Owners who breed their dogs

Called just before half-past seven this morning by a panicked owner whose Yorkshire terrier bitch had been in labour since the previous evening with no sign of puppies. He'd got absolutely no money — not even the cost of a consultation fee for our clinic, although he had been responsible enough to get her vaccinated and registered with us so we could get her seen by the vets who provide our clinical services as an emergency. I don't know at this stage what happened or whether she and her puppies lived or not.

If she survives, she will be luckier than the poor animal whose eventual fate was described in last week's Mirror:

A family yesterday claimed their dog was put down by a vet because they could not afford a £1,200 operation.

Parents Andrew and Lisa Geddes took Staffordshire bull terrier Coco for treatment as she struggled to give birth to puppies.

The couple claim they were told a consultation would be £39 but after the pet was examined they were informed a caesarian op was needed costing at least £1,240.

It sounds from the article as though the owners were expecting the £39 to cover their pet's treatment and had no realistic idea of what operations cost. They probably were intending to sell her puppies (in itself not wonderful considering how many unwanted Staffies are out there), but I doubt whether they were just cold-bloodedly trying to turn a profit; they probably did love her and were very unhappy that she died; they just didn't expect to have to take any responsibility.

That's why we'll help the little Yorkie, but we will insist that her owner gets her spayed as soon as is compatible with her welfare and that of any surviving puppies and we will insist he pays us for her treatment.

Twenty or thirty years ago the vets who saw the Staffie bitch would probably have allowed her owner to pay by installments — and the owners would probably have actually paid. There's no shame in being poor, and there's no reason why people who aren't well off shouldn't have the fun and companionship that pets bring into our lives. If everyone decides the world owes them a living the system falls apart and it's misery all round.

Boring intermission

It turned out that the 2010/11 HMRC software for calculating tax and NI payments wouldn't install on my old laptop, so the last few weeks have been swallowed up migrating to its replacement.

Finally got all the shop staff transferred yesterday with their details correct, but when I tried to do the automatic online submission of the tax data for 2009/10 the results it offered were about half what I expected (if only!). Their help file didn't sound confident that the totals would be right, so I ended up doing it the hard way by entering everyone's individual P14 details into the HMRC online form instead. Result was at least close to the total I expected (the website claimed we'd made a slight overpayment), but at least we made today's submission deadline.

Normal posting hopefully resumed soon.

Boom and Bust

While Googling for references to use in the previous post I was a bit miffed to find a BBC page slamming the RSPCA for keeping reserve funds in case of unforeseen disaster still lurking out there. After all, in 1999 it was obvious to anyone that the dot com boom was going to keep going for ever, wasn't it?

Millennium Volunteers, Big Society et al.

Politicians and political journalists seem to be in favour of volunteering, but it hardly ever seems that they "get" the nature and problems of existing voluntary organisations, particularly ones concerned with animal protection.

In my more embittered moments I feel they expect the RSPCA to solve any problem with the most tenuous connection with animals (pet cremation? dogfight? deranged cat? no money? floods? plague of frogs? frogs with plague?) while providing volunteering opportunties that train people so they can leave and get paid work as soon as they are trained. In spite of this they don't seem to expect to factor us into any of the new schemes for community volunteering even though it would be a lot easier to build on existing groups rather than reinventing the wheel each time. And on top of that a lot of them seem to have a grumpy view of animal protection as a drain on resources that ought to have been spent on humans.

The sheer volume of calls to the RSPCA phones illustrates the level of demand and the circular disaster of the attitude that says, "If you haven't got enough money, I won't give you another penny."

At the most basic level, service-providing animal charities like the RSPCA are putting serious amounts of money into local communities, helping to keep jobs at vets and kennels and improving the quality of life of very poor people who would otherwise have to give up their pets. We're neutering cats and dogs to prevent over-population from causing mess, disease and disturbance, and rehoming animals whose owners can't cope. It's the non-glamorous, hard slog end of animal welfare and we can't keep it up forever without more broadly-based support. Over the past few years we've been sucked into ever more desperate attempts to satisfy demand in the hope that giving what people want will eventually mean more help.

Many of the people who benefit from our services don't have any realistic prospect of getting into paid work so that they can pay their own vet bills, but almost everyone would be capable of doing something to help keep us going, whether it was collecting funds, helping at our charity shops, or donating old clothes for recycling. In return they'd get the sense of purpose, self-respect and companionship that's so badly needed to combat the pervasive depression and unhappiness.

Status dogs?

There's a fascinating video on the Teacher's TV website about the partnership between the Cheltenham Animal Shelter and Gloucester education department helping excluded children back into full-time education through working with rescue dogs. By participating in training the dogs, the children learn to control their own behaviour, and incidentally must be learning to be safer and more effective dog owners when they acquire their own pets.

Next Volunteers' Meeting

The next volunteers' meeting is this coming Thursday (8th April) 7.30-9.30 pm in Ross Street Community Centre (off Mill road). All welcome.

Please note that the main entrance into the centre is round the side to the right of the building. There's a second entrance at the front, but it's usually locked in the evening.

Post for Ada Lovelace day 2010

Ada Lovelace day is here again and Victoria Braithwaite's new book on fish welfare has just been released, so I thought I'd combine the two.

Do Fish Feel Pain is very readable in spite of its strong scientific content and will not only be valuable for anyone who is interested in the controversial subject of the welfare of fish, but also as an introduction to the dilemmas involved in the ethics of animal welfare science. Many of the experiments which demonstrate that fish probably DO feel pain would probably not be acceptable if they were done on mammals, but without them far worse things would continue to be inflicted in the course of commercial fishing and aquaculture.

The book also contains happier evidence from observations of fish in the wild; some of it quite startling. Did you know that some fish have been seen hunting co-operatively, rather like humans using dogs to flush out prey? (DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040431.sv001) The grouper fish in the video clip is "calling" the eel to come out to hunt. (Bshary R, Hohner A, Ait-el-Djoudi K, Fricke H, 2006 Interspecific Communicative and Coordinated Hunting between Groupers and Giant Moray Eels in the Red Sea. PLoS Biol 4(12): e431. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040431)

Sponsored Dog Walk Sunday 11th April

View RSPCA in Cambridge in a larger map

Email reception@rspca-cambridge.org.uk for more details and sponsorship forms

Stray dog frustration

This is the second time in as many weeks that I've had a call from someone who's found a stray dog. By law stray dogs are the responsibility of the local council and should be reported to their dog warden, but there's no guarante of cover unless the dog is found between 9 and 5 on a weekday.

Until a few months ago, the main police station in central Cambridge used to hold dogs overnight and over the weekend, but that seems to have been stopped, although the council website is still advising people to contact the police about stray dogs.

"If you find a dog in the evening or at the weekend, you should contact Cambridgeshire Police on 08454 564564.

You may be asked to take the dog to the police at Parkside police station, if you are able to do so safely."

and the police website still says that Parkside police station will accept dogs when no dog warden is available.

Worse and worse...

Three calls asking for help with the cost of treatment at private vets today. One I didn't feel that bad about as the owner knew about our clinic and had had the dog in question for several years, so there's no real excuse for not getting him registered. I'm reasonably happy that she did get the dog to the private vet and, while it may have left her painfully short of cash, nothing awful is going to happen because we couldn't help her.

One I felt very bad about — a hamster which had been dropped and almost certainly had a damaged spine, as he was dragging his back legs. In that situation there would be little that a vet could do other than put the hamster to sleep, and it's debateable whether spending £100 to get that done this evening rather than wait until the morning would be a good use of charity funds even if we could afford it. Still, in an ideal world this is something that wouldn't be delayed, even though spinal injuries aren't usually painful.

The third was one of those situations that really make you despair: a couple with twelve dogs, six of them not vaccinated, one with a litter of puppies. Last week one of the un-vaccinated dogs developed parvo-virus and was put to sleep. Today, the bitch with the puppies had diarrhoea with blood in it, which is one of the symptoms of parvo-virus infection. If she'd been registered at our clinic she could have been seen as an emergency — although even then there's a very limited amount that could be done to improve her chances. All I could suggest was that the owner should speak to the vet who treated the first sick dog to at least get some advice, and then take the bitch to our clinic on Tuesday (leaving her in the car so that she didn't mix with any of the other dogs).

The Good Life?

We periodically get requests to take in pigs and chickens (particularly cockerels which have caused fallings-out with neighbours), so I hope this is not a portent of things to come.

RTFM (or better, get personal advice from an expert, such as a vet), applies even more to living things than to computers.



They'd mostly be better advised to stick to fruit and veg (although my Mum says growing your own doesn't actually produce cheaper produce; just fresher and tastier; and the real benefit is the exercise you get).

And a quick plug for local rabbit (as pets, not potential lunch!) and gardening expert, Twigs Way's latest book, Allotment and Guarden Guide, a historical study of the wartime "Dig for Victory" campaign.

RSPCA Week 2010 26th April to 2nd May

Register an interest in volunteering with us

Volunteers' Meeting

We will be holding volunteers' meetings every 2nd Thursday of the month at Ross Street Community Centre in Cambridge (just off Mill Road), between 7.30 and 9.30 pm. Anyone interested in the branch is very welcome to drop by, and we hope that one of the two local inspectors will be able to attend some of the meetings and answer questions about their work and the relationship between the branch and the inspectors.

The meetings are intended as a social event for all our volunteers where they can exchange experiences of helping with branch activities, and also as a focus for recruiting more helpers, and a chance for volunteers to meet members of the branch committee and ask any questions they may have.

RSPCA week April 26-May 2nd is our next big fundraising event and we need as many collectors as possible—even a few hours can raise as much as £20. We are also planning a sponsored dog walk in Histon, and more helpers, donors and shoppers are always needed at the three charity shops.

If we are to start giving emergency help via private vets again we need to raise an extra £30,000 each year.

View Larger Map

How to find Ross St Community Centre

There is limited parking at the centre (disabled bay, plus a few other spaces), but there is a car park within easy walking distance on Gwydir Street.

And another cat

Owner thinks the cat has a chicken bone stuck in his throat. He's never been to any vet before, although, as he's on benefits this is another cat who could have been registered with our clinic and so eligible for out of hours emergency treatment from our veterinary service provider.

Cat's Protection are going to try to get the cat seen by a vet — which is likely to cost them over £100 at this time of night and their funds won't hold out indefinitely either if something similar happens every evening. The added problem is that the owner has no transport and no friends with transport, so getting to a vet is going to be difficult.

And a cat

Feel terribly sorry for the owner, but again it's just such a shame the cats weren't registered at our clinic. The cat's probably been hit by a car and at this time of night just the consultation fee for the 24 hour vet would be over £100 with treatment costs on top of that. I've advised her to phone them in any case in the hope that they may be willing to give some treatment and try for help from the PDSA in the morning.

The out of hours cover offered by our clinic's veterinary services provider would cost less than a third of this. At our current income there is just no way we can fund the £36,5oo p.a. which would be needed to pay for one out of hours consult at private vets every day of the year on top of running our clinic and pet rehoming.

If you live in our branch area and are on benefits (including carer's allowance, working tax credit, attendance allowance) and know you would struggle to pay a private vet PLEASE be proactive about getting your pets registered at our clinic. Provided your pet attends the clinic at least once a year (booster vaccinations should be given yearly in any case), they will be eligible for the clinic's out of hours service. This is not free, but it is much more affordable than the alternatives.

A Gecko...

Again, the vets were very good and agreed they would at least take a look even though the owner claimed to have no money at all to pay them.

I don't think the no money claim bodes well for the poor little beastie as even small reptiles are high maintenance because of their absolute requirement for suitable heating and light, unlike, say, a hamster which can at least survive at room temperature so long as it has food and bedding.

And another dog

This vet was very helpful and is at least prepared to see the dog and possibly give first aid knowing that they're very probably not going to get any payment back from the owner. However they're not going to be able to commit to doing anything seriously expensive.

Dog is now collapsed after being ill for several days and isn't registered with any vet. If ONLY the owner had pulled out all the stops to get him to our clinic this morning. If the private vet's first aid can keep him alive until Thursday we can do our best for him then, but it doesn't sound good.

And another...

Feel worse about this one, as the dog's clearly in a bad way: vomiting and very dull, and it's another 6 hours until our clinic opens. However, it does illustrate why we have to press owners to take more responsibility so our funds can be used to best effect. The dog's registered at a local private vet and was previously on long term medication, but hasn't been seen there for some time. This was presumably because the owners were short of money and just let it lapse and hoped for the best.

They're on benefits, so they could have transferred their registration to our clinic before things got desperate. At this time of day (night) it would cost £150 just for the consult at the 24 hour vet, which just wouldn't be a sensible use of our limited funds.