Webshop newsletter

Millions of products discounted at Play.com Play.com has over 8 million discounted items on offer including new and soon to be released movies, perfect for evenings at home when it’s cold outside. As always everything at Play.com comes with FREE DELIVERY. Doctor Who: The Complete Specials Box Set (5 Discs) Only £26.99 saving you £13.00 (32%) off the RRP. Filled with exclusive extras, this box set contains all five 2009 Doctor Who specials. The Taking Of Pelham 123 Only £11.99 saving you £8.00 (40%) off the RRP. Edge of your seat thrills like a giant rollercoaster. Antichrist Only £9.99 saving you £6.00 (37%) off the RRP. Both nightmarish and apocalyptic. Sorority Row Only £11.99 saving you £8.00 (40%) off the RRP. Teen horror, recommended for anyone who likes to scream. Whiteout (White Out) Only £9.99 saving you £6.00 (37%) off the RRP. Pre-order now for release on 25/01/2010. A chilling thriller with Kate Beckinsale. 500 Days of Summer Only £11.99 saving you £8.00 (40%) off the RRP. Pre-order now for release on 18/01/2010. Boy meets girl love story, highly recommended romantic comedy. Play.com’s highlights of the week The Best of the Noughties is Play.com’s collection of the most popular movies, music and books from the Noughties. Prices start from £2.99 and come with FREE DELIVERY. Movies for Lovers is a collection of movies including romance, comedy and action thrillers, ideal to share with that special person. Prices start from only £2.99. Play.com's Fitness Store offers a massive range of workout DVDs, games and books including celebrity DVDs with up to 70% off. Don't forget every purchase you make via this newsletter or via our webshop will generate a donation to RSPCA Cambridge & District Branch please try to use our webshop when you shop online. Visit www.buy.at/RSPCA.Cambridge for more great offers from over 150 top retailers.

Purchases made through www.buy.at/RSPCA.Cambridge are made according to the information and terms provided by the company making the sale to you. Further details on using the buy.at shop are provided on the site.

Can anyone help?

We have the chance to do a house clearance in early February, with anything saleable to be given to our charity shops. However, to do a proper job—and make it worthwhile for the generous donor—we need a good number of volunteers and several cars (or a van) to remove the house contents.

Can anyone with use of a large car help us for a day? Date and time to be arranged.

If you might be able to help with this, please email camshop@rspcabookshop.co.uk or phone 01223 212 644

Webshop newsletter

Cut Costs in 2010 After the financial excesses of Christmas make amends and figure out how to streamline your budget. Have you tried shopping around for a better energy deal? If you haven't you can compare energy suppliers by using Switch and Give. It only takes about 10 minutes to submit your details and find a deal. If you choose an online tariff and use the same supplier for both gas and electricity, you’ll generally find the best offer. Buy TV, broadband and phone as a package and save a bundle With Sky Digital you can customise your bundle so you only pay for the channels and broadband you want, you can also get free off-peak calls. BT Vision allows you to watch digital TV on demand. If you add BT Vision to your package before January 15th and you will receive a FREE BT Vision+ box. Cut costs further with a Freeview box which allows you to watch a number of free TV stations. Asda is offering a standard Freeview box for £22; you can also get boxes which automatically record your favourite shows so you can watch them anytime. Find the right mobile phone deal for you There are lots of great deals on mobile phones, with T-Mobile you can get 300 minutes, with unlimited texts for just £15pm, it’s a 24 month deal and you’ll get a FREE Samsung Tocco Lite S5320 and FREE iPod touch (8GB). 3 Mobile’s Texter Plan is now reduced. For £10 you’ll receive unlimited texts and 75 anytime, any network minutes. The contract is for 18 months and there are lots of FREE handsets to choose from too. You can't switch water supplier but you can conserve water The Water Reduction Spray Magic Cartridge is easy to use and helps to reduce the flow of water coming out of taps by approximately 70%. Save yourself money and reduce water wastage by fitting a Bath Water Diverter. This device is designed to divert your used water from the shower/bath to your rain butt for use in your garden. Find a competitive deal on home and motor insurance The most popular insurance brokers in our webshop include Endsleigh Motor Insurance, ASDA Finance, Aviva Car and Aviva Home insurance. Women can save by buying their policy via Sheila's Wheels. Don't forget every purchase you make via this newsletter or via our webshop will generate a donation for RSPCA Cambridge & District Branch please try to use our webshop when you shop online. Visit www.buy.at/RSPCA.Cambridge for more great offers from over 150 top retailers.

Purchases made through www.buy.at/RSPCA.Cambridge are made according to the information and terms provided by the company making the sale to you. Further details on using the buy.at shop are provided on the site.

Animal Welfare Statistics for 2009

Animals rehomed
Dogs: 32
Cats: 82
Rabbits: 128
Others: 11
Total number of animals rehomed: 253

Veterinary Treatment of Owned Animals
(i.e. where the owner could not afford the cost of treatment at a private vet)
Dogs: 2,874
Cats: 1,475
Rabbits: 193
Others: 88
Total: 4,630

Veterinary Treatment of Unowned Animals
Dogs: 25
Cats: 193
Rabbits: 9
Others: 2
Total: 229

Microchipping
Dogs: 128
Cats: 165
Total: 293

Animals Neutered
Dogs: 175
Cats: 189
Rabbits: 112
Others: 4
Total: 480

Six feral cats were tested for FIV/FeLV, neutered and released.

Hedgehogs and cold weather

Any hedgehog that you see moving about during this period of cold is in trouble. When they hibernate, it is normal for a hedgehog's body temperature to drop in order to reduce energy use. If exceptional or prolonged cold causes it to fall below safe levels, then the hedgehog will wake up and search for food and/or another better-insulated place to hibernate. When the ground is hard frozen and snow covered, food will not be available and the hedgehog is at risk of perishing, because it is burning up fat all the time to keep up its body temperature.

It is possible to give such hedgehogs a better chance of survival by bringing them under cover and offering them suitable food: any meat-based pet food will do. Ideally they should be somewhere reasonably warm, but a well-insulated garden shed with dry leaves, straw or shredded paper to nest in will do for adult hedgehogs. Because they are mammals (like us) hedgehogs do not normally need a source of external heat to make it possible for them to eat (unlike reptiles who must be kept at an appropriate temperature). However, if they have got really chilled they need gentle warmth until they are eating and moving vigorously.

Pygmy hedgehogs, the species normally kept as pets, originally come from Africa and are unable to hibernate or cope with the cold and they must be kept at room temperature.

Snow in Cambridge

Mr Grumpy wondering whether a cat might be able to get a grant to retrain as a polar bear.

Tiger showing off her smart new splint

Tiger went up to the Veterinary Hospital to have her leg checked today, and she now has a smart newly bandaged splint instead of the old one which had got pretty grotty where she'd been digging in her litter tray. She also had an X-ray which showed the main lower leg bone is healing nicely, but the thinner one still needs support to keep the broken ends positioned together. It should be able to come off for good in another 10 days; then three more weeks cage rest while the bones are still in a weakened state.

Tiger isn't a stray, but was signed over to us because her owners didn't feel able to cope with a cat with a broken leg. She'll be up for rehoming once she's fully recovered.

Volunteering with the branch

Maisie, one of our injured strays

Volunteering opportunities with our branch probably don't fit the ideal image most people have of "helping at the RSPCA". Most of the animals we have up for rehoming are boarded at a private kennels, so we can't allow volunteers to just drop in and help out with dog walking etc. because this would mean disruption to the kennel owners' work caring for the private boarders.

A typical rescue case for us generally manifests via a call to the branch emergency phone from a private vet who has just received an injured stray with a log number from the RSPCA National Control Centre. This log number guarantees that the RSPCA will pay for emergency first aid. The Control Centre (NCC) is staffed 24/7 and responds to emergency calls from members of the public (or vets who have received injured strays directly). Sometimes an inspector or animal welfare officer will be sent out to deal with the situation (e.g. if the injured animal is dangerous), but if the finder has transport and can handle the animal they are usually requested to take it direct to a vet so that treatment can begin as soon as possible.

The National RSPCA pays the first £60 + VAT to get first aid started and the vet will then contact their local branch to fund continuing treatment and (hopefully) to rehome the animal once he or she is fit again.

This inevitably means that our rescues start off scattered all over our branch area, and we need to move them to our clinic for further treatment; to foster homes for recuperation, or to kennels for rehoming. Inevitably everything is guaranteed to happen at the most inconvenient time possible.

This is why we don't have many opportunities for people to come in and help with caring for the animals, but we always desperately need more foster homes and volunteer drivers.

If you might be able to help with either of these, please email: rosemary@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Resolutions

"Raise more funds," has to be our motto going into 2010. Without money we can't pay vets to treat animals, or kennels to board them so that they can be rehomed.

You can help us by:

• Buying items from our charity shops at 61 Burleigh St, Cambridge, 188 Mill Road, Cambridge and 156 High Street, Newmarket.
• Donating items to our shops (textiles and shoes can be sold for recycling even if they are worn out, but other items need to be in saleable condition).
• Volunteering in our shops.
  
• Volunteering to help with our yearly collection in RSPCA week at the end of April.
• Adopting animals from us so that they spend a shorter time in kennels, costing us boarding fees.
• Donating a percentage to us when you sell items on eBay.
• Buying second hand books online from our Abebooks store
  

New Year reading suggestions

Happy 2010!

Happy Christmas!

Many thanks to everyone who helped during 2009. Have a wonderful Christmas and we hope to see you in the New Year.

Opening Times and Phones

The National Control Centre will still be working 24/7 over Christmas: 0300 1234 999

Branch emergency contact number will be answered (but please, as we are all volunteers, only ring if something is genuinely urgent): 07742 658 086

The clinic will be closed on Saturday 26th and Wednesday 30th December, otherwise open as normal between Christmas and the New Year. For emergencies, phone the number on your clinic registration card as usual.

The Cambridge shops will be closed from about 3 pm on Christmas eve. 188 Mill Road will reopen on 4th January; 61 Burleigh St will reopen on the 5th.

Obligatory begging message—don't forget our shops can make good use of unwanted presents and any clothes you've discarded from your wardrobe to make space for new ones.

Dawn over Coldham's Common from the path to the clinic

Mistletoe on Saturday

This was the last of the donation of mistletoe and we'd sold out by mid-afternoon. Very many thanks to the imaginative donor for a fantastic addition to our Christmas fundraising.

Path to Cherry Hinton last night

Took this on my way back from dropping off some pet food to one of our fosterers. It was even more spectacular looking back up the hill from the railway bridge end, but by then the wind had got up too much for photography.

Please remember that cats and rabbits can cope with this kind of weather provided they have food, dry shelter and their water is kept unfrozen, but guinea-pigs come from South America and need to be brought indoors—either into the house or at least inside a shed or outhouse where their hutch is protected. Avoid bringing animals into your garage because of the danger from fumes.

Wild Animal Casualties

Statement from the national RSPCA:

"There is no truth whatsoever in the alarming rumour that the RSPCA has changed its policy regarding wildlife animals and that due to the credit crunch it automatically puts every animal it picks up to sleep.

Wildlife counts for a huge proportion of calls made to the RSPCA every year. Our inspectors and officers regularly respond to calls regarding injured or sick wild animals and birds. Every effort is made to ensure that these are taken to one of our own specialist wildlife centres, to a vet or one of the independent organisations that we work with and that they are rehabilitated and released where possible.

The RSPCA takes the decision to euthanise wildlife on a case by case basis, with the welfare of the animal in mind and to alleviate suffering."

On the current situation concerning non-native wild species, see DEFRA's review and the government's non-native species website (neither of these is controlled by the RSPCA).

Webshop newsletter

Last chance to buy your Christmas gifts Christmas is just around the corner, but if you haven’t bought your gifts yet you still have time to buy them through our online shop. Use any of the links in this page and RSPCA Cambridge & District Branch will receive a percentage of what you spend. Alternatively take a look at our online shop. Find the last order dates for Christmas delivery below, please use our webshop whenever you can. Last Order Date for Standard Delivery Last Order Date for Nominated Day Delivery Clothing, Homeware and Beauty Midday December 20th Midday 22nd December Wine Cases Midday December 20th Midday 22nd December Gift Cards & Vouchers Midday 18th December Midday 22nd December Hampers 17th December 19th December Flowers Not available 5pm 22nd December Postcode exceptions apply see M&S for full details. Last Order Date FREE Super Saver Delivery December 18th Express delivery 2pm December 23rd One day delivery with Amazon Prime 2pm December 23rd See individual sellers at Amazon for other options. UK First Class Express Delivery Midday 21st December Midday 23rd December Midday 21st December Midday 23rd December UK 1st Class UK Courier 3pm 19th December 3pm 21st December Other Popular Retailers Last Order Date for Standard Delivery Mothercare 20th December The Hut 18th December Sendit.com 18th December Zavvi 18th December Chipsworld 18th December Games4u 18th December Play.com 19th December Republic 22nd December Additions Direct 8pm 23rd December Choice 8pm 23rd December Empire Stores 8pm 23rd December Great Universal 8pm 23rd December Kays 8pm 23rd December Littlewoods 8pm 23rd December Marshall Ward 8pm 23rd December Very 8pm 23rd December Woolworths main site 8pm 23rd December Kiddicare.com 23rd December All Saints 17th December Visit www.buy.at/RSPCA.Cambridge for more great offers from over 150 top retailers.

Purchases made through www.buy.at/RSPCA.Cambridge are made according to the information and terms provided by the company making the sale to you. Further details on using the buy.at shop are provided on the site.