Rather a lot of biscuit-related cats

Bourbon

Flapjack

More to come, unfortunately, when Janine has time to upload the pics.

If you would be interested in adopting a cat from the branch, or becoming a temporary fosterer, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

We also need to recruit more volunteer collectors for RSPCA week so that we can keep on raising the funds needed to care for these and all the other animals who need our help.

Even a couple of hours after work or at the weekend would be useful: please email volunteering@rspca-cambridge.org.uk if you can help.

McVitie

Hobnob

KitKat

Squirrels

A happier ending than I was expecting on this.

A few days ago I took a call from a friend who'd been contacted by another of her friends who was in great distress because the complex where she worked had problems with squirrel damage in their roof area and pest control operatives had been called in. 

Both of them were so upset about it that it was difficult to be clear what exactly was happening, but eventually they explained that that the squirrels had been trapped and were simply being left to die. 

This is clearly not legal under UK law, which insists that bird or mammal traps must be checked at least once a day and I suggested that they should call the RSPCA NCC, making it clear that it was a complaint about the squirrels being caused to suffer, not about them being killed (which is not in itself illegal).

I'm still not absolutely clear whether the squirrels were actually inside live traps in the roof space, or trapped in the space itself after the holes through which they were entering had been blocked up, but my friend called this evening to say that one of our inspectors had visited the building and got the squirrels released (blocking the entrance holes after them so that they couldn't return).

I must say that I had been expecting that the result would be to ensure that the squirrels were killed humanely instead of suffering a lingering death—and a pretty pointless one as a couple of them are not going to make much difference to the total squirrel population of Cambridge.

PLEASE don't use DOG flea treatments on CATS

Yesterday I took another call from an owner who'd used over the counter spot-on dog flea treatment on her cat. The cat was having a seizure as a result and needed urgent treatment, for which the owner had no money. I authorised payment for emergency first aid, using some of the funding recently given to us by the national society.

This morning the vet called me to say that the cat had improved, but still needed inpatient treatment and the bill at that point was over £300 - only £200 of which would be covered by the maximum amount we can give, so the owner will still be left with a bill for at least £150. 

If the cat had been registered with our clinic she could have been seen by our veterinary service provider on the Sunday at a fraction of the cost and, of course, if she'd been registered at the clinic and had a suitable flea treatment product there none of this need have happened.

PLEASE DO NOT USE DOG FLEA TREATMENT ON CATS

The most effective treatments are those purchased via vets or via pet stores that are accredited to sell non-prescription medications. Always read the label.

50 Campaigns to Shout About by Ellie Levenson

This is a study of an assortment of 50 different charity and pressure group campaigns, including the RSPCA "Think Pig" campaign to improve the conditions in which these intelligent animals live.

Animal Welfare Statistics for February

Just got these written up.

In February our clinic treated 233 dogs, 89 cats and two rabbits. We microchipped six dogs and eight cats and also neutered eight dogs and five cats.

We rehomed two dogs, five cats, two rabbits and two guinea-pigs.

From the NCC's Newsletter

We probably get more grumbles about the RSPCA National Control Centre (NCC) than almost anything else, and sometimes people are quite unreasonable about what is possible for someone stuck at the end of a phone line and fielding a non-stop stream of calls from agitated members of the public. 

With this in mind, I thought I would include an excerpt from the latest NCC newsletter to try to give some background about what this enormously stressful job actually involves. I've edited it slightly to make it clearer to non-RSPCA readers because the original was produced for internal consumption. 

A Day In The Life Of...A Service and Support Line Controller

Job Role:

To take calls from the Inspectorate, Branches, Emergency Services and Vets. The inspectorate call for various reasons, such as checking PCO [Person Complained Of] details, markers and matches, allocations, directions and telephone numbers. Branches call in to report anonymous complaints that they receive either by telephone, letters or e-mails, they will also ask the NCC to arrange collection and transfer of animals from vets and other establishments. The NCC take calls from emergency services such as police, fire and rescue, coastguard and occasionally the ambulance service. They will call in for assistance with trapped animals and will also call in to register complaints when they have attended a property and have concerns about the welfare of animals being kept there.

The Vet Line is a dedicated line for vets to contact the NCC to request a contribution towards Initial Emergency Treatment of stray domestic animals when the owner is unknown and for treatment of some wildlife, predominantly wildlife above the size of a wild rabbit. The Vet Line has recently also started to deal with owned animals when the owner cannot afford to pay for the treatment. The controllers will liaise with the owner, vets, branches and other charities to try to assist.

This is a typical day: 

07:50 - Log onto system and check knowledge base for any updates.

08:00 - 09:30 - Take calls from various people including a vet who had been called out to a sheep. The member of public had spotted the sheep with a protruding eye in South Yorkshire, had picked the sheep up and put it in her car and had taken it home with her to Nottingham! The vets had to euthanize the sheep and NCC issued IET and also advised to contact the police and the local councils to try to trace the owner. NCC also advised them that DEFRA should be contacted due to the movement of the sheep.

09:30 - 09:45 - Break

09:45 – 10:15- Fit to Fly. This is a weekly meeting with other members of the team and their Team Leader. It is a chance for the TL to keep the team up to date with any changes that they need to be aware of and to also give feedback on performance and quality and gives them a chance to ask questions and raise any issues they may have and are usually quite upbeat and informative.

11:00 – 12:00 - Back to more calls. NCC was asked to do a call back for an owned animal. The owner had been given assistance from the local branch but could not afford the consultation fee so was asking for more assistance. NCC rang the owner back and discovered that it was not the consultation fee that she needed assistance with; she had an outstanding bill with the vet and wanted the RSPCA to clear her previous debt, this was declined.

12:00 – 12:30 - Lunch. 12:30 – 13:30 - More calls from Branch, Vets and the Inspectorate.

13:30 – 14:15 - Presentation to New starters. The presentation gives an overview and how their role as a call takers will link with the service and support team and explains what Initial Emergency Treatment is and when RSPCA would pay it.

14:15 – 14:25 - Break

14:25 – 15:30 - Final calls of the day included a call from the police about a dog locked in a car, a call from the fire service asking for assistance with a cat trapped in a car engine, a call from Branch asking for three cats to be transferred from a vet to the Branch and a call from an inspector regarding a case of someone illegally docking puppies tails.

If you need to contact the NCC

• Make sure you can explain as accurately as possible where the animals involved are located. In a residential area a street number and post code will do this, but it will be much more difficult if the problem involves animals in the countryside or beside a road. This is crucially important for neglect complaints because of the risk that an inspector will visit the wrong animals (for example if there are several fields all with similar animals in them).
• If a sick or injured animal needs help, please contain it if this is possible without putting yourself at risk. It may mean a wasted journey if the animal concerned cannot be found. If it is possible for you to transport the animal to a vet the NCC may request this in order that treatment can be started without delay.
• Stay calm, and explain the situation to the controller answering the phone. If you are too upset to give complete details they may not be able to assess the situation correctly. Please remember that the RSPCA has to deal with the law as it is, not as we might want it to be—for example we can intervene to stop grey squirrels being killed in a cruel way, but we cannot prevent someone arranging for them to be killed humanely.

Knitting Needles and Old Lace

(By littlenemo)

I have some permanent newsfeeds set to alert me to charity items that I ought to be aware of and there were three recent ones which caused me the proverbial sharp intake of breath:

• How on earth did no-one notice that things were a bit odd at the People's Opportunity to Work charity until two and a half million pounds had been siphoned off? 
• Health 'n Safety not exactly gone mad, but not improving anyone's well-being either. 
• I do think anyone putting together a charity's annual report should understand that whether or not the charity is a "going concern" is pretty important.

The charity shop piece is very unfortunate. Reading between the lines, I think what happened was that the parent charity (CRUK) became concerned that it could be liable if one of the volunteers was injured. Some health and safety breaches (for example fire safety) are strict liability offences, which means the charity could be fined very large amounts even if no-one was ever injured.

The most infuriating thing about it is that, very possibly, the volunteers were safer at the shop than if they were alone at home, simply because there would be people about if they had an accident or were taken ill.

All in all, it's a perfect example of why, on the one hand, volunteers do have to be reasonable about sticking to health and safety rules, and on the other, it doesn't really benefit anyone if those rules are complicated to a point where it's deemed impossible for any volunteer to cope without a paid manager always on the spot to enforce them.

There does seem to be some movement on this from the Health and Safety Executive, who are in the process of consulting on a new online tool for charity shop risk assessment. The new process looks  much simpler and no longer treats ordinary household cleaning agents as if they were dangerous industrial chemicals.

Please, if you volunteer for RSPCA Cambridge, do take notice of our health and safety instructions. Don't block fire exits and keep walkways free of hazards. And don't sell knitting needles to anyone under 25.

I don't want you to have to visit me in Holloway.

Actually I'm not very sure of the legal status of knitting needles and Google is almost silent on this. We're always told the needles must not be put out on the open shelves, but only sold from the secure cabinet. Ditto knives of any sort (which makes sense) and any other cutlery (presumably on the slippery slope principle that if it's teaspoons today it will be steak knives tomorrow.) 

Prioritising, tough choices, unhelpful attitudes

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RSPCA Solent branch runs the largest RSPCA animal shelter in the UK (bigger even than the largest shelters owned and run directly by the national society) and rehomes thousands of animals each year. Their published accounts show that in 2009 the trustees were reimbursed expenses to the princely total of £195 between all of them. These are people who are working their socks off and making a huge difference to animals in their local area. They also run a welfare clinic for animals owned by people on low incomes and like most of us they are wondering how to make ends meet.

Not one of the comments to the online article about the possible closure of their clinic shows even the slightest recognition that the branch is run by a group of volunteers who are giving their time to help animals. Almost all of them assume that the branch chairman and other committee members are paid. There seems to be no interest at all in giving useful help to fundraise to keep the clinic open.

Admittedly Solent do employ people to staff the shelter and clinic, but it really wouldn't be practical for all the day to day animal care to be done by volunteers who might not be available during the week.

Volunteers Meeting

The next volunteers meeting is this Thursday, March 17th. 7.30-9.30 pm at the Corner House Pub, Newmarket Road, Cambridge. All welcome.

Busy, busy

Jake, the little terrier, is doing well and should be fit to go out to a foster home tomorrow. He'll need cage rest with toilet breaks very strictly on a lead to stop him running or jumping and dislodging the metal plates that are holding his pelvis together. Back to the Vet School for X-Ray in a month. 

Luke, the tom cat with a broken jaw, is also well enough to go out and we'll probably move him down to the kennels as there's no reason to restrict him to a cage. He's also not yet neutered (because the vets were anxious about the legality of doing it before we've had him for at least 7 days) which means he's a bit of an anti-social guest for a foster home due to the strong tom-cat smell.

Just after half-past 8 this morning the emergency vet phoned to say they'd got another traffic accident needing to be transferred to our clinic, so our volunteer clinic manager cut her poor dog's morning walk and zoomed down to do the move before closing. This cat has chest injuries - basically the air-tight seal which normally makes your lungs expand when your ribs move has been breached so that there's a leak, making the cat breathless. The initial news on this one is that the School vets think it can be managed by medical treatment rather than needing any operation.

Can anyone tell us more about this print?

It was donated to our Burleigh St shop at the same time as the assorted owl pictures and ornaments. It's a limited edition print by Kenn Burrows who seems to have been a modestly famous artist in the 1960s.

First three weeks results for Newmarket

Lorna's just emailed me the latest results for the Market Street shop which are very encouraging.


w/e   19.02.11: £2,177.06

w/e 26.02.11: £1,438.42

w/e 05.03.11:  £1,606.60

Publicity for the initial opening boosted takings in the first week, so I'm not disappointed that the 2nd and 3rd weeks weren't quite as good, especially considering the cold weather which doesn't encourage browsing at the moment.

Thank you to everyone who's supported us by donating, shopping or volunteering: please keep it up and help us to go on helping local animals. Recently these have included Jake, a small Jack Russell-type terrier who was hit by a car and will need around £500 to pay for surgery to fix his broken pelvis, and several other cats and dogs signed over to our inspectors because their previous owners could not cope.

Sunday at the Burleigh St shop

Wren ornament

Long-tailed tits

"Compulsory Education"

We're regularly taking £100+ on Sundays now, which makes it well worth doing as it's more than we'd expect to raise by "stand-alone" events like jumble sales and all of it can go towards helping animals as this is the one day when it's possible to staff the shop with all volunteers.

Inspectorate group reports for 2010

Fox cub stuck in netting

I've just this morning received the inspectorate report for the Cambridgeshire branches group.

E2 ANNUAL REPORT 2010

CASES OF INTEREST

Three men from Peterborough were banned from keeping horses for 5 years after 5 horses they owned were found living on land deemed unsuitable, poor feed and no water made available. Two of the horses were emaciated. The RSPCA arranged care and treatment for the horses and are still looking to secure them good homes.

A man from Cambridge was banned from keeping all animals for 10 years for causing his dog suffering by failing to feed it properly. It was found in an emaciated state. He was also ordered to pay the society costs of £600 and ordered to complete 40 hours community service. Unfortunately due to the dogs condition and prognosis being poor the veterinary surgeon euthanased the dog on humane grounds.

RESCUE OF INTEREST

A collapsed pony was discovered on a bridle path in Peterborough. The pony was suffering from severe arthritis. The RSPCA cared for the pony and as no owner was ever found the pony was eventually rehomed.

Statistics for 2010

The "Collections" heading refers to situations other than cruelty cases where frontline staff were asked to attend sick or injured animals. These would normally be injured strays or wild animals which the person calling the RSPCA was not able to take direct to a vet. 

The majority of the cruelty complaints can be resolved by giving suitable advice on correct care. This is where the branch facilities are very important as it is often the case that very low income pet owners don't obtain veterinary help because they are afraid of the cost. Our inspectors can deal with many neglect complaints by telling the owner that they must take the animal to our clinic and checking later that our records show that this did happen and that the animal's condition was treated.

E2 statistics for 2010
Complaints dealt with	4549
Case files submitted	30
Convictions secured	12
Adult written cautions	10
No proceedings	8
Collections	5446

Claire and Ffiona on the Andie Harper show

Claire and Ffiona were interviewed on Radio Cambridgeshire's Andie Harper show today, talking about the cost of looking after pets. The link to listen again should work for the next seven days. 

It's a three hour program, so I'm afraid you have to listen to quite a lot of general current affairs before you get to the piece about veterinary treatment. Hopefully at least some of the listeners will have been motivated to think about making arrangements to ensure that they would be able to meet the cost of their pets' treatment.

It's that time of year again...

Even a few hours collecting can bring in enough to make a real difference to local animals.

If you live in our branch area and might be able to help, please email volunteering@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Otherwise, click on the RSPCA Week banner for more information about helping your own local branch.

More animal-related donations for sale at our Burleigh St shop

Badger "piggy-bank"

Birds cup and saucer

Closer view

Please keep the donations coming: they are the life-blood of our shops.

Merlin

A wide-eyed Merlin checking in to have his external fixator removed

Merlin has now had his external fixator off and is looking good. He'll have to be kept indoors and not allowed to jump for another four weeks, but the x-rays show his broken leg is nicely healed. Once the four weeks is up he'll be ready for adoption.

An external fixator is effectively a splint that's actually attached to the bone through holes in the leg. It means that a limb that's broken in several places can be stabilised so that the ends hold together and new bone can grow to fill the gap between. Merlin's x-rays show this process is complete and healthy new bone has completely filled the break.

Animal Welfare Statistics for January

In January our clinic treated 232 dogs, 90 cats, 6 rabbits and 2 miscellaneous "small furries". We rehomed 2 dogs, 9 cats and 3 rabbits.

This illustrates how vital it is that we keep on raising enough money to fund the clinic, because this represents 330 animals who might either have been put to sleep or relinquished for rehoming if a low-cost option for getting veterinary treatment hadn't been available. 

Where owners are caring, but don't have enough money to pay the full cost of a vet, it's much better all round if they can be enabled to keep their pets. 

• It costs less than treating the animals and boarding them until they can be rehomed.
• It means animals don't have to lose the family they know and love.
• It prevents "recycling" whereby people relinquish an animal they can't afford to look after and then acquire another one.

Our clinic costs us around £50,000 p.a. to run, including payments for the provision of veterinary services, vaccines, heat, light, rates, repairs etc.

Monthly Volunteers Meeting - WEDNESDAY 23rd February

Please note that this month's volunteers' meeting is one day earlier than normal, because our venue, the Corner House Pub, had a previous booking for Thursday.

From March we'll return to our normal time/date of 3rd Thursday in each month, 7.30-9.30pm.

Animal people should be interested in Big Society (and vice versa)

This video of a talk given David Grant of the RSPCA Harmsworth Hospital last year explains why those of us who want to improve conditions for animals need to be interested in solving wider social problems. It also demonstrates why social activists and politicians who think animal welfare is simply taking away money that ought to be used for people are wrong.



When people see no reason why they should cooperate, we see things like RSPCA Manchester and Salford's despairing comments about shoplifter after shoplifter stealing from a charity that's already struggling to fund the demands from people who feel entitled to unlimited help.

"I see and hear so frequently so many people who are all too keen to pass off their responsibilities on to others; asking for help is very different and I have no problem with that. But the amount of times people are abusive and emotionally blackmailing on the phone is awful and this week it has really taken its toll. We simply cannot say yes to everything and I just wish people would have some understanding towards this fact and realise that they have to take responsibility for their actions."

None of these worries are new, nor are they party-political. The Office for National Statistics was collecting information about "Social Capital" (basically how well society functions at the level of interactions between individual people) in 2003. 

The ONS definition of Social Capital says:

Social capital describes the pattern and intensity of networks among people and the shared values which arise from those networks. Greater interaction between people generates a greater sense of community spirit.

Definitions of social capital vary, but the main aspects include citizenship, 'neighbourliness', social networks and civic participation. The definition used by ONS, taken from the Office for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is "networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups"

and

What are shared norms, values and understandings?

These relate to shared attitudes towards behaviour that are accepted by most individuals/groups as a 'good thing': examples are not parking in a disabled parking space at a supermarket and giving up your seat to someone who needs it more on the bus.

Without this desire to avoid other people's disapproval lots of simple things would stop working: for example running shops is only possible if most people don't steal because it would require huge numbers of personnel to force everyone to pay.

The problems we face with pet owners who can't / won't pay for their animals' treatment are escalating because more and more people believe this is someone else's responsibility; either ours or the vets.

One of the things that ONS investigated was the connection between social capital and volunteering. Using the 2000 Time Use Survey they demonstrated that volunteering increased connections between people (in simple terms, volunteering is a way to make friends). People who cooperate on shared projects  are more likely to have a sense of purpose and a pride in their joint achievements (in contrast to David Grant's status dog owners with their desperate lack of self-worth).

From my point of view, at the most basic level; someone with a few friends who may own cars is less likely to phone me because they have a large dog who cannot walk and absolutely no means of getting the dog to a vet.

Obviously joint activity on its own isn't enough: the gang members have that in an almost purely negative form; status, but not a status that's worth feeling pride in. I rather suspect that combining to protest against things isn't ultimately all that satisfying either, if that's all you ever do, because it's not constructive.

Politicians and social activists should be interested in animals in society because animal protection groups are almost entirely self-supporting (if only because there is a policy of not giving them lottery grants) and because they do foster networks between people. This isn't just about charities and pressure groups; it's been demonstrated that dogs act as "social catalysts" breaking the ice and encouraging walkers to make contact (possibly not if they happen to be status dogs). An Australian study showed that pet owners scored higher on a variety of "social capital" measures than non pet-owners (for example loaning tools to neighbours).

Owl eggstravaganza!

These are just a few of the delightful owl-themed objects which have been generously donated to our Burleigh Street shop.

There are also many other attractive pictures and ornaments of birds and other animals.

If you love owls, do come along and browse.

We'd also like to thank Debenhams for donating the glass display units which show off all the ornaments most effectively.

Slideshow from our rehoming gallery over the past few years

More pics from the Newmarket shop

Outside the shop just before the opening

Inside the shop looking outward

Mike Thompson welcoming the customers

Books for adults and children

Tabitha is Holly!

This pretty tabby girl was hit by a car and taken to the emergency vet last week. Fortunately it looks as though she'll make a full recovery, and her owner managed to make contact with us by phoning all the local vets asking if they'd taken in an injured female tabby.

Ideally all cats should be micro-chipped to make immediate identification possible. However, if your cat goes missing and is not chipped, do phone round vets, including ones that seem quite a long way away from your home. If an animal is found injured outside normal working hours, the closest available vet may be some distance away.

Also, remember that most "lost" cats have actually got shut in somewhere. Regardless of whether or not your cat is chipped, ask all your neighbours to check any sheds, garages, greenhouses etc. that may have been opened and later shut with your cat trapped inside.

Update
Sadly it turns out that Tabitha isn't Holly after all.  The lady who had lost a tabby cat came down and Tabitha has no white on her at all, while Holly had a very small amount. So Tabitha is still looking either for the person who has lost her, or for a new permanent home.

Update on Roxy

Roxy

This is Roxy, the Staffy who was brought in as a cruelty case. She loves everybody in spite of having been treated as a punch bag. Now fully fit and ready to go to a new home.

Pics from the Newmarket Shop opening

 Shopping here benefits the environment as well as helping animals

A smiling Mark Thompson welcomes the customers

Chief Inspector Mark Thompson cuts the ribbon

People were queuing down the street to get in

Volunteers getting a well-deserved cuppa

Slightly alarming severed hands display jewellery!

Shelves packed with something for everyone

We made over £700 on the first day and £329 today.

Please keep the donations coming, as with sales as good as this we need to keep the stock coming in.

Thanks and congratulations to Lorna and her team of volunteers who all worked so hard.

Ignore Valentine's Day: this is much more important

Don't forget! Put it in your diaries. Set your electronic calendars.

Chief Inspector Mark Thompson will be opening our new charity shop at 10A Market Street, Newmarket at 10 am on Monday 14th February: this coming Monday!

Please come and give us your support. The Newmarket group have worked their hearts out getting the shop ready; now they need your help to make it a success.

Extraordinary Dogs: book review

Extraordinary dogs is a collection of articles about dogs who assist human beings in an enormous variety of fields of life (and occasionally, as in the case of Scamp, who appears to recognise when nursing home residents are nearing the end of their lives; death). However it's much more than just a disjointed collection of anecdotes because each group of stories is introduced with a brief summary of the science that lies behind the dogs' abilities. It's not a book about dog training as such, but may benefit ordinary pet dogs by encouraging their owners to realise their need for mental stimulation and physical exercise. 

We tend to think that of working dogs as belonging to just a few specialised breeds, but this book shows that talent exists in breeds as unexpected as the little Chinese Crested, Yorkshire terrier and Miniature Schnauzer.

For anyone who wants to find out more, there's a useful list of organisations consulted, together with their websites, but I felt it was a bit of a pity that there were no other suggestions for further reading, or references to the science involved.

The Channel 5 series it accompanies is on now.

Interested in training as a vet?

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons has a YouTube channel with information about veterinary careers. If you love animals and are wondering about the possibility of becoming a vet this is a useful source of reliable information.



The video series is produced in association with UK Vet Schools, including the Cambridge Veterinary School which provides clinical services to our clinic and uses it for training purposes.

Sheep rescue in Caernarfon, North Wales

RSPCA inspectors abseil down a cliff to reach a sheep trapped on a ledge.

Not suitable for anyone who doesn't like heights!

Another poor little mite

She's about three years old and was rescued by a policeman who saw her in the street being kicked in the head by her owner. Richard, our inspector, and the kennel staff, all say she's a lovely natured dog in spite of her background of abuse.

Of course, she is another Staffie.

Her owner would not cooperate by giving us any information which might help in rehoming her, not even to tell us her name.

10A Market St. starting to look good

Work in progress 

10A Market St - some work on the exterior still not quite finished

If you would like to help in the shop, or to drop off some donations, please email newmarket@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Never blog when your temperature is more than 100 degrees

Naturally readers who can do subtraction will have noticed that 14 minus 1 = 13 not 5.

Our new shop at 10A Market Street, Newmarket is opening on Monday, 14th February, 12 days from now.

Five days to go

Only five days now until our shiny new charity shop opens at 10A Market Street, Newmarket.

Many thanks to RSPCA HQ for demonstrating their confidence in us by giving us a loan of £18,000 to fit it out.

Lorna and Val have been working hard putting up the new rails and shelving, and the gift aid tills should be delivered on Friday.

So, you've joined an RSPCA Branch Committee?

The first thing that will probably strike you is that there's a lot of paperwork and that meetings are run to a fixed agenda that may seem bureaucratic until you get used to it. Meetings start by reading through the minutes of the previous meeting and checking that everyone agrees they are an accurate record. This may appear tedious, but it's vital to have written proof of what was actually agreed if there are problems later on.

A branch committee meeting is only allowed to make decisions if there are at least 4 elected committee members present.

The next thing is that really quite frighteningly large sums of money are involved. In our case the bill for animal boarding runs at roughly £2,000 each month. The basic fee to staff our animal clinic is £2,500 and on top of that there are costs for veterinary treatment of the animals we take in and general items like rates, heating and repairs. 

As a branch, our life is a constant balancing act between not going bust altogether and constant demands to find, "just another £200" in order to save an animal's life.

The trouble is that ONE payment of £200 is not much in relation to our turnover BUT £200 repeated every day would finish us off unless we can increase our income.

Is anybody out there?

I sometimes feel that way, and evidently RSPCA HQ are the same as that's the heading of their latest volunteer survey.

If you do volunteer for the RSPCA, I urge you to complete the online form - especially if there are things you would like to see changed or have irritated, annoyed or upset you. If we don't KNOW about problems we can't fix them.

If you are a volunteer and you complete the form you'll be entered into a draw to win a day out with one of the inspectors.

In some ways the people we really need to ask are the ones who considered volunteering and either never got started or else drifted away. It came up on the i-volunteer discussion board a few days ago and, allowing for the fact that this was just one person's experience, one problem that can be fixed seems to be an explanation of why volunteers can't automatically attend and vote at branch committee meetings or vote at the branch AGM and what they need to do if they would like to get more involved in decision-making.

RSPCA branches are registered charities in their own right, governed by the RSPCA Rules for Branches, and ultimately by the Charity Commission. We can't simply re-write the rules to suit ourselves, or the result would be chaos, and because large amounts of charity funds are involved there have to be set procedures to specify who is eligible to elect the committee. Committee members are personally responsible for proper management of branch funds (and could ultimately be made to pay them back if things went really wrong). If random people could attend committee meetings and vote there would be no way to hold them to account, and it would be very awkward if it was possible to come to a meeting, push through some hugely expensive project and then leave everyone else to cope.

If you are an existing volunteer, or a new one, and are interested in taking part in decision-making at local or national level, the first thing you need to do is to join the RSPCA. (Make sure you request that your details are passed on to the local branch and that you become a branch member as well as a national one).

Three months after your application has been processed, you will be eligible to vote and stand in branch elections. You should automatically be sent details of the date of your own branch's Annual General Meeting (which is where the elections take place) and a nomination form which you can use to submit yourself as a candidate for election to the committee. You need to get supporting signatures from two other branch members (usually if you contact the existing committee they will be only too delighted to arrange this as most committees are short of members). 

For a valid election the branch AGM must be attended by at least 10 members and each committee member needs to receive at least 50% of the votes of those present in order to be elected (members can vote for as many candidates as they like, but can only place one vote per candidate).

Once you have been elected, your troubles will be only just starting...

Dog foster home needed

One of our clinic clients needs to find a temporary or permanent home for a four year old Labrador dog due to health problems (partly hers and partly the dog's).

The dog is well-behaved, friendly and placid, but has begun having occasional fits - so far only 1-2 per month, which the clinic vets have advised should be monitored, but not treated by medication at this stage. When he has a fit he loses control of his bladder and threshes about in a way which means he would be a risk to small children because of his size and strength. For the same reason he probably ought not to be left alone with other dogs. He's never shown any signs of aggression other than reflex snapping when actually having a fit.

Ideally he needs to be placed in a home where he can be restricted to areas where the seizures won't do any damage (to him or to furniture and carpets) and where he can be left to recover quietly in his own time. 

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

Snap?

If you've been following the discussions about "Big Society" and the rôle of charities, you may be aware of Parliament's Public Affairs Select Committee investigation on the Funding of the Voluntary Sector. The minutes of evidence are rather long, but I was very interested by the asides about the distinction between "campaigning" and "service" charities, with some of the questioners being quite hostile to the idea that charities should try to bring about changes in the law or in the way people behave.

The Chief Executive of Marie Curie Cancer care rebutted the claim as follows:

"It seems to me that it’s a pretty fundamental principle that free organisations and free associations can campaign-that’s important. I think there needs to be a balance between campaigning and service provision, and often charities will use their experience of providing services to influence public policy. They will say, "Look, we realise that caring for people with cancer requires a different approach, and we’re going to campaign to ensure that different approach." There wouldn’t be a hospice movement if there hadn’t been both the provision of hospices by the charitable sector and also arguments on the need for more of them. It’s a combination that often takes place. Different charities will make different decisions about the balance of that. I think the best charities combine the provision of direct services and the use of knowledge to influence policy. That’s the important principle I think."   

Fired by his example, I'm cross-posting from a piece I did a few months ago on our i-volunteer page about campaigning and animal charities.

Some animal protection organisations see their primary role as the direct provision of welfare services (for example rehoming animals), while others are primarily orientated towards campaigning, or education. A few combine the two, and this may cause them some problems.

On the one hand they may be accused of diverting funds intended for animal welfare services into "political" activity (with a small p). Or, on the other, of failing to tackle basic questions of how we ought to treat non-human animals in favour of "safe" options which are acceptable to the general population.

I think this idea that providing services and campaigning are somehow natural opposites is false and actively harmful. "Speaking out for animals" may be all very well, but it isn't likely to do them very much real good unless it's backed by knowledge (which animal welfare practitioners are more likely to possess than purely theoretical campaigners). It may do them actual harm if the campaigns are based on wrong, outdated or incomplete knowledge.

On the other hand if the practitioner sees recurring problems which could be solved by education or changes in the law, it makes no sense to say, proudly: "All our money is spent on direct provision of services."

So far as I'm aware, the RSPCA is unique in providing a free service which the State would have to spend money to replace if we collapsed. The PDSA provides services which effectively top up the benefits of very poor people who depend on pets for companionship, but there would be no statutory requirement for any kind of replacement. So long as anti-cruelty laws are on the statutes there would have to be at least a minimal amount of enforcement, even if many cases would simply be disregarded as not a priority. So, in a strange, back-to-front way we're almost the ideal "Big Society" organisation, raising our own funds to provide a better service than the state would do, but at the same time saving public money by funding work the state would have to do if we weren't there. The network of RSPCA branches was doing things locally nearly a century before the Big Society Network was thought of. "Mending our communities" may be a little too ambitious, but we are providing local services for low-income families with pets. 

Charity Shop opening date February 14th

We now have a date for the opening of our new charity shop in Newmarket. 

10A Market street will open for business on Monday 14th February. This will give the volunteers a chance to practice with the new tills during the relatively quiet weekday period ready (I do hope) for a really busy Saturday.

There will be staff and volunteers in the shop working on setting up from 29th January onwards and they will be more than delighted to take in donations of items for sale. Market street itself is pedestrianised, so if you are dropping off donations by car it would be best to contact us first for directions to the access road at the back of the shops. Email newmarket@rspca-cambridge.org.uk or phone 07766 502 032 (note that the location on Google maps correctly identifies the access road, but shows the back of the wrong shop.

If you are interested in volunteering in the shop, please download and complete our shops volunteers form and bring it with you. We need to keep a record of who to contact in an emergency and whether our volunteers have any health conditions which mean we need to make adjustments to their work patterns (for example avoiding standing for long periods).

Newmarket Shop will be opening in February

The shopfitters are due to hand the refurbished shop at 10A Market Street over to us tomorrow, although there are some minor jobs still to do. We then have to put up the rails for clothes, install the new Gift Aid tills, and stock the shop.

From Wednesday onwards there will be staff and volunteers in the shop for most of the day and they will be delighted to take in donated items. Unfortunately the phoneline is not yet connected, so it's not yet possible to phone ahead. Market St is pedestrianised, but if you want to drop off donations by car there is access to the rear of the shop from the service road off the A142.


We need more volunteer, for a variety of tasks, not just staffing the till.

We need people to help with sorting and cleaning donated items (a good wash in soapy water can vastly improve the saleability of ornaments and bric-à-brac). Also, people to fill shelves, put clothes out on the  rails and help with moving larger items.

We also need people who would be willing to distribute leaflets and help with publicity to ensure that the opening is a success as first impressions are so important.

Car drivers willing to collect donations from elderly or non-driving donors would be a great help.


If you would be interested in volunteering, please email newmarket@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Thank you to everyone who donated items to our shop yesterday

Just a quick thank you to everyone who dropped in donations to our Burleigh Street shop yesterday.

We're now opening Sundays 11 am — 4 pm, and so far it looks as though sales aren't huge, but it's a more convenient day for many people who want to donate items for sale.