Transport!

Writing this at 4.30 am having had an emergency call to the branch helpline just after 4 so no point trying to get back to sleep as I've got to be up by 6 anyway.

Our clinic has out of hours emergency cover for animals who have been registered by attending a normal clinic session, meaning pets whose owners couldn't pay the £100+ unsocial hours fees which a private vet would charge have access to low-cost treatment instead of having to take their chances until morning.

What we can't do is provide transport; I can't really wake up one of our volunteer drivers at this time of night and it costs around £100 to call out the commercial animal ambulance. RSPCA inspectors are not there to provide a taxi service and in any case there simply aren't enough of them on duty at night for it to be practical to divert one of them away from other emergency calls because some pet owner has no arrangements for transporting their pets.

The 4 am call was regarding a large dog whose owner was doubtful whether she could get him into a car and is the third this month where the main issue for getting the animal treated was transport to the vet.

At reasonable times of day we can sometimes arrange for one of our volunteers to help but there really are limitations on what's possible.

Cambridge Evening News have kindly given some publicity to our survey about access to veterinary treatment and it's looking as though transport is a fairly major issue in stopping animals getting timely care.

Click here to take the survey

Broken hip

In many ways the most problematic cases where owners have no money for treatment are those where an animal's life is not in danger, but he or she is suffering severe pain. A bitch with life-threatening pyometra fairly clearly has to be either treated or put to sleep, but in the case of less obvious conditions there is the risk that an owner may simply leave without the animal getting any useful treatment.

We had an example of this today: a dog who had been lame for some time and treated with pain-killers then referred to our clinic because the owner did not have enough funds for further investigations at the original private vet.

X-rays showed that she not only had a broken hip, but also an older injury to another leg - raising the concern that both legs might break down unless the hip was stabilised by operating.

This would cost £1000+ at most private vets and £300-£500 at our clinic meaning that the owner would be in a difficult situation even with our help. In the event, he said he had no money at all, so we offered to provide pain relief free of charge to give him a few days to think about it and a choice of raising the money to pay or signing the dog over to us for treatment and rehoming.

We can't be in the business of providing completely free operations with no sanctions on the owner or we will simply run out of money and not be able to treat any animals.

Equally, there has to be a safety-net so that dogs like this one don't simply go back home and suffer.

Local or National RSPCAs?

RSPCA branches cover the whole of England and Wales and are responsible for providing welfare services within their area. These would normally include:

• Caring for and rehoming animals signed over via the RSPCA inspectors or taken in as a result of cruelty prosecutions.
• Providing treatment, care and rehoming for injured stray or unowned animals.

• Provision of low-cost veterinary care (or help with the cost of vet treatment) for pet owners on very low income whose pets might otherwise go without proper treatment or be put down.

• Low-cost neutering to help prevent the birth of unwanted pets.

• Low-cost micro-chipping to help to ensure strays can be re-united with their families.

Branches are normally run by unpaid volunteer committees elected by local RSPCA members whose job it is to decide what facilities are most needed in their area and then work to raise funds to pay for them.

If not enough members are prepared to stand for election or vote, then control of the area returns to the National Society at Horsham and the branch is run by paid employees until a volunteer committee can be recruited again. This naturally means the loss of local knowledge of welfare needs and the mix of skills provided by a group of people based in the branch area pooling their interests.

I don't think the people who originally set up the structure of the RSPCA intended branch elections to work quite like this, but they've effectively evolved into an annual referendum on whether the branch should be run by local volunteers or by the paid staff at Horsham. If you're an RSPCA member and you don't take part in the local democracy of your branch you're voting with your feet for the Horsham option.
If you love animals and want to keep the "local" aspect of your RSPCA branch: get involved! By joining the RSPCA you'll gain the right to vote to elect the members of your local branch committee and the National Council members who govern the RSPCA. If you can spare a few hours each month to attend meetings, do consider standing for election to your local committee. You may not think you have fantastic business or admin skills, but many important committee jobs don't need a huge amount of  prior experience and training is available. The most important things are willingness to work as part of a team, love of animals and being prepared to learn.

If you might be willing to join the committee of RSPCA Cambridge, email rosemary@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

The second nicest kitten?

Waiting for further news of the kitten our inspector dropped off at the cattery today. She's apparently got a non-painful but wonky-looking leg which will need investigation at some point but doesn't bother her and can probably be treated as just one of those things.

What has piqued my interest is that Richard described her as, "The second nicest kitten he'd ever taken in". It does leave me wondering what the absolutely nicest kitten was like.

The Power of We

A rather ungrammatical title for a post about something that really is true.

Animal welfare won't improve unless WE do something about it.

James: in a bit of bother with a collapsible tunnel toy

None of us can do everything; all of us can do something.

Working together, we can achieve far more than we can individually.

The RSPCA is not perfect, but  animal lovers who are prepared to accept the need for give and take can gain a much more powerful voice for animals than as lone voices.

If you want animals to have better lives, please consider RSPCA membership. Membership adds your voice to the power of RSPCA campaigns, and it will also give you the right to vote in branch and national trustee elections.

If you have time, please consider whether you might be able to help our branch as a volunteer, or by joining the branch committee as a trustee.

Rabbit Awareness Week 2012

Take a look at this video for more information about keeping pet rabbits happy.

Our clinic in Cambridge offers low-cost rabbit vaccination (£17) to owners who receive means-tested state benefits (including working tax credits). This will provide a year's protection against myxomatosis and Viral Hemorrhagic disease. By taking your rabbit to our clinic you will also be registering them, which has the additional benefit of giving them access to our out of hours emergency service which is restricted to registered pets.

Click the tab above for more information about the clinic.

If you've not visited this page before, we'd be grateful if you could complete our survey into veterinary treatment costs as this will help us improve the services we provide locally.

 

Survey: please help

We're trying to develop a better picture of the unmet needs for veterinary treatment in the area served by our animal clinic and beyond.
Please encourage anyone you know who has pets to complete it: all information is anonymous, but will help us to find what we need to do to reduce the numbers of animals who go without the treatment they need.

Grim weekend for cats

Sadly several calls from people wanting to know whether we'd found lost cats, and, even worse, asking what to do about dead cats they'd found. One caller wanting advice about breaking in to a property where he suspects his cat has become trapped which I hope our National Control Centre were able to help with.

But, one call did make me very upset and angry. It was from a good samaritan neighbour who was trying to help a mentally handicapped man whose cat had been mauled by a dog. First there was the infuriating fact that, in spite of all our publicity efforts, this gentleman had still not understood that he needed to register ALL his cats with our clinic if they were to be eligible for the out of hours service our veterinary provider offers. This isn't something that I have the ability to treat leniently; our agreement with the vets is that they will see animals who have been registered by attending a normal clinic session at some time over the past two years and I don't have any ability to make exceptions for hardship. Secondly, he'd got no provision at all for paying for treatment; even if I'd been able to get him into the low-cost scheme he couldn't have paid anything. Thirdly, the private vet his helpful neighbour contacted was refusing even to provide euthanasia unless we agreed to cover the cost, plus the consultation fee.

I don't think it's likely that the cat's life could have been saved even if we could have covered the cost of attempting surgery, and I appreciate that vets are in a very difficult position because they would go out of business if all their potential clients could just say they couldn't pay and get things for free. However they do have a professional obligation to relieve suffering and if they demand we pay more than we can raise by fundraising we will go bust and there will be no source of help for vulnerable owners.

It's extremely worrying that so many owners still seem to have no idea that free or cheap veterinary treatment isn't automatically going to be available if something goes wrong (for example, see this thread about access to PDSA treatment on the dogpages discussion forum).

Duck to Water

EFRA committee discusses dog control and welfare today

Animal Welfare Statistics for July and August

In July 2012, our clinic treated 237 dogs, 117 cats, 9 rabbits and 6 miscellaneous small furries.

We rehomed 12 cats, 1 dog and 2 miscellaneous, and took in one case dog from the inspectors and six injured stray cats via the RSPCA National Control Centre.

In August 2012, our clinic treated 243 dogs, 125 cats, 4 rabbits and 4 miscellaneous small furries.

We rehomed 8 cats and 2 rabbits.



A further three cats were put to sleep on veterinary advice that treatment would be futile and only prolong their suffering.

We took in 8 cats and three rabbits as injured strays via the National Control Centre.

Over the year to date, our clinic has provided low cost treatments for 1,815 dogs, 688 cats, 51 rabbits and 39 small furries - a total of 2,593 animals altogether.

Collecting at Pets at Home this weekend

As always, these opinions are my own thoughts and not the responsibility of the RSPCA.

Pets at Home is the largest chain of pet stores in the UK. Many of these stores offer additional services such as pet grooming and micro-chipping and have assistants trained to give advice about flea and worm products so that the store is almost acting like a pharmacy for animals. The company also owns a franchise of veterinary surgeries and many of these surgeries operate out of the same building as the pet stores. It has potentially enormous influence on members of the general public who keep animals because of the all-inclusive nature of the services it provides.

And it does sell animals.

The stores don't sell puppies, kittens, or adult cats and dogs, but they do sell rabbits, guinea-pigs and smaller animals as well as fish and captive-bred reptiles.

Many UK animal charities (for example PDSA, Blue Cross) already have a relationship with the company because they can't justify turning down a potential source of help for the animals who need them. In the past, the RSPCA has always held back, taking a view that fundraising need shouldn't be allowed to compromise our message about the terrible problems caused by impulse purchase of animals.

Frankly this has not worked: the number of people who buy animals and contact us demanding help within a matter of days is growing, not decreasing. The danger of compromising our message is finely balanced with the danger that what we say will be ignored if ordinary animal lovers come to believe we want to end pet keeping altogether. Most people who work in pet stores probably choose their job precisely because they like animals, not because they are heartless exploiters, and name-calling doesn't help convince them that change is needed. If we've had a somewhat biased view of them the same probably applies the other way round and a genuinely closer relationship may convince them that we're not making up our stories about the enormous problem of unwanted rabbits.

This matters because if they're telling their customers there isn't a genuine problem it discredits the work of the RSPCA and potentially impacts on all the other things we're trying to do for animals.

Worst scenario sees us with even more limited funds, because we've lost the confidence of ordinary people, and call after call continuing to come in from impulse buyers with sick animals abusing our volunteers because they think our funds are being spent on "politics" instead of helping animals.

So this weekend represents a toe in the water. All over the country RSPCA branches will be collecting to raise funds for their welfare activities in their local Pets at Home Stores, and we need to recruit more helpers.

If you might be able to help collect in Cambridge or Newmarket, please email info@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Rabbit Awareness Week - one day only offer!

On Wednesday 19th September, our animal clinic will be offering FREE rabbit health checks for owners who are on means-tested benefits (which does include working tax credits).

In addition, there will be an opportunity to get rabbits vaccinated against myxomatosis and VHD for just £17 (again this is restricted to owners on qualifying benefits).

The clinic opens for booking in at 8.30 in the morning and no additional animals can be booked in after 10.30 am. To take advantage of this offer you need to bring some proof of benefit (a bank statement showing relevant benefits being paid in is fine).

Rabbits are one of the trickiest pets to keep healthy, so we hope this will be a small step towards improved rabbit welfare in Cambridge.

If you can't make it on the 19th, don't forget rabbit vaccinations will be available at our normal clinic sessions throughout the year for just £17.

Cambridge is a high risk area for myxomatosis, so it makes sense to get your rabbits protected.

Vaccination at our clinic also means your bunny is registered to use our low-cost out of hours emergency service should they become ill or injured outside normal clinic hours. But remember, you need to keep up your pet's yearly booster vaccinations to maintain your registration.

Grand bookshop relaunch tomorrow!

By 7 pm this evening we decided the shop was as ready as it's ever going to be and staggered home, to be ready for an early start tomorrow. Our volunteers have repainted all the walls; put up extra shelving; shampooed the carpet; washed the windows; repaired the light fittings, then rationalised the book categories and filled the shelves with as much fresh stock as possible.

We'll probably still need to do a small amount of shifting around if the amounts allowed for the different    classes aren't yet quite right and some of the most interesting books are still in boxes that won't be accessible until we've completed the re-organisation of our basement stock-room. However there will still be lots of bargains and interest for book-addicts when we open tomorrow at 10 and the "hidden store" will gradually flow out onto the shop floor as we empty boxes.

Many thanks to former city MP Anne Campbell for agreeing to do the official opening and to everyone who worked so hard on the refurbishment or helped by loaning equipment or donating materials, including ASDA, Cutlacks, Halls of Cambridge, Cambridge Resale, Homebase, Lloyds TSB.

Special mention must go to Claire of ASDA's Community Life project who put in an enormous amount of work driving forward the renovation, and to Pat, Liz, Alison, Paul and Eileen who worked incredibly hard to get it done in the time available.

We still need your book donations!

Please keep donations of books, CDs, vinyl and DVDs coming: the interest of a shop like ours depends on a constant input of fresh items so that customers know it will always be worth their while to stop by and see what's new.

At the moment the bookshop is open from 10 am until 5 pm from Monday till Saturday (we'd very much like to recruit some extra volunteers to make it possible to open Sundays too).

Our current target is to increase our sales by £200 per week so that we can generate £1,000 profit which can be used to support our low-cost animal clinic.

PLEASE don't forget: DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS

Please visit the main RSPCA website for more information about keeping animals safe in very hot weather. Some dogs may be at risk even of heat stroke even if you are careful not to leave them in a car.

http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/dogs/health/dogsinhotcars/-/article/CAD_DogsDieInHotCars

 http://www.rspca.org.uk/utilities/faq/-/question/ENQCADKeepingPetsCool/category/Animal%20in%20distress/

http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/helpandadvice/seasonal/details/-/article/ENQ_Seasonal_Advice_Summer

What's worse than the kitten season?

The caesarian season.

Just (12.30 am) had a conversation with a frustrated vet about the number of people who don't get their cats spayed and don't have any funds to deal with the consequences of something going wrong. 

It can cost over £1,500 to get an operation done to save a cat's life after her uterus has ruptured because she's been in labour for hours with a kitten stuck in the birth canal. In those circumstances, of course all the kittens will be dead.

Even an uncomplicated caesarian for a cat can cost over £500.

In comparison, spaying a cat so that she does not give birth is incredibly cheap - usually less than £70 - and there are animal charities almost begging to offer financial help to people who really can't afford the cost.

Our latest rehoming poster: please display if you can

Fun dog show: pics from last year

Just to whet your appetites for our Bigger and Better show in two weeks time.

This year's show will begin at 12 noon (registration) with the first class starting at 12.30. Lots of side shows and activities as well as the main show itself. Please come along and help raise even more money to help local animals.

Ben, our mascot for the day

Winners of the "mismatched pair"

Waiting for the command!

Fastest recall

Slightly lumbering recall

Flatten your ears to reduce wind resistance

I retrieve too!

Village Vet Whittlesford kindly provided sponsorship

Some of the winners

In a bit of a tangle

More winners

A bit hot for some

Face painting and ice-creams!

Getting a thorough examination

Animal Welfare Statistics for May

During May the branch rehomed three dogs, two cats and nine ferrets. Our clinic treated 218 dogs, 68 cats, 10 rabbits and 8 miscellaneous small furries.

Numbers of rabbits seen by the clinic continue to be worryingly low considering that this is the time of year when rabbits should be vaccinated against myxomatosis.