA. BAD RAP also offers free vaccination fairs in neighborhoods with high concentrations of pit bulls; owners who attend these events receive free leashes, collars, advice, and the chance to sign up for free spay/neuter surgeries as well.
The programs “create an opening for discussion,” Reynolds said, and they produce results: Last year, 607 pit bulls were sterilized for free in Alameda County, and BAD RAP’s free training classes (which accept dog-aggressive pits) have received an “overwhelming response.” http://www.animalsheltering.org/resource_library/magazine_articles/the_scoop/pit_bulls_dilemma_and_debate.html

What can be done for the much larger and potentially dangerous pit bull ought to be possible for the Staffordshire, but Battersea can't just release dogs they know are potential fighters to inexperienced adopters and let them get on with it.

The problem isn't a straightforward one of "over-population" as Staffordshire puppies are in demand (the program confirmed my own impressions of amounts of money which can be involved). I'm not sure it's even as simple and straightforward as irresponsible owners getting fed up with once their dog's out of the cute puppy stage because lots of the pups actually do stay with their owners and are well-loved and looked after (although they may be a regular expense to veterinary charities). Owners living close to the breadline and in cramped accommodation are more likely to hit difficulties that mean they have to give up their dogs. If we could only nudge a percentage of the people who buy staffordshire puppies into considering adoption and give them the backup needed to make it a success we would be part of the way towards a solution.

Big Thank-You to Shirley Community Nursery & Primary School

Just opened the post at our animal clinic and found a cheque for £203.42 from the Shirley Community School. The children raised it all themselves by selling cakes and biscuits and organising games and competitions, including a production of Oliver Twist.

THANK-YOU!

No-Kill Conference in Washington DC this weekend

The annual USA No-Kill Conference is running this weekend and you can follow it right now on the Pet Connection Blog or on Twitter via the #nokill hashtag.

From the point of view of someone in the UK one very major lesson is how incredibly fortunate we are to be working in a country where 14% pound euthanasia rates for dogs are regarded as something quite shocking instead of one where 30% rates are normal and much higher ones are not uncommon. It would be an absolute tragedy if all the hard work that got us where we are was simply thrown away as a result of combination of infighting, and ego-trips on the part of various people in the world of dogs.

It will be very interesting to compare the findings of the forthcoming Panorama program from Battersea Dogs Home.

Things we can learn:

Some rescue organisations have been successful in rehabilitating dogs seized during investigations of organised dog fighting - although I think there must remain questions about the possible risk to other dogs unless very highly competent, skilled and motivated adopters can be found.

The Internet and social networking can be very powerful tools for recruiting volunteers and spreading information. I'd say they can also be powerful forces for the spread of myths and disinformation: the amount of effort wasted on the "bonsai kitten" website is an example of the way effort can be diverted into "saving" fantasy animals and ignoring the real ones who need practical help right now.

Next Volunteers meeting

Our next volunteers meeting will be on Thursday 19th August at our shop, 61 Burleigh Street, Cambridge. Meetings are from 7.30 to 9.30 pm and are fairly informal, so don't feel you have to stay for the whole time. If you're coming by car, there's free parking after 7pm in the Adam and Eve car park close by.

We use the meetings as an opportunity to raise more funds as well as a chance for you to meet us and for us to meet you, and the shop will be open for shopping during the evening.

If you're interested in the work of the RSPCA but not particularly in charity shops, please still try to come. There are only eight committee members trying to run a branch covering a very large area and it is almost impossible for us to arrange individual meetings with all potential volunteers. Regular meetings make it possible for us to keep you up to speed with what's happening and are the only practical way  to organise fundraising events like our RSPCA week collections. 

It's just not possible for one committee member to drive round to every person to drop off a collecting tin and the only way we can make RSPCA week and other events work for animals is to have a central meeting point where everyone periodically gets together.

Our most immediate need is for more shop volunteers and volunteers to help collect donated items and transport them to the shops. 

We need to raise at least £120,000 each year to run an adequate animal welfare service locally.

Our shops and our animal welfare work

Our 2nd hand bookshop at 188 Mill Road

Some of the comments from visitors to our shops over the weekend made me realise many people don't really know how our fundraising activities relate to what we do locally to help animals.

All the profits from our shops (after we've paid the rent, rates etc.) go to pay the costs of running our animal clinic, providing care for animals that we've had to take in and other work to help animals in the local region.

We need to raise this money because there is no government funding to pay for the work we do.

At the end of each day, the staff and volunteers count up the shop's takings and pay them into the branch bank account. This money is then available to pay bills, such as the charges for boarding animals in kennels before rehoming and from vets for treating injured and sick animals. Fees paid by clinic users are paid into the same bank account and go towards paying the University's charge for providing qualified vets to treat animals at the clinic. We pay roughly half their charges using money we've raised by fund-raising activities such as our shops, and the clinic fees pay the other half. Periodically they send me their bills and I make out cheques to pay them. These are then counter-signed by a second member of the branch committee and posted off to the vets and kennels. I enter up the amounts in a spreadsheet to keep a record of how much we've spent each month and how low our funds are getting.

Last month we spent:

• £1,263 on boarding animals waiting to be rehomed
• £1,702 on veterinary treatments at private vets
• £13,786 on treatments at our clinic

Without the shops to pay part of the cost we would need to increase the clinic fees a lot and that would mean some of the very poorest pet owners probably couldn't afford to use it any more, so it is very important that they make enough profit to support the clinic.

The money we raise is also an essential lifeline for injured animals because it means that vets who have animals whose owner is unknown brought in to them can give at least some treatment rather than always putting them to sleep.

The money we raise isn't sent away to swell some "funds" elsewhere; it's used directly to provide help for animals locally.

Waterboarding Timmy Tiptoes

Rather horrifying to find how many people seem to see nothing wrong with cruelty to squirrels. As usual, Pete Wedderburn the Telegraph columnist, stands up for animals in a well-argued piece.

"Under the law, it’s perfectly legal to kill squirrels: they’re not a protected species. But the squirrels must be killed humanely. The law is absolutely correct in its view that drowning is not humane."

The recent prosecution for drowning a squirrel in fact has little to do with changes to the legal situation brought in by the Animal Welfare Act.

The old Protection of Animals Act (1911) stated:

If any person shall cruelly beat, kick, ill-treat, over-ride, over-drive, over-load, torture, infuriate, or terrify any animal, or shall cause or procure, or, being the owner, permit any animal to be so used, or shall, by wantonly or unreasonably doing or omitting to do any act, or causing or procuring the commission or omission of any act, cause any unnecessary suffering, or, being the owner, permit any unnecessary suffering to be so caused to any animal ... such person shall be guilty of an offence of cruelty within the meaning of this Act.

The concept of unnecessary suffering would have been sufficient to establish the illegality of drowning squirrels instead of killing them humanely (and interestingly there have been no complaints about an almost simultaneous prosecution of two people for drowning a hamster).

It does point up the general confusion over the distinction between protecting animals from suffering and saving animal lives.

At one extreme, I suppose it would be possible to prevent any animals suffering by simply exterminating them all (which I hope no-one would see as something to be welcomed!).

At the other extreme, there are some belief systems which insist on the preservation of life even if it means the continuation of severe suffering.

Some campaigners reject the concept of the RSPCA's Freedom Food scheme, which aims to improve the welfare of farmed animals, because they believe humans should never kill animals for food and that farm animals should not be bred, but allowed either to go feral or become extinct.

Some people think we should have an entirely "open door" policy for RSPCA shelters—if necessary humanely killing animals that have not found homes after a certain period in order to make room for new admissions.

I guess the main practical outcome of all this is firstly that we evidently need to be very cautious about loaning out humane cage traps to anyone we don't know, and secondly that some of the people who would have drowned squirrels may try to put us on the spot by bringing them to us to put down. One of the comments below the Daily Mail article gloatingly promises to trap squirrels and bring them in to RSPCA charity shops; another treat in store for our put-upon staff.

Arguably, by analogy with Freedom Food, we ought to put down squirrels, if garden owners demand this, rather than risk having them killed by even more unpleasant methods. This was certainly the view of early animal campaigners who promoted the use of chloroform to put down unwanted kittens as a better option than allowing them to be killed by drowning. The present-day hangover of that is the way RSPCA clinic euthanasia statistics are recorded (because HQ wanted to know if it was still happening) giving rise to another bonanza for people who want to claim we put down thousands of healthy pets.

I'd much rather see a push for humane methods of control such as immunocontraception, and deterrence but we're not magicians. Some days it seems as though we've not brought the moral feeling of the country very far since the days of Humanity Dick. (Actually I don't think I believe the Quentin Letts article because unless the squirrel in question was ill or very badly injured it wouldn't have let a child get close enough to try to pet it.)

Squirrels are more interesting and intelligent than their reputation would suggest. Did you know they are able to learn by watching the behaviour of other squirrels; something that used to be considered only possible for primates? They're also capable of altruism and have individual personalities.

Access to our shop at 188 Mill Road not affected by road works

If you've been put off from visiting the shop because of the stories about Mill Road being closed, please don't be. Access from the town end of the road is completely unaffected by the works near the Perne Road junction and access from the Cherry Hinton end only needs a short detour via Coleridge road.

View Larger Map

Thoughts on prioritising admissions

Flis, not liking having her photo taken!

Tricky situation yesterday where a gentleman brought a stray cat to  a  local vet expecting that they'd be able to get the cat into a shelter for rehoming. Blue Cross, Cats Protection and Wood Green are all absolutely full of cats. Previously we'd have gritted our teeth and taken him as there's no-where else. However in our current financial state we just can't use funds that are already fully committed to board a cat who doesn't need to be in kennels.

Fortunately the finder was very good about the situation and agreed to take the cat back where he came from and monitor the situation. It's a young, friendly tom, so almost certainly does have a loose association with someone and at least is not going to give birth to kittens at any moment. From a welfare point of view leaving him in situ is really much more satisfactory than keeping him cooped up in a cattery or going down the route of putting down another cat in order to make room. 

Enrique Serra Prints

Two large Enrique Serra prints in very nice heavy wood frames for sale at our charity shop at 61 Burleigh Street.

£80 each or the pair for £150

Branch animal welfare statistics

Clinic use 2008, 2009, 2010

Comparing figures for treatments given at our animal clinic in the first 6 months of 2008, 2009 and 2010 shows there's been a fairly hefty (26%) rise since 2008 (with the rather odd exception of May which seems to have been unusually busy in 2008).

In the first 6 months of this year we rehomed fourteen dogs, thirty-eight cats, four rabbits and six "small furries". 

We provided treatments for 1,373 dogs, 599 cats, 60 rabbits and 29 small furries.

The huge excess of dogs needs explanation as my impression from sitting in my own vets' waiting room is that private vets must see more cats than dogs. I would guess it's partly that our clinic clients are more likely to be retired or unemployed than the general population, so they're more able to look after dogs. Possibly cats are less expensive to have treated at private vets so fewer people feel the need to use a low-cost alternative.

Cricketing Magazines

Back issues of "Cricket Monthly"

Back issues of "The Cricketer"

Our bookshop at 188 Mill Road has a large supply of old cricketing magazines, kindly donated by one of our volunteers.

Regional Board Meeting

Really positive meeting with a lot of discussion on how branches can work together in region East. There are plans to set up a system for coordinating drivers over a wider area than individual branches to make it easier to move animals to centres where they may have a better chance of adoption. This could also be used within branches for transfers between kennels and vets and so on.

Basically the idea is that someone in the Regional HQ office will be given the job of holding a list of volunteers car drivers with details of how far they're prepared to travel and integrating this with the list of available paid drivers from the animal homes and Animal Collection Officers. Branches would still arrange their own routine animal movements within their own areas if possible, but if they were stuck or had a need to transport animals further afield they could contact the office and ask them to try to sort it out. This should minimise the use of AWOs and Inspectors (who shouldn't be taken away from casework and rescues except in dire emergency) and save money by speeding up rehoming and transferring animals from vets' surgeries as soon as they're fit enough to be moved so we're not paying expensive ward charges for animals who don't need it.

Useful information about the new HQ loan scheme for branches who need to fit out or refit shops: it looks as though it would not be a problem for us to open our proposed shop in Newmarket and put in a loan application to do an upgrade later in the year if the timetable worked out that way.

RSPCA governing council have restated their policy against sale of live animals in pet shops; aim is to encourage shops to realise that the real money is in sales of pet food/litter/equipment etc. and that they would not lose by working with rescue groups to promote rehoming rather than increasing the circulating pet population by purchasing animals from breeders for resale.

Discussion of the perennial problems of animals ending up at vets but branches not being told about it until the vet is half an hour away from knocking off for the weekend and wants them moved somewhere else right now. Most of the inspectorate staff will warn branches if they drop off animals, but when a member of the public is asked to take an injured stray to their closest vet for treatment no-one may think to contact the branch. As we're the ones responsible for continuing care after the initial first aid, this is a constant annoyance; to the vets as much as to us.

Cards, wrapping paper ... and singing candles

Many thanks to the generous donor of surplus stock and display units from a gift card shop which closed recently. The rotating units are ideal for our stock of paperbacks, and there are beautiful cards for all occasions at excellent prices.

Paperbacks for your summer reading

Candles that play Happy Birthday to You!

Fantastic cards at bargain prices

All at our 61 Burleigh Street charity shop now. Stock up and never be without a card for that  anniversary that just slipped your memory. 

Every pound you spend keeps our animal clinic running for another five minutes!

Frenetic week

Mare and foal looking for a cool spot under the bridge over the Cam

Took this picture of a mare and her foal looking for somewhere cool last week when I was cycling round all the Cambridge vets to ask them to display our volunteers meeting posters.

We got a reasonable amount of media interest in our appeal for more volunteers and donations to our charity shops, but I still feel there's a level of scepticism about whether we really need money. Answer: "Yes, we really, honestly do need money; we don't have some mystery source of funds and if we don't earn enough to pay our bills we will eventually close."

The volunteer meeting this evening did at least attract a few new people, some of whom are interested in helping in the shops. These have to be the highest fundraising priority at the moment because extra effort spent there immediately translates into more cash.

Holding the meeting at the shop meant we could use it directly as an opportunity to encourage everyone present to browse and buy, and we raised over fifty pounds. 

Next meeting will be Thursday 19th August 7.30-9.30pm.

RIP Snowy

Sad email from Karen who adopted one of our oldies to let us know that Snowy had to be put to sleep last week because she developed untreatable thrombosis as a result of her long-standing heart condition. However, the positive side of this is that Snowy had several years of good life after being adopted by Karen under our Elderly Animals Rehoming Scheme (EARS), whereby we agree to pay part of the cost for age-related problems of older animals adopted from us.

EARS is just another reason why we must manage to increase our income, because without it we couldn't rehome nearly as many older animals, yet if we don't rehome them they're costing money sitting in kennel places that aren't suited to offering the kind of TLC oldies really need.

Beautiful vintage wedding dress donated to our shop

Volunteers Meeting: Thursday 15th July

Next volunteers' meeting will be 7.30-9.30 pm on Thursday 15th July at our Burleigh Street Charity Shop (number 61, next to Primark). If you are coming by car, there is free parking after 7pm at the Adam and Eve Street Car park a few minutes walk away. (Adam and Eve street runs parallel to Burleigh st. and there's a pedestrianised link passage between the two.)

Anyone interested in the work of the branch will be very welcome.

We are particularly looking to recruit more volunteers to help in the shops; collecting donated sales items; fundraising and helping at events.

The Rescue Dog: A Guide to Successful Re-Homing

This is a really excellent little book which explains why rescue organisations have rules on rehoming which may seem needlessly obstructive to would-be adopters. Taking on an adult or nearly-adult dog who may have had bad experiences cannot be the same as starting with a pup who knows no other home than yours.

The authors are possibly a bit over the top about the degree to which rescue dogs are likely to suffer from fearfulness or anxiety — many dogs who need rehoming are stout, cheerful characters who take life in their stride. However it may save lives by helping owners to recognise that their new dog is not being difficult or "challenging" and just needs help to settle in and feel safe.

The Badger (New Naturalist Series)

Just out and indispensable reading if you want to understand the facts behind the debate over badgers.

Another action-packed Saturday, and not in a good way

Day started at 5.20 am with a call from a clinic client whose cat was in labour. At least she was responsible enough to have got the cat registered, so it was possible to ask one of the night-duty vets to give her an advice call back. Judging from my side of the call I think mother cat was probably OK, but I suspect the kitten she'd had trouble delivering probably had some kind of congenital malformation and didn't make it.

Usual morning routine of washing cat dishes and bleaching litter trays, then to the shops to do the banking and on to Arbury Court greengrocer's shop to exchange their collecting tin. THANK-YOU to all the customers and staff who fill it reliably as clockwork every three months!

The view heading towards Arbury over the river

Nearly there when the mobile went off with a caller who didn't know his dog was pregnant until she had puppies two days ago. Two of them had died in the meantime, and the bitch was now so poorly that he didn't think she'd survive the weekend without treatment. Considering that she must have been ill first thing, WHY couldn't he have phoned three hours earlier when our clinic would still have been open? Finally agreed to cover first aid at a private vet (which we'll try to get him to pay back) and told him to get her down to our clinic on Tuesday, if she survives.

Got into the greengrocer and it rang again; this time an elderly gentleman with equally elderly Westie who IS registered at the clinic and had had a fit. Took their details and asked for him to be given a call-back from one of the vets to discuss if she ought to be seen that day as an emergency. Life would be a lot easier if all pet owners were more like him. At least the people in the shop had an opportunity to see their donations in action.

Back for some lunch, then to the shop for the rest of the afternoon. Either Bettina or Anne has used her initiative and produced a home-made A-board to increase our visibility.

Busy putting out more donations to fill up gaps as items sell, but hampered by ongoing phone discussion about a mystery cat with a bad leg, which seems to have been signed over to us for rehoming, but nobody knows why or who authorised this. Unfortunately it looks as though it is definitely Our Problem, so Janine will arrange collection and transfer to the kennels. The bad leg has apparently improved with no treatment other than metacam (for pain and inflammation).

Pretty vase donated to the shop this week

David Grant on Vetpulse.tv on the issue of Status Dogs

"Status dogs are just one part of the general social problems of the inner cities."

Talk given to veterinary students at the University of Nottingham, 20th May 2010

Fly Strike!

No apologies for returning to this horrid subject, but anyone of a sensitive disposition may prefer not to follow some of the links.

Hot and humid weather is perfect for carrion-feeding flies and there are lots of them about. Unfortunately they don't only feed on rotting substances—they will just as happily lay eggs on living animals who have open wounds, sores of any kind, or wet or soiled fur/skin. Rabbits are particularly vulnerable, but any animal which is having difficulty keeping clean or has matted fur will be at risk.

Sadly the rabbit brought to us late on Saturday evening had to be put to sleep because he was too badly damaged by maggots to be saved. Fatal maggot injury can occur within hours of flies laying eggs on an animal, which is why it is so important to check "at-risk" animals twice daily.

There are more details about preventing fly strike in pets and farm animals on the national RSPCA website (not upsetting) and a truly horrible report of a suffering cat in Kent online.

If you find fly eggs or maggots on any animal it is important to contact a vet immediately. Fly attack is a particular problem for rabbits and there are special veterinary products which can be applied to prevent eggs developing into maggots. Ask your vet about this when your bunnies go in for their Spring myxomatosis boosters.

I knew it!

More black propaganda from people who will not have to pick up the pieces if we go under.

When we got the original circular from HQ asking us not to include "beauty" classes in any official RSPCA fun dog shows I must admit I was apprehensive that it could be used against us. Of course if we did run classes where "cute" appearance was the main criterion, that could be used against us too. 

I'm not entirely convinced that the real problem with show dogs is judging by appearance so much as judging by distorted ideas of what is desirable appearance.

This picture is a modern Basset hound. 

This is one from 1915.

The older dog is much less exaggerated and has more normal back legs and less folded facial skin. That's no guarantee that he didn't have ectropion or any of the other ills that plague some  pedigree breeds, but I can't help thinking that selecting for dogs that looked more similar to him would be likely to improve the general fitness of Bassets.

I'm afraid we are seeing a pattern here.

The RSPCA is fundamentally a charity which provides services for animals (welfare law enforcement, veterinary treatment, rehoming etc.) and also campaigns on issues which affect animal welfare.

It's the services which make the campaigns credible: people with frontline experience of animal welfare work are likely to know what they're talking about and people who are putting unpaid effort into practical ways of improving animals' lives must genuinely care about animal welfare. The size and unified nature of the RSPCA probably impresses politicians with the likelihood that we're backed by substantial numbers of citizens with votes, but to some extent that's a secondary consideration.

Because of this credibility, virtually any person or organisation which wants to affect animal issues (whether to achieve change or prevent it) sees the RSPCA as a gatekeeper: government is likely to believe us if we say there really is a welfare problem, but it will also believe us if we say things are more complicated than other animal campaigners think. Many people who genuinely care about animals but have an overwhelming concern for one area, such as animal experiments, or factory farming, see us as the only thing which is stopping them from succeeding, because we're not giving unqualified support to whatever it is they want.

Add on those, like the kennel club, or foxhunters who see us as the organisation with enough clout to stop them going on doing what they like, and the result is that threats to our ability to provide the welfare services are used as blackmail to change the welfare policy. This is the, "I'll never give the RSPCA another penny and I'll tell all my friends unless you .... (abolish fox-hunting, bring back fox-hunting, say pedigree dogs are healthy, say pedigree dogs should be abolished—fill in the blank to taste)" route.

On top of this, we're never going to be able to provide the service level many of the public expect, so we have a constant background of genuine complaints plus spurious ones from people who are aware that the most effective way to strike at the RSPCA is to hit our ability as a service provider. None of this is helpful when we need to recruit volunteers to work at the fairly mundane jobs that are essential to keeping the services going.

More valuable alive — or dead?

Ethan turns out to be Felix!

We took in a ginger cat a little while ago after he was hit by a car and suffered head injuries. When he was fit enough to go to a new home we posted his details in our rehoming gallery. To everyone's delight, his owners recognised his photo and he's now reunited with them.

This shows the benefits of advertising our animals online, and also that, if you've lost an animal, one important avenue to search is local shelters' lists of animals in need of homes. Obviously you should also contact them direct, but a picture is much more easily identified than a description in words.

Anyway, nice to have a happy ending.

Rabbit open day final count

Over 200 people visited the rabbit open day  and the final total raised was £386.10.

This will be put towards supporting veterinary treatment and neutering of rabbits.



As an example of what this amount can achieve, it could:

• Fund 386 subsidised vaccinations at our clinic to protect rabbits against myxomatosis. 

Or

• Allow us to provide 50 veterinary consultations for rabbits at our clinic.

 Or

• Neuter 20 male rabbits at private vets. 

 Or

• Spay 10 female rabbits at private vets.

THANK YOU! to everyone who helped make the day such a success — particularly to Twigs and her partner Steve, but also to all the volunteers who baked cakes and to the local branch of dairycrest who donated cartons of milk and orange juice.


Some more pictures from the open day:

Peaches eating some hay

Hawthorn has climbed up a ramp onto the roof of his sleeping area to keep an eye on the visitors.
 

Masses of roses.

and more...

This shot gives some idea of the true size of the rabbits pens.

And here, with one of the rabbits to give a sense of scale. If you look very carefully you can see her eyes and nose are slightly scarred. This is because she had myxomatosis last year, but survived because she had been vaccinated so had a comparatively mild case of the disease. Without vaccination she would almost certainly have died.

Electric fencing to deter foxes (with unconcerned rabbit just below). The bungee is to stop the rabbits nipping through the fence with their powerful teeth when it is turned off during the daytime and they are let out. The current is not high enough to injure the fox, but just gives enough of a jolt to discourage them from climbing onto the pens and terrifying the rabbits. The pens are made from heavy-duty mesh which a predator would be unlikely to be able to tear.

Closeup of the electric strand. You can just see it running along the bungee.

 Mrs Tiggy-winkle, the bantam, helping to clean up any crumbs.

And more roses...

Pictures from the rabbit open day yesterday

These rabbits are not up for rehoming—they are permanent residents of the garden which Twigs Way kindly opens in aid of animal welfare charities each year.

As you can see from the photos it is a fantastic educational opportunity for the children who visit (as well as lots of fun) because it shows them how much space and effort is needed to keep rabbits properly.

Even visitors who were knowledgeable about rabbits were quite surprised to see how much use they made of all the platforms and ramps inside the runs. Some of the rabbits in the pictures are actually hopping up to ledges at human eye level so that they can make contact with their visitors. The children were given suitable green foods, such as dandelions and milk thistle so they could feed the rabbits healthy treats.

Visualising big numbers

I think one of the reasons why people seem to find it hard to think rationally about the RSPCA is the sheer scale of the numbers.

The National Control Centre takes over a million calls every year.

The national RSPCA's income is just over a hundred million pounds in the same period.

That means roughly £100 is available to deal with each incident. That's just enough to spay a large-ish bitch at a fairly inexpensive vet, to keep her in boarding kennels for 20 days, or to cover the consultation fee for out of hours treatment at an emergency vet. Usually when a dog needs help urgently all three of those will be necessary.

If each call represented a request to take in an unwanted animal there is no way that could be done.

Similarly with donations; which are probably the most likely to take a hit from the "I will never give another penny to the RSPCA and I'll tell all my friends" brigade. The National Society organises door-to-door collections asking donors to set up direct debits. Proceeds from this are split 50/50 between them and the individual branches, meaning each branch gets roughly £12,000 each year—usually representing around 10% of a branch's total income. 

The total amount raised by the collections is just over four million pounds—a very large amount; comparatively small once it's been spread across 174 branches, but a 10% decrease in funding would be a very big blow to a branch.

If the door-to-door fund-raising took a serious hit we'd have to make cutbacks—probably increasing the charges for treatment at our clinic and stopping help for owners who find even our subsidised rates very difficult to afford.

Our clinic treats roughly 2,000 animals each year, which probably represents around 4,000 families in Cambridge and the surrounding area who have their pets registered with our clinic at any one time. That's something like 2% of the population, and losing the clinic would mean extra financial hardship for these local people. Many, possibly most, of them would stop getting routine preventive veterinary care for their pets and just hope for the best until something catastrophic happened.

To give some perspective on the amount of money available to run the RSPCA as a 24/7 service for all of England and Wales:

The proposed NHS efficiency savings in the forthcoming budget would run the whole of the RSPCA for ten thousand years (yes - that's the figure for the savings, not their actual budget).

The Cambridge University's income from former students' donations (relatively small change from their point of view) would run the RSPCA for five thousand years. It has six times as many staff as the RSPCA.

These figures are so big that at some point most people's eyes just glaze over, but without trying to grasp them there's no way to think sensibly about the big animal charities which are providing services to the animal population.

The RSPCA saves 95% of healthy or treatable cats taken in to its shelters. It would be a tragedy if that record was destroyed by people who aren't capable of running the proverbial whelk stall.