Pioneers at Bath Cats and Dogs Home

In England and Wales, the term "non-destruction" is normally the preferred term for what would be referred to as "no-kill" in the US and Australia. I hope BCDH won't object to me reproducing the following timeline from their website:

1937

• Three local animal charities unite to become RSPCA Bath Branch.

• Bath resident Mrs Bayntun gifts five acres of land and £4,000 (equivalent to nearly £200,000 now) enabling the new charity to set up a dog shelter.

1948

• John and Mary Hobhouse join the Bath Branch committee.

1953

• John Hobhouse becomes chairman of the Bath Branch (until 2000).

• After considerable arguments, the City Council concede that stray dogs can go to the kennels for re-homing rather than being destroyed.

• The Bath Branch is the first RSPCA branch to implement a strict non-destruction policy.

1955

• John Hobhouse is elected to the RSPCA National Council.

1960

• John’s five-year battle to form and chair a ‘Homeless Animals Committee’ is finally realised.

1962

• The Homeless Animals Committee persuade the RSPCA Council to spend £100,000 to build or rebuild an animal centre in each major city. Within a year these new kennels were saving the lives of 10,000 dogs that would otherwise have been destroyed.

1969 – 1975

• John Hobhouse elected as chairman of the RSPCA National Council. 

1986

• The Friends of Claverton is formed. A separate registered charity, the Friends raise funds through membership and legacies.http://www.friendsofclaverton.org/

1995

• After three generous legacy donations totaling £500,000 the Home plan a redevelopment of the dilapidated 50 year old buildings with modern facilities. 

2001

John is elected Bath and District President

2002

• The first two stages of redevelopment are completed, including four kennel blocks and runs, a cattery, vet suite, administration offices, visitor facilities and a new sewerage system. The cost of £2.2 million had been raised solely by donation and fundraising.

2006

• The third stage of development is completed, with two circular kennels. The cost was paid for by the fundraising efforts of the Friends of Claverton. 

2009

• John Hobhouse dies peacefully in Frome Hospital, Somerset, on Thursday 24 December, aged 99.

There's some more information about how BCDH works with the local authority dog wardens in this article. 

Further thoughts on licences and dog wardens

I suppose attitudes to this are very dependent on whether your view of the role of dog wardens is that it's primarily for the benefit or detriment of dogs.

The majority of calls about uninjured stray dogs that we get at evenings and weekends are from people who've found a dog and want it to be collected and taken somewhere safe to be cared for until the owner is found. Their main concern is usually that the dog may get run over if left. Legally these calls should be the responsibility of the local authority, but very few of these employ dog wardens outside normal working hours.


We get some calls demanding that we come and collect a dog who has bitten someone or savaged another dog and these are really the responsibility of the dog's owner or the police. It's comparatively rare for us to be called about loose dogs because someone feels they are a threat.


If your view of dog wardens is that they are a positive element for animal welfare you will want more cover. If you see them as roaming the streets "seizing" dogs who would be safer where they were you will want less.


It may be helpful to look at some of the material on the website of the National Dog Wardens Association and, in particular, their comments on an earlier government consultation on introduction of  a compulsory microchipping and insurance system which for practical purposes would be similar to a dog licence system (part of the DEFRA consultation on Dangerous Dogs).

[Q27: Do you think that requiring all dogs to be covered by third-party insurance could have a significant financial impact upon individual dog owners? Why?]

It is estimated that 25% of car drivers in the UK have no insurance, so you would have to assume that 25% of dog owners would not adhere to any licensing requirements.  If this were to be so, any dogs seized and not having a license would only be released back to the owner after the dog had been licensed (the statutory government charge for stray dogs would be waived to enable registration to be carried out for a year) A lot of dog owners leave their seized dogs at the holding kennels rather than claim them because they begrudge paying the fees, this shows that possibly it is better for that particular dog to not be with such a person. Where an owner’s dog is involved in an incident and he is found to be uninsured, this would constitute a serious offence (as with cars). We would support reductions for pensioners and multi-dog households,

[Q28: Do you think that requiring all dogs to be covered by third-party insurance will have a financial impact upon welfare organisations/dog homes? Why?]

Why would it?  If a stray dog is rehomed by a Local Authority to an animal welfare charity, when that charity rehome the dog, they should have a legal requirement to make the new owner fill in the registration form for the area they live in.  Example being, a person is adopting a Labrador and they live in Manchester, the new owners come to collect the dog and they have with them the Dog License complete with insurance. Dogs’ homes/charities should have insurance for the whole premises rather than for individual dogs.

[Q29: Do you think that all dogs should have to be microchipped? Why?]

Yes but microchipping of all dogs is not the be all and end all it is made out to be!  Dog Wardens average about 40% of dogs with microchips handled by them having out of date, incorrect or no details at all on the microchips?  Who would enforce any discrepancies regarding microchips……Local Authority Dog Wardens, not Petlog, not the animal welfare organisations or even the police?  Do Local Authorities have the resources to carry out this work in the current climate with Local Authorities cutting the size of Dog Warden Services or downgrading the important work they do? Compulsory microchipping would work well in conjunction with the insurance requirement (see above Q.25), otherwise it is difficult to enforce on it’s own as most people who move or give away/sell their dogs forget to change the details

[Q30: Do you think that all puppies born after a specified date should be microchipped before the age of one year? Why?]

As Q29. I think microchipping/insuring puppies is important and, with this proof of ownership, would help to combat the puppy farmers and irresponsible back-street breeders. Puppies should be insured and chipped before they are sold – there could be a specific clause that allows transfer of ownership with the insurance policy for puppies that are intended for gift/sale; this would apply to private as well as commercial breeders.

[Q31: How do you think such a requirement could be introduced and enforced?] 

Who would enforce it, hard pressed Dog Wardens who as this consultation document points out varies from highly motivated, well trained and knowledgeable to poorly trained ones.  Many Local Authorities fail to appreciate the important role that Dog Wardens play in community safety and those who have downgraded their services to stray dogs being dealt with by Pest Control Officers/Community Safety Officers for example are not going to have individuals who are spending 100% of their work day dealing with dog issues. Any enforcement needs to be carried out by motivated, well trained and knowledgeable Dog Wardens who are fully supported by their Local Authorities and properly funded. Again, works best in conjunction with insurance where insurance companies would run the database. It would tend to be enforced only when a problem dog comes to light that isn’t insured which is why the penalty for non-insurance should be an adequate deterrent. Yes, this would initially require extra enforcement by Police/Local authorities but could ultimately reduce enforcement.

and:

[Q39: Do you think the government needs to do more to raise public awareness of the existing law and what to do if you are aware of a possible breach?] 

I think the public are aware of the existing law but they are also hopelessly misinformed with regards to dog behaviour and responsible ownership. The government need to lend more support to Local Authorities who should be at the forefront of public education. Instead, more local authorities are cutting their dog warden budget or outsourcing their stray dog contracts.

Relocating control of dogs to the "Pests" department is not likely to improve their care!

I think there's a more general problem about the public view of animals being "seized" (by RSPCA, Police, dog wardens etc.). Most of the time this is reactive, as a result of a call from a member of the public asking someone to collect an animal, because it's thought to be ill, injured or otherwise at risk in some way. Sometimes an animal may not have been seized in any meaningful sense of the word: for example where the animal's carer has asked to sign it over to the RSPCA. We've had situations where a third party referred to us "seizing" a dog when we'd in reality been asked by an owner to take the dog for rehoming as an alternative to euthanasia.

Books by members of the family dog project

Dog Behaviour, Evolution and Cognition


If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind

What IS "responsible breeding", anyhow?

If you've been following the dog licence debate on Twitter, you may have noticed some acrimonious exchanges between @rspcalondonse and a few dog bloggers. (I think I rather resent the comments questioning whether someone who is "only" a volunteer spokesman for a branch should be allowed to express an opinion).

Anyone who thinks companion animals should simply be eliminated by neutering them all can stop reading now. If you think we should be aiming to reduce over-production so that no animals have to be killed because they can't be placed in homes, carry on.

First of all, we need to get over our hang-ups from the days when massive numbers of puppies were put down every year as a result of unwanted litters. In the UK this simply is not happening any longer; unless there is something seriously wrong with a particular puppy it will be relatively easy to find a suitable home.

Unfortunately the downside of this is that puppies have a commercial value and it is possible for unscrupulous people to make money by keeping bitches in dreadful conditions. The primary reason why this needs to be stamped out is the cruelty suffered by the mother dogs who may be producing litter after litter in situations that are literally similar to battery farming. Keeping dogs like this would be wrong even if it had no effect at all on the number of animals ending up in rescue. Dogs are our companions—would you want your friend's mother to spend her life in a dark shed and worn out after half her normal lifespan?

In fact, of  course, this kind of breeding produces puppies who are more likely to end up in rescue (because they may be ill, have behaviour problems, or simply have been purchased by someone who would not have been sold a puppy by someone who cared about dogs). The discarded bitches will either be killed, passed on to rescue organisations, or sometimes sold to unwary purchasers who think they are getting a cheap pedigree.

Pretty well everyone involved with dogs agrees that this kind of breeder is not "responsible" (although they may still get licences from the local authority if the LA is more interested in supporting local businesses than in animal welfare).

We then move on to all the others who breed dogs and it's here that the disagreement starts, because there's not much agreement about what a "responsible" breeder would be aiming to do.

On the one hand there are the fairly large scale pedigree breeders, who are primarily aiming for success in the show ring and produce puppies for sale to the pet market as a by-product. To be successful they will be keeping their breeding dogs in good, hygienic conditions, well-fed and the dogs who compete in the show ring will necessarily receive training, which is important for their mental wellbeing. They are likely to be reasonably knowledgeable about avoiding inherited problems by suitable genetic testing (although they may be fairly pig-headed about accepting the deleterious effects of inbreeding and a small gene pool). They may also be blinkered about defects which are inherent in the standard for their particular breed. Their dogs will be valuable and are likely to be sold with clauses requiring "pet-quality" puppies to be neutered.

For me, the faintly derogatory "pet-quality" phrase is the key; these breeders may genuinely be trying to do the best for their dogs, but suitable family companions are not their primary goal. Some pedigree dogs are selected for traits which are positively deleterious to them; for example who on EARTH in their right mind would think this is normal?

Pedigree breeders aren't necessarily only interested in how the dog looks: there are Papillons and Shelties who can compete successfully against Border Collies in Obedience classes.

Finally there are "hobby breeders" which may include owners hoping to make a quick profit who neither know nor care about health checks necessary for their breed; those who simply want to be able to keep a puppy from a well-loved pet and highly knowledgeable people whose dogs are primarily companions, but also want to compete. Some breeders do so as a sideline to running boarding kennels.

Clearly some breeders are more of a problem for rescues than others. I doubt whether there are many potential Staffordshire BT adopters who buy Chihuahuas instead, but SBT breeders certainly are competing for homes with rescue dogs. Anyone breeding dogs which will almost routinely need surgery (Sharpei, British Bulldog etc.) really should be questioning what they are doing.

Finally—what kind of dogs should a responsible breeder be aiming for?

Take a look at the fascinating Family Dog Project website (thanks to Cambridge dogs for the link).

Dogs evolved as animals who specialise in understanding human behaviour!

By reducing them to quasi factory farm "products" we risk throwing away thousands of years of evolutionary development which has produced creatures who are our companions and willing assistants, not only in traditional work, but dealing with completely new challenges, such as finding the nests of bumble bees and humanely relocating hedgehogs.

Dog licences

You can view the complete RSPCA report on dog registration on the central website.

Playing devil's advocate for a moment; is there any reason why an austerity government shouldn't abolish dog wardens, and the requirement to hold stray dogs for at least 7 days, as a cost-cutting measure if we don't have some system of generating revenue that's specifically linked to dogs?

When the old dog licence system was in force the explanation popularly given for the different treatment of dogs compared with any other stray animal was that only dogs had a licence.

Given that (with a few exceptions) politicians fundamentally don't care about animals why should they spend taxpayers' money on keeping strays alive for 7 days? Several commentators on the Dogs Today blog have asked why, as responsible dog owners, they should pay to sort out problems caused by the irresponsible ones; unfortunately that argument applies even more forcefully to anyone who doesn't have a dog but pays tax under the current system.

There is already some pressure to give local authorities "fast-track culling powers for the Police in relation to the animals" in the case of dogs who have been seized under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

I certainly don't have any expectation that a dog license is a magic wand, but wouldn't £21 be worth paying if it meant:

• There would be somewhere safe where you could take a stray dog you found wandering on the road at 3 am on a Sunday without having to wait until 9am on Monday.
• If your own dog was frightened by something, ran off and was found straying it would be guaranteed that she could be taken somewhere safe and scanned for a chip.
• There were enough dog waste bins, emptied frequently enough not to be unpleasant to use.
• There were enough trained wardens to visit owners whose dogs were causing problems (e.g. constant barking) and give advice.

(Yes, I do realise that many people would say: "Those are your jobs; you should be doing all of those things for free already." In which case, please send us the £21 and we can open 24/7 animal homes and employ more Animal Welfare Officers.)

A few commentators seem to find something very sinister in the report's discussion of disease control in relation to dog registration. The most likely new disease involving dogs is Echinococcus multilocularis. This is actually a tapeworm, whose larval phase forms cysts which can be difficult and dangerous to remove. The phase which affects dogs is the adult worm, which can easily and safely be removed by effective worm treatments. If the disease became endemic in this country it would clearly be of benefit if regular worming could be enforced, but there would be absolutely no reason (and no benefit) from any kind of "cull" of infected dogs.

What about owners who don't get their dogs licensed?

In the US concerns have been expressed that introduction of policies intended to reduce the number of unwanted animals killed by shelters in fact have the opposite effect from what is desired because the sanction for non-compliance is seizure of the animal, which may then be put down if not adopted. 

This isn't what the report suggests should happen (The penalties envisaged seem to be rather on the lines of: "If you don't register your dog, we'll tell you to register your dog.") In Ulster, which does currently have a dog licence system, the cost of a licence is £5 and the penalty for failing to register is a £25 fine. With concessions for unwaged and for service dogs, there's no reason why a £21 registration fee would cause mass relinquishment of animals, particularly if the initial registration entitled the owner to free microchipping or some other benefit.

Missing Cat

Missing from Sweetpea way (off Woodhead Drive) in Cambridge. 20 year old black cat with white socks. She's a spayed female and looks thin because of her thyroid condition (for which she needs medication). She isn't normally allowed outside, but slipped out while the back door was open.

If you see a cat matching this description in the general area of Woodhead Drive, please email rosemary@rspca-cambridge.org.uk and I'll pass details on to her carers who are very worried.

July statistics

I'm very behind with these. August should be ready soon.

In July, our clinic treated 290 dogs, 109 cats, 6 rabbits and 3 miscellaneous "small furries".

The clinic neutered 15 dogs, 3 cats and one rabbit.

We rehomed five dogs, nine cats and three rabbits. One cat in branch care had to be put to sleep on veterinary advice because she was not responding to treatment.

Animals in branch care to end July 2010

A cruelty case in Oklahoma

The Bad Rap group have an extended piece (warning some very disturbing photos) about a recently-concluded cruelty case (BAD RAP Blog: Oklahoma style justice - the Newkirk dogs). From a British perspective there are several very interesting points:

• In the States the available penalties for cruelty are considerably heavier than they are here: it's possible to impose additional terms of imprisonment for each animal, and theoretically someone convicted of severe cruelty to multiple animals could serve several years in jail. In the UK the maximum penalty under the Animal Welfare Act is 51 weeks. 
• The actual penalties imposed may be a lot less.
• There was serious doubt about whether this case would be prosecuted at all—and animal welfare groups were impressed that the District Attorney involved took it seriously. If she hadn't happened to be an animal lover there would have been nothing they could do to force a prosecution.
• There was virtually no system in place to look after this number of dogs (or apparently any dogs) taken by the police in the course of a cruelty investigation. Nearly all of the 100+ dogs had to be put down on the scene and a handful were taken on by various rescue groups on an ad hoc basis. 
• Those dogs who were rescued were all successfully rehomed in spite of being bull-breeds and probably bred for dog-fighting (over here we'd probably classify at least some of them as Staffordshire bull terriers, but it's still impressive that they could be placed in normal pet homes.)

More squirrel weirdness

Did you know it is actually illegal to fail to report it to the authorities if you see a grey squirrel in your garden? (Um... guilty as charged yr honour).

Merlin's vet check-up

Merlin looking rather woebegone as he waits to see the vet

Merlin had his 9-day wound check yesterday and all looks good so far. You can just see the external fixator on his right-front leg in the photo. The green lumps are vetwrap self-adhesive bandage wrapped round the screws that join the splint to the pins which actually go below the skin and are attached to the leg bones, holding them in place so they can heal in the correct position.

There's a photo and diagram showing how external fixators work on the veterinary central website. Considering that the pins are essentially going into the leg through small open wounds which won't be able to close until the fixator is removed, animals are surprisingly unworried by them. The main risk is  the potential for infection, which is why the wounds need a periodic check.

Many thanks to all those who've donated to our shop recently

China, glassware and prints

Faux fur coat and evening dress

Tuesday off to new foster home this evening

Katie's back from her holiday, so she came round to collect Tuesday this evening. Tuesday was a little star, walking into her carrier like a seasoned traveller. The same could not be said of Merlin who howled: "OTHER KITTY BEING FED!" in the background the whole time, while my own Coco who has a bit of a nervous tum at the best of times, decided to mark the occasion by using the litter tray. Madly squirting lavender odour eliminator before answering the door didn't entirely help and poor Katie and her sister must almost have been knocked off their feet by the composite wave of "fragrances".

All I need is a good supply of filmy scarves to complete the "mad cat lady" effect.

There are good reasons why RSPCA HQ encourage branch volunteers to avoid taking on too many animals at once.

Beautiful photo of Tuesday in today's Cambridge Evening News which may help to trace her owners.

Tuesday and Merlin

The veterinary hospital that provides our veterinary services needed to free up the cage being occupied by Tuesday (another cat with pelvic fractures), so I now have two cat pens in what I laughably call my spare bedroom. 

I think it's still possible that Tuesday's original owner may turn up as she was wearing a collar when found, and she's very friendly. The vets think her fractures will heal without surgery provided she's kept on strict cage rest for at least 6 weeks (re-do the x-ray after 4 weeks to check on progress).

Merlin is all black and has a broken foreleg which has been fitted with an external fixator to keep the broken bones aligned until the ends knit together. He's quite timid and hadn't been neutered when he was brought in (the vets did the op. at the same time as they set his leg), so had probably been living rough for some time.

I was a bit concerned that having the two pens close together would agitate both of them and risk them damaging themselves, but so far all is peaceful and the shocking sight of Tuesday getting food and fuss before him seems to be bringing Merlin out of his shell.

Fortunately some of our other holidaying fosterers are due back later this week, so it will be a bit easier to cope if we get any more incoming cats this weekend. However we could still use more foster homes: if you might be interested in this, or if you would like to adopt a cat or dog, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Mob justice?

Why is it that the very unpleasant, but non-fatal "cat binning" incident has drawn such an enormous amount of publicity (1,230 news items reported in Google) in comparison with the much worse cruelty to more than 100 animals in Somerset (44 news items),  the awful drowning of a couple's pet terrier by unknown thieves in Lancashire (2 items) and the almost unbelievable callousness of the person who threw an English Bull terrier bitch into a river while she was actually in the process of giving birth (3 items)?

If even a small percentage of those expressing outrage about the wheelie bin incident took some practical action for the welfare of animals it would do a lot more good overall.

Kudos to the anonymous member of the public and the police dog handler who saved the Bull terrier's life at some risk to themselves.

More and more cats!

More and more requests coming in for us to take unwanted cats, as well as incoming injured strays. If you might be interested in fostering for the branch, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Most of the animals we place in foster accommodation are cats recuperating from injuries, kittens or puppies who need to be in a domestic environment for correct social development, or dogs who we think would benefit from training and assessment under home conditions.

Most of the adult cats need cage rest in order to facilitate healing of various injuries, so this might be a suitable option for someone who would like to have cats but cannot give them the run of the house.

This pic. gives some idea of the kind of pen we use for cage-resting injured cats

If a cat is having cage rest on veterinary instructions it is very important that the fosterer can resist the temptation to let  him/her out, because running or jumping may prevent a broken bone from healing, or even mean that it has to be operated on a second time to re-set it.

Snap!

RSPCA Manchester and Salford says almost exactly the same thing as my previous blog entry but from a different perspective:

"Each time I have to say 'no' to someone who has exhausted all options the guilt weighs heavy on my mind. The situation could be an unwanted pet, a stray cat, a stray cat having given birth outdoors, someone who can't pay a vet bill, someone who wants a lift to the vets, someone who wants me to collect an animal - the list is just exhaustive. Few understand that the resources of most animal charities are extremely limited. My role at the branch is complex but I'm basically the manager and I have a member of staff who oversees the care of the animals and a pt staff member who does the day-to-day care. That's it.

What we can achieve rarely feels even remotely adequate enough and it's only at times like learning how an adopted animal is doing in their new home that you feel there is some sense of purpose to your role.

No one goes into animal rescue & rehoming to turn animals in need away, to say 'no' to desperate pleas of help or to have to put animals to sleep is not what any of us want to be doing. But what most people do expect is for animal charities like the RSPCA (whether locally or nationally) to have the answers to everything and help every single animal in need."

I think "exhaustive" is a freudian slip on her part. 

Why don't people come to meetings?

RSPCA Clwyd and Colwyn wonders why it's so difficult to get branch members to attend their AGM or other meetings. It seems to me that it's the same underlying set of problems that make RSPCA week less successful than it might be, and which I blogged about last year.

1. Individuals may genuinely believe the RSPCA doesn't have a pressing need for their support because we have enormous numbers of other members.
2. Most branch committees are run by very few, over-worked individuals. This means the people organising anything are generally also trying to do other things. Volunteers and new members may get the impression that things are disorganised and badly-run, and they may feel unappreciated if we don't answer calls immediately or if they want to do specific things (like walking dogs) and we want them to do different (and more boring) things (like fundraising or taking part in business meetings).
3. There's a knock-on effect from (2) when people who think we're inefficient actually do volunteer to join in and are very enthusiastic but want to start changing things immediately. Because we're already operating very close to the edge of not coping, what we need is people who are willing to help with existing jobs, not make more work, even if their intentions are good.
4. There seems to be a fatal tendency for people who are really keen on helping animals to set up new groups rather than supporting existing ones, particularly if the local RSPCA isn't doing something that they think it ought to be.
5. And, partly as a knock-on effect from (4), there seems to be a general disenchantment with the kind of local democracy that the RSPCA embodies, which depends on groups of people working together with set rules and majority decisions. In many ways there's a frustrating sense that internally we've won all the battles that are being waged by activists in Australia and the US but we just can't recruit the ongoing practical support we need to keep up the momentum and eventually we're simply going to run ourselves into the ground. It's interesting to contrast the 2010 no-kill conference with the ICAWC conference organised by the Dogs Trust, or with the RSPCA's  Animal Welfare Conferences for members. The viewpoint of the no-kill conference is very much of activists looking in whereas we're inside running the services and trying to keep afloat. Inevitably we spend an awful lot of time worrying about finances, simply because we're on a treadmill of recurring bills (kenneling, vets, rates, rent...) and the need to keep generating income to pay them.

Part of the "No-Kill Equation"

RSPCA Bury and Oldham have a mobile vet clinic that provides low-cost vaccinations, health checks, worming, flea treatment, and micro-chipping within the community, but there's been a furious debate on Facebook about whether people who can't afford the full cost of treatment should be allowed pets. 

Brent at KC Dog Blog in the US has an extended rebuttal of this kind of attitude:

As an animal welfare community, we have somehow gotten in our minds that we need to try to punish people for not altering their pets -- and consider them 'not worthy' of pet ownership if they don't. So instead of taking the time to educate, and to be part of the community and being people who want to help, we become the people trying to take their pets away.

And if the animal welfare continues to create a divide between itself and various communities, we will fail. As Donna notes in the post: "To decrease euthanasia rates and curb irresponsible ownership, we need proactive, cost effective solutions to embrace the human-animal bond, rather than tear it down."

Sometimes animals do have to be taken away from owners who can't or won't care for them properly even with support. Most low-income pet owners are not like that; they do love their pets and want to do the right thing. However if you really are short of cash the temptation is always to put your head in the sand and hope your cat won't get pregnant before you can save up the money to get her spayed, or that your puppy won't catch anything nasty if she's not vaccinated. If we simply decree that these people shouldn't have pets we're removing a huge number of homes where unwanted pets could go and creating more homeless pets from those they already own.

Animals are always going to be relatively cheap to acquire, because two cats, dogs or rabbits can produce more of themselves at little or no cost unless something goes terribly wrong medically (at which point it becomes hideously expensive, but it is TOO LATE to lecture the owners about their shortcomings). Attempt to ban ordinary, good owners from keeping animals and they will simply hope not to get caught.

Veterinary support (with some strings and a requirement that the owner does contribute something towards the cost) are an essential element of an effective strategy to end killing of unwanted animals in shelters. 

Release locations needed for outdoor cats

Do you have a large garden or other land or stables where you would be prepared to have one or more outdoor cats? We periodically take in strays who have been living rough and are too shy of human beings to be easily placed in ordinary pet homes.

All cats would be blood-tested, neutered and vaccinated. You would need to have a building or shed where they could be confined for an initial settling-in period to avoid the risk that they would try to "home" back to their original location.

If you might be able to help in this way, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

How not to do a home-visit!

Ouch! (I should say at once that the facebook page discussed in the linked article does NOT belong to any RSPCA facility in Britain).

We do ask potential adopters for a letter from their landlord confirming that it's OK for them to have pets, but I hope we would go about it a little more tactfully than that and this is where training is key.

The Librarian has some very relevant wise words about why the staff and volunteers of any organisation should beware the temptation to bad-mouth their customers on social media. Animal rescue groups are no exception to this rule; animal adopters are our support base and we need to remember this even when we most feel: "the more I see of human beings, the more I like dogs."

Everyone who adopts an animal from our branch normally has a pre-adoption visit to check that their facilities are suitable for the pet they want and to try to ensure any snags are dealt with before they cause problems. (For example our home-visitors will give advice on whether the adopters' garden fence is able to contain the dog they've reserved.)

It's important that home-visitors don't get the idea that their job is to catch out people who are going to be cruel to animals; it can cause enormous difficulties if they take it upon themselves to do subsequent un-announced visits or otherwise give adopters the impression that they are being treated as suspects. Follow-up post-adoption visits should always be by pre-arrangement with the adopter — realistically what are they going to cover up as a result of having a few days notice?

The vast majority of people who come forward to adopt do it because they love animals and want to help and it does animal welfare no favours if we insult or patronise them because that means they'll be less likely to help us with other things, like fundraising, in the future. Some of them do need to be encouraged to accept that standards of pet care have moved on since they were children (we wouldn't home a single rabbit to live alone in a hutch, for example), and some need a gentle steer towards animals that are suitable for their circumstances (for example a large dog in a flat with no lift is going to be a big problem when he gets elderly and finds stairs difficult).

Home visitors are essentially a point of contact between the adopter and the branch, and post-homing visits should be an opportunity to solve any problems and ensure the placement is a success, not a threat that the animal will be taken away.

In reality our biggest problem is not abusive adopters, but lonely, needy ones who would ideally like to have their home visitor popping back every weekend to check the pet is OK and help with flea treatments, nail trimming etc.

We always need more volunteers to do home-visits, as it's important that the visit is done as soon as possible after an adopter has expressed interest. If you might be interested in training for this, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Missing Staffordshire Bull Terrier

Chaos

Chaos went missing from his home in Oxfordshire in March and his owners have been searching for him ever since. It's possible he might have been stolen and then dumped, so he could be virtually anywhere in the country. If you find a dog looking like him, please call 07769 185 413 / 07968 351 154 

We are rubbish at identifying pedigree cats!

Suzie — now

Suzie - just after he came in

"Suzie" was brought in to us because she was abandoned. She is in fact a neutered male (in our defence the initial mis-identification of his sex wasn't us; we are not completely incompetent).

We thought he was possibly a British Shorthair, but in fact he's a Selkirk Rex. The fact that he would originally have been purchased for quite a lot of money makes it even more peculiar that he would have been simply abandoned.





Still, lovely to see he's found a wonderful home, and at least now we know why his whiskers look so beaten up; they have a natural wave.

Pip, Ben, Toby and Duffy all looking for homes

Duffy

Toby

Ben

Pip

Although Pip and Ben look rather similar we've got no reason to think they are related. Toby is only 8 months old and was adopted from us by a family who were unexpectedly posted abroad and had to return him. Duffy is a GSD x Rottie cross and only a year old, but was passed between a number of people before ending up with us, so needs a home where she can be given TLC and consistent handling and training.

There's more detail about each of them on our rehoming gallery If you might be interested in adopting them, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

The stockroom at our charity shop

Thank-you, everyone who donated last week. Donations included this cute, but rather large, beanie baby(!) and an extremely realistic life-sized Old-English Sheepdog soft toy.

Don't forget our volunteers' evening is this Thursday evening at the 61 Burleigh street shop from 7.30-9.30.

Donated to our second hand bookshop

Catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century now in the British Museum

The photo doesn't give much idea of how big the actual thing is—there are multiple volumes and each is huge. They're actually brownish rather than green, but I took the picture under fluorescent light and the colour of the photo is a bit odd.

Many thanks to the donor (who must have had quite a job getting it to the shop!).

Cats everywhere!

This year's been particularly bad for unwanted cats, partly because our funds are so low that we have to think very hard before taking any extra animals into our kennels and partly because it looks as though more owners are procrastinating about getting female kittens neutered until it's too late.

We need to recruit more foster carers so that we can avoid putting kittens into a cattery environment where they miss out on the important social learning they would get in a home environment. 

If you might be interested in fostering for us, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk 

We will cover expenses such as food, litter etc.

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.