Hedgehogs

Starting to get calls from people concerned about small hedgehogs in their gardens. Hedgehogs of any size who are seen wandering during the day are very likely to be unwell in some way. In this case, the best thing to do is to capture the hedgehog (use gloves to avoid being scratched by its spines) and confine it in a box before telephoning the RSPCA control centre 0300 1234 999. They will do their best to arrange for the hedgehog to be collected and taken to the closest RSPCA wildlife centre. (In our case, this is East Winch, in Norfolk).  I suggest you put the box somewhere where any insect life will not be a problem, such as a garden shed.

Very small hedgehogs who appear in the garden after dusk are probably not yet at risk because there is lots of wild food about still (the slugs in my garden are so fit they scare my cats!). If you want to improve their chances of surviving their first hibernation by providing extra rations (or just want to encourage them closer), you can get dried food made specially for hedgehogs from most pet shops. Being mammals, hedgehogs can produce their own body heat, so the unusually chilly summer isn't a problem for them in the way it is for cold blooded hibernators like tortoises, or really tiny mammals, such as bats. That means that, for the moment, they're really best left where they are rather than taking up space in a wildlife hospital that may be needed by another animal. 

Dog flea treatments and cats

Don't! is the short answer.

Late last night I had a call from the emergency vet to say they had a client in the surgery with no money at all and two kittens both suffering seizures from permethrin poisoning after being dabbed with dog flea treatment from the supermarket. We agreed the branch would cover the cost of first aid over night and that the owner would pay for further care at our own clinic in the morning when she could borrow money from her family. 

Even with the help from us, the kittens' owner will be spending quite a lot more than it would have cost her to take them to our clinic and buy treatment that is safe and effective for young cats. 

Using "over the counter" flea remedies is understandably tempting to pet owners who are on a very low budget. Some of these are actually reasonably effective, but there are three recurring ways in which things can go pear-shaped.

1. If the treatment reduces the number of fleas but doesn't get rid of them (or if the owner doesn't realise there is another reason for their pet's skin trouble) the animal can wind up almost bald or covered in itching sores. If a skin condition doesn't improve within a week or so, always seek qualified help.
2. Flea collars can cause terrible injuries.
3. If the owner doesn't read the label and uses dog flea treatment on a cat, the cat may be very seriously ill, or even die. Always read the instructions for any medication or insecticide (including chemicals for treating carpets, pet bedding etc.).

No wonder there's a credit crunch

Opening a bank account (to invest the funds we don't need to spend right away) is much more difficult than you might think. Just setting up a second interest-bearing account with the bank we already use for the current account involves two personal visits, a form covering 6 sides of A4 and signatures of two trustees. Creating a completely new deposit account with a bank that doesn't have any track record with us means a 24 page form, providing personal banking details and addresses of three trustees, signatures of three trustees and giving the names of all the other trustees.

I suppose it does make money-laundering more difficult, but I am beginning to feel that a sock under the bed would be less time-consuming. 

Newmarket shop refurbishment

Our shop at 156 High Street, Newmarket will be closed on Friday and Saturday this week (12th and 13th September) for refurbishment and will re-open again the following Monday, 15th September. Many thanks to Lorna, Sharon and their team for all the hard work they've put into making the shop such a success. We hope that the improvements will lead to even better sales in the future.

So far this year the shop has made a net profit of £5,500 towards the work of the branch.

More and more cats

Elderly all-black female with probable thyroid trouble handed in from Tennison  Road area; very thin dark tortoiseshell with suspected kidney failure in via Vet24. Plus a returnee originally rehomed in June who didn't get on with the existing resident cat.

On the upside, one of the vets got so fond of the kitten with the ruptured diaphragm and fractured leg that he's going to adopt her, and the cat with two broken hind legs is being fostered with a view to adoption if he gets on with the pair of resident cats.

August Figures

A very slow month for rehoming: only three cats and one bird. We provided veterinary treatment for 227 dogs, 122 cats, 8 rabbits and 12 miscellaneous animals and neutered 15 dogs and 8 cats.

Total outgoings were £12,409 and we raised £8,411 with shop takings still rather depressed although total sales at the Cambridge shops were up £800 compared with July.

RSPCA Rescue dog of the Year Show

You can vote for Rescue dog of the year on the RSPCA website from Monday 8th September.

Due to various mishaps and shortage of helpers we didn't manage to run a heat in 2008 and we need to be starting our planning now if we're going to run one in 2009. If you might be able to help, please email either of the two Rosemarys. There's some further information about what's involved on the branch website. You don't need any special training or experience - except that if you have any experience of judging and would be willing to volunteer to judge "fun" classes we would love to hear from you. Helpers are needed to serve on stalls, make and serve refreshments, act as judge's runners, book in dogs etc. etc. We'd like to get together a small team who would be prepared to get together for monthly planning meetings. Previously we've tried to make arrangements during our normal branch committee meetings and it's never been a success because it just means we don't have enough time for either the show or the committee business to be discussed properly.

Myxomatosis

Spring and Autumn are high-risk periods for myxomatosis in the UK. Rabbits who are not regularly vaccinated (most vets recommend vaccination at 6 monthly intervals) are at high risk of contracting the disease and dying. This is the case even if your rabbit does not normally go outside and you live in an urban area, because the virus is spread by biting insects, such as mosquitos and midges.

Breeding like... Rabbits!

Most of our intake of unwanted rabbits are fostered with the rabbit residence rescue who have suitable facilities to keep rabbits long-term with a good quality of life until they are adopted. They've just had an influx of 21 unwanted bunnies - mainly the result of people allowing a pair to breed, then not separating the babies so they all breed... until the result is a nightmare of over-crowding, fighting and stress.

If you are thinking of getting a pet rabbit please do not buy one from a pet shop. In fact don't get one rabbit - they are highly social animals who will not be happy alone. (The slightly sinister-sounding reference to "bonding" in Rabbit Residence's introduction refers to the process of pairing up two neutered rabbits so that they become good friends).

If you already have rabbits and urgently need to get them neutered to prevent further population growth and are on benefits: we can help with the cost. If you live within reasonable traveling distance of Cambridge, the most economical choice is to use our clinic (see the article on neutering below this one). If you cannot get to the clinic, or if you need to get your rabbits neutered immediately rather than going on a waiting list, then we can send a voucher for part of the cost of having the operation done at a private vet. You need to be resident within our branch area (see the map on the side-bar). To ask for a neutering voucher email neuter@rspca-cambridge.org.uk - giving your name, address to send the voucher and the name of the vet you want to use.

Low cost pet neutering

If you are on state benefits (including working tax credit and pension credit, but not child tax credit on its own) and live within our branch area, you are eligible to have your pets neutered via our animal clinic in Cambridge. This is not free, but is significantly cheaper than the cost a private vet would have to charge.

The Wednesday morning session (9 am - 10.30 am) is reserved for pre-neutering checks and vaccinations, so is the best time to bring your animal along to be booked onto the waiting list. Charges are £55 for a bitch, £40 for a dog, £35 for a female cat, £20 for a male cat. We can also neuter rabbits and ferrets at the same charge as for a cat. Payment must be made in advance, and your pet will be given a health check to see that they are fit enough to have the operation. Once this has been done, your pet will be added to the waiting list and called in when they reach the top of the list (currently this is a few weeks).

Dogs and cats should be at least 4 months old before they can be checked to go on the waiting list for neutering. If a bitch is in season or just finishing a season she can not be put on the waiting list, but should  come back for a vet check to be put on the list in about 2 months. 

Ideally bitches should be neutered 3 months after their last season.

Neutering will prevent the birth of unwanted offspring who may not find good homes and it also has important health benefits for your pet - particularly in the case of bitches and female ferrets and male cats. Another great benefit in the case of rabbits is that it enables a male and female to be kept together as a pair which will make them much happier and more contented.

Experimental Lost Cat Notification Form

There's now an experimental form to enable us to receive information about missing cats on our branch website at http://www.rspca-cambridge.org.uk/testlost.html

This is only useful for missing cats within our own branch area (see the sidebar), and I strongly recommend that you also contact other local animal welfare organisations and vets by telephone. The main aim is to give us a sensible list of missing animals instead of lots of scrappy notes on pieces of paper that get lost or are unavailable because they're in the wrong jacket pocket!

Kittens!

Having been inundated with adults throughout the summer we now have kittens as well. If you could spread the word we'd be grateful as the sooner we find homes the better whilst they're still young.

Details are as follows:

Lynx (silver tabby) and Tiger (black) - about 7 weeks old. Were quite nervous but now coming on well but could do with getting into a home for more socialisation ASAP.

Bubble, Squeak, Fleck and Speck - 3 black and whites and one black kitten - about 11 weeks - not sure of sexes of them. Very friendly and good with stefs children. Could be homed in pairs. (pics attached)

We also have 4 black/dark tortie kittens who are about 6 weeks are also at a cattery in Peterborough (because our local cattery was full).

If you would be interested in adopting any of them, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Two more cats

One with both hind legs broken, but a reasonable prognosis that they can be operated on with an implant screwed across the broken sections to hold them together (The implant is basically a titanium plate, not too different from the "mending plates" carpenters use to join pieces of wood). The other is more problematic because she has a ruptured diaphragm which will need surgical repair.

Many thanks to the nurses at Arbury Road vets, who brought her down to our clinic themselves when time was too short to organise a volunteer driver.

Hamster of the day

This is Hammy, who is a fairly young Syrian hamster. He does nip!

If you might be interested in adopting him, please email rosemary@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

July statistics

Just got the records for July collated. During the month, our branch:

Provided low-cost veterinary treatment for 205 dogs, 115 cats, 11 rabbits and 14 miscellaneous small animals.

Rehomed 4 dogs, 3 cats and 2 birds.

Microchipped 11 dogs and 10 cats

Neutered 13 dogs, 12 cats and a rabbit

Our total outgoings were £16,904 (this amount also covers wages for our three shop staff, rent for the charity shop in Newmarket and our annual audit fee). We raised £7,811, mostly from sales at the charity shops and clinic fees.

Protecting animals from suffering

Call last night from the daughter of an gentleman in great distress because his elderly jack russell was in great pain to the extent that he wasn't able to pick the dog up. These situations always seem to happen at weekends and, quite apart from the increased financial cost of getting out of hours treatment, very few vets are now able to make home visits. Sadly this is a reflection of the times we live in, and the potential liability of their employers if staff members are attacked or injured during a call-out. We were fortunate that Royston Veterinary Centre is one of the few local vets who still do call-outs in their area and that they don't use another veterinary practice for their out of hours cover.

We keep statistics of the numbers of animals which are put to sleep at branch expense and these are reported annually in the combined Annual Report of the society, together with the numbers of animals rehomed or given veterinary treatment. Euthanasia tends to be seen as a situation where the RSPCA has failed to help an animal and I believe we need to challenge this. It certainly is a failure of animal welfare if healthy animals who should have their lives ahead of them are put to sleep. We have not failed when we ensure that animals who have reached the end of their natural lives are released from suffering and indignity instead of dying in pain and fear.

Investments

The RSPCA has an ethical investment policy - basically that society funds shouldn't be invested in anything which causes harm to animals (as that would negate the point of having them, anyway). Putting this into practice isn't exactly as straightforward as it might seem, as I've been finding out.

If you have large amounts of money that you can tie up for several years, there's no problem getting a tailor-made investment package where your funds are invested in companies which fit whatever criteria you specify. For smaller amounts (where "small" means less than about £500,000) it's only really feasible to put your money into existing schemes, and in our case it appears that the only really viable choice is between building societies (you know the funds are invested in property) and the Co-operative Bank (they have a pre-existing list of sectors where they won't invest depositors' money). It's looking as though the Co-op is going to be the right "home" for the money we know we won't need to touch for at least a year.

Unfortunately this doen't completely solve our problems as the Co-op doesn't have many branches where our shops and volunteers can bank cash takings, so it wouldn't be practical to transfer our current account there. We probably also need to maintain some cash on short-term deposit at our current bank because we need to be able to transfer money quickly into the current account when necessary.

I sometimes get asked rather aggressively "what companies do you invest your funds in?" - with the implication that we're probably funding smoking beagles and cosmetics testing. It always sounds rather evasive to say "that's not how banking works", but I'm afraid that's the actual truth. We're not big enough or rich enough to be investing in individual share holdings.

Fleas!

Another two cats — and a first for one of our inspectors, who wound up so covered in fleas that she had to bin her outer clothes and spray herself with insecticide before heading home for a complete shower and change. I wonder if Frontline is licensed for use on humans? Goodness knows what state the poor cats must be in after being shut in with that number of blood-sucking parasites.

This is one health issue where completely feral (free-living) cats are actually better-off than very poorly-kept domestic ones, as they are able to keep down their parasite burden to some extent by changing their sleeping places so that fleas can't build up. When we choose to keep cats inside we take on the responsibility of flea control. There are various veterinary preparations which will kill fleas on the cat, but it's also important to clean the surroundings (and if necessary spray with an approved product).

Elderly Tabby/tortie?

Has anyone in the Cambridge area lost an elderly dark tabby/tortie cat? She was brought in just over a week ago suffering from severe dehydration as well as being very thin, so may have been living rough for some time. She seems to have had an infection at some point which has left her third eyelids permanently partially raised, but this may have happened after she got lost. She initially had to be put on a drip and we thought we were going to be forced to put her to sleep, but she's picked up after being rehydrated and put on a renal diet and she's now maintaining reasonable body condition without artificial fluids.

Fenella's story illustrates the problem of unidentifiable older cats. She's so friendly that she must have had a home at some time, but without a micro-chip it's unlikely that we can re-unite her with her original owners. While she's reasonably well we can ensure her a good quality of life with one of our fosterers, but with so many cats it's not possible to give older ones the same kind of nursing care they would be able to expect in a home of their own.

If you might be interested in fostering animals for our branch, please email rspcacambridge@aol.com with subject: fostering

Stocktake

The caesarian cat came through the operation, but the kittens didn't survive - she had a malformation of the uterus, so she's been spayed.

O'Malley's gone out to his new home (that's him in the picture).

Four abandoned kittens in - booked into the Peterborough kennels for the moment as the ones we normally use are still full-to-bursting.

If you might be interested in adopting a kitten, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk