Dog Flea Treatments and Cats again

Yet another owner with a £300+ bill from the emergency vet after treating her two cats with over the counter anti-flea "spot-on" insecticide intended for dogs. She's on income support, so we're helping with £100 towards the total and she's borrowed £200 from her family.

Never give a cat any kind of medication intended for another species except on specific advice from a vet. Because they are specialist carnivores, cats are much less able to detoxify chemicals than most other animals.

Living with a House Rabbit

Living with a House Rabbit is written by Linda Dykes and Helen Flack, respectively the former and current chairmen of the Rabbit Welfare Association, and is an excellent introduction to keeping rabbits as indoor domestic pets. It provides realistic advice about the amount of potential damage event the best-behaved rabbits are likely to do, and ways to "bunny-proof" your home to strike a successful balance between freedom for the rabbits and preservation of reasonable domestic standards.

When successful, house-rabbits probably have better quality of life than pet rabbits kept under any other system, but all too often owners either become disillusioned and give their pets up for rehoming, or they end up condemning them to long periods confined to indoor cages which are very little better than outdoor hutches. If everyone thinking of having a rabbit as an indoor pet read this book before acquiring a rabbit we would have fewer requests to rehome the relationship failures and more rabbits would have better-quality lives.

Just one example of the kind of inspired tip the authors include is the suggestion that solid plastic dog beds make splendid litter trays for rabbits (particularly older ones whose joints may be getting a little stiff). The raised back and sides help prevent hay and litter scattering around, while the low front is easy for the rabbit to step over.

Update on Fenella

Took Fenella to the clinic for a re-check yesterday and was delighted to find she's gained a kilo - up from 2.1 kg to 3.1 kg - which is probably now about the right weight for her general build and age. She's still got her third eyelids partially up and the vets think this is probably permanent and due to having had untreated cat flu when she was tiny, but we're trying a course of eye ointment to see if there's any improvement.

"RSPCA Inspected"

We're periodically criticised by animal rights groups who believe that we "approve" circuses and, as an animal circus is touring locally, it may be worth explaining once more that this is not the case. An adjudication by the Advertising Standards Authority explains:

"A leaflet, for Great British Circus, stated "THIS CIRCUS HAS BEEN RSPCA INSPECTED". The RSPCA complained that the leaflet misleadingly implied they had approved the circus.

Adjudication

Complaint upheld

THIS ADJUDICATION REPLACES THAT PUBLISHED ON 24TH MAY 2006. THE COMPLAINT REMAINS UPHELD BUT THE WORDING HAS BEEN CHANGED.

Great British Circus (GBC) said their leaflet neither stated nor implied that the circus was 'approved' by the RSPCA. They said they had been visited by the RSPCA and submitted photocopies of two pages from their visitors' book and a copy of an RSPCA animal welfare assessment form to show that. GBC believed that, because they had granted access to the RSPCA in the past, it was fair to inform the public of that.

The ASA noted GBC had, in the past, granted permission for the RSPCA to visit their circus to check the way in which they looked after their animals. Nevertheless, we considered that the presentation of the leaflet, showing two circus performers giving a 'thumbs-up' beside the text "THIS CIRCUS HAS BEEN RSPCA INSPECTED", implied approval by the RSPCA of the circus and the use of animals as performers in the circus. We concluded that the claim was misleading and told them to delete it."

If you see a circus including animal acts which claims to have been "RSPCA inspected" in its advertising materials, it would be helpful to let our Headquarters have copies of any leaflets or posters with details of when and where the circus visited. The address to send them to is RSPCA, Wilberforce way, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9RS

There is more information about the RSPCA's position on circus animals on the national website.

Vicious circles and Virtuous ones

One reason why some people take on more than they can cope with is fear that the animals may be put down if they are handed over to an animal welfare organisation. Conversely, some welfare organisations argue that "limited access" animal shelters, where animals are never put down to make space for more admissions, may mean more euthanasia in the long run if owners decide to have their animals put down rather than wait until space is available. By US standards the RSPCA would be entitled to call itself a "no-kill" organisation — one which does not put down animals capable of rehabilitation.

Once things have got out of control, owners may be deterred from seeking veterinary help by lack of money and fear that approaching the RSPCA or PDSA might lead to prosecution instead. This is actually most unlikely — in about 20 years I can only think of two cases where our clinic reported an owner to the Inspectorate as a result of them bringing an animal for treatment. One was a case where the owner's boyfriend had deliberately broken their dog's leg and the other was a dog whose collar had been put on when he was a puppy and left until it had grown into his neck over a period of months. Someone who seeks help reasonably quickly would never be reported even if the vet might privately feel they'd been irresponsible or inefficient. Most of the time, someone who phones the RSPCA for help with veterinary treatment (rather than visiting a clinic) won't actually meet anyone from the organisation in person, but will be given help with the cost of going to a private vet.

Stocktake

Maddison has been rehomed (a big thank-you to her adopter for a generous donation in addition to her adoption fee) and Ben and Wee Man have been reserved. Poor little Ghost is still looking. Many thanks to dogsblog for organising national dog adoption month. Without their support it's very doubtful whether we would have easily found good homes for the two older ones. One Syrian hamster and two of the kittens (Lynx and Tiger) have also been rehomed.

The little dog in the photo is Titch, an elderly chihuahua, whose owner was a client of our animal clinic and sadly could no longer care for Titch because his own ill-health meant lengthy periods in hospital.

File on Four last night

If anyone is concerned that we are all going round madly reporting innocent people for child abuse, I suggest they read the whole of the London Safeguarding Children Board's draft (repeat, draft) protocol for exchanging reports of suspected ill-treatment between animal- and child-protection professionals. Virtually always, child neglect reports by RSPCA inspectors relate to situations where they're called to investigate animals being kept in squalor and find that the family also has children living in the same conditions.

The program editors also didn't seem convinced of the truth of animal hoarding as a welfare problem. To put it in perspective, I suggest taking a look at the pet-abuse.com database of animal cruelty reports (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Spain). Select "hoarding" as type of abuse to view news reports of cases. (Their database seems to be most current for US cases and to have trouble resetting between searches of different countries unless you restart your browser).

The trouble with this sort of program is that it discourages people who do realise they need help with their animals from contacting animal welfare organisations.

Internet Resource

Continuing on the theme of things where we can learn from the US, there is a fantastic resource at the Office of the State Veterinarian of the State of Virginia which allows you to compare statistics from all state-registered animal shelters. Accurate data to find what is actually going on is at least a first step towards ending the euthanasia of healthy animals.

Update on Grace

Grace had her check-up at our clinic on Saturday and her heart rate's down from over 200 to 150 - almost normal. Her weight's up from 1.7 kg to 1.8, which is excellent progress after just a week on her thyroid hormone reducing tablets. Nothing at all wrong with her sight, but she seems to be almost completely deaf - which is why I can't get her to look nicely towards the camera by making squeaky sounds. However, the photo does show the unusual squiggly mark down the centre of her face.

Lost and found animals

The experimental form for notifying us about missing cats has turned out to be a useful way to collect the information in one place, so I've now added two others: 

www.rspca-cambridge.org.uk/reportfinding.html which is intended for non-urgent information about animals which may be strays (or are probably strays, but can't be caught). 

PLEASE DO NOT use this form for animals which are injured or in distress. If an animal appears ill or injured you should phone our control centre on 0300 1234 999. 

We will normally only check the database containing information collected from this form if someone contacts us to say they've lost an animal. It is not intended as a way to ask for help.

www.rspca-cambridge.org.uk/otherlost.html is intended to notify us if you've lost an animal. It's important that you also phone round local vets and animal shelters and contact our control centre (0300 1234 999) as injured animals will usually be taken to the closest available private vet if they need first aid.

We take in large numbers of injured and sick stray cats and very rarely manage to re-unite them with their owners. One probable reason is that people whose cats go missing do not appreciate that animals picked up injured may have to be moved quite large distances to arrange for their treatment and follow-on care. If an animal is injured during the night or at weekends it will be taken to one of the vets who provide out of hours cover; so it's important to ask your local vet who provides cover when they are closed and check with them as well.

Pet Food Politics - just out

Just finished reading Pet Food Politics: the Chihuahua in the Coal Mine - rather horribly topical in view of the current tragedy in China over babies dying of kidney failure due to adulteration of milk formula with the chemical melamine.

Pet Food Politics is a serious documentary which really does read like a thriller and explains how a combination of greed, dishonesty, incompetence and sheer inability to trace the complexity of global markets in food products led to the death of pets in Canada and the US. The villains of the piece used the same adulterating chemicals that caused the deaths of babies in 2008.

Fortunately pet food companies in the UK were either more careful, or just luckier.

Evidently it was "luckier" (update 5th Oct. 2008).

One very interesting observation which Marion Nestle makes is the potential value of the animal health data which pet insurance companies collect as a side effect of their business. One of the first pieces of real evidence that there was a problem with US pet food was the observation of one insurance company that claims for treatment of kidney disease in cats had soared in March 2007. Clearly there are all kinds of other posible ways similar information collecting could benefit pets - for example we could get unbiased evidence of the real extent of the problem with pedigree dogs.

Marion Nestle has her own blog at whattoeatbook.com.

Farm Animal Welfare Week 22-28 September

Calculate your Farm Animal Welfare Footprint here.

Hoarding re-visited

There's a very interesting explanation of how animal "hoarding" cases are dealt with in the US just out, which is worth quoting in full:

"If we receive a hoarding case that shows no intent.. that means the individual has mental health difficulties, then we're likely going to go with City Ordinance violation charges," said Director of Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control Belinda Lewis.

Those are mostly fine-based, and can limit that person's future legal animal ownership. Intent to harm, however, is more severe, and means the person wanted to abuse and neglect animals.

"We're going to look at criminal charges. It's not the most common direction because we rarely see intent with animal hoarding cases," Lewis said.

She says animal hoarding cases are usually the result of mental health issues.
Psychiatrist Dr. Jay Fawver explains that can stem from one of three things.

"A recent loss, such as a job loss, or a child moved away. Secondly, if there's a profound grieve from a death in the family," said Dr. Fawver.

The third involves neglect dating back to that person's childhood.

"You're trying to reverse that whole history by giving a lot of love and compassion to animals. They're well meaning when they start out, but the problem is they aren't able to keep up," said Fawver.

In Elizabeth Miller's case, they believe she didn't have intent to harm the animals, which is why she's only facing fines. That's the same situation for a case earlier this summer in Leo, where 212 cats were found inside a home. How things get so bad is largely handled in counseling, as is ways to prevent it from happening in the future.

They're apparently achieving this by creative use of a distinction between "criminal" activities and violations of local bye-laws, so it's not obvious that it would be possible to do something similar in the UK without a change in the law.

Tip: The Animal Hoarding Blog (mostly American)

Offer from Waterstones online bookshop

All online purchases made via our webshop or by clicking the link to Waterstones in the image above will earn commission for the branch.

Reserve funds again

Trepidation about the general state of the economy. I think it's unlikely that there's any risk that the funds in our bank account could be lost however bad things get, but it's not looking good for our charity shop income if customers aren't spending because they're worried about the safety of their jobs. The CEO of the national RSPCA (as opposed to the local branches) must be feeling pretty glum about invested funds as those do go up and down in value along with the Stock Market (and in this case, down). 

We are extremely fortunate to have received legacy income this year and without it things would be looking very bleak indeed.

Things are already looking very serious for the Rabbit Residence Rescue where most of our branch rescue rabbits are fostered. Please consider sponsoring a rescue rabbit, or adopting a pair of rabbits who are suitable for rehoming (not all of the rabbits featured on the web page came to Rabbit Residence from the RSPCA).

Rabbits Teeth!

Another request to our rehoming co-ordinator for us to take in a rabbit needing repeated dental treatment which the owner can't afford to pay for.

We get asked to do this almost every month and, sadly, it's most unlikely that we'll ever be in a position to do anything more than offer some help with the veterinary costs because there are always enormous numbers of unwanted rabbits needing homes and one who is going to need expensive treatment on a regular basis is just not going to be adoptable.

This is another situation where prevention is far better than cure. Some rabbits (particularly the very dwarf and lop-eared breeds) have inherited dental problems, but the majority of rabbit dental disease is due to incorrect diet.

Rabbits evolved to live mainly on grass, which is extremely abrasive. All of a rabbit's teeth grow continuously and if they are not subjected to constant wear they will become too long or misaligned and make it difficult for the rabbit to eat. Once a rabbit has tooth problems he may become reluctant to chew, thus setting up a vicious circle. Because of this it is crucial that the major part of any rabbit's diet is either grass or good quality hay (which is simply dried grass). 

The Rabbit Welfare Foundation has helpful leaflets on rabbit dental disease and on the proper diet for pet rabbits.

Because of the hereditary element any rabbit which suffers from dental problems should not be allowed to breed.

Dog breeding

Bleary-eyed after being woken at 2.30 am by a caller needing emergency help because her little yorkie bitch was suffering whelping complications I am reflecting on the question of charity help for owners who are intentionally breeding animals. More specifically, I am very unhappy that this little creature was not spayed after experiencing exactly the same problems in her previous pregnancy. 

Widespread availability of options for low-cost neutering has thankfully made routine euthanasia of unwanted puppies and kittens almost entirely a thing of the past. Less cheerfully, it's meant that puppies and kittens have a monetary value, which is good for the individual pup or kit, but has implications for anyone running a charity clinic providing veterinary services. 

We do refuse to vaccinate litters of kittens or puppies if it's obvious that the owner is intending to sell them for financial gain, but we can't refuse treatment for an animal in distress. Pedigree dogs are in the news at the moment, so here's my two-penn'orth: I would like the Kennel Club to refuse registration to any puppies of a subsequent litter born to a mother who required veterinary treatment in order to survive her previous pregnancy. That wouldn't harm the puppies in any way, but would reduce their financial value and so decrease the incentive to continue breeding from unfit bitches. 

Does anyone recognise this little cat?

She was brought to us as a stray on 7th September and is clearly very old indeed although she's quite bright and perky. We've put her on medication for hyperthyroidism as she's got very high levels of thyroid hormone and treated her ears for mites (which is why her face looks a little bedraggled in the photo). Otherwise there's nothing really wrong with her except old age, and she must have had a home to have survived so long.

Please email rosemary@rspca-cambridge.org.uk if you think she might be your cat.

Sunday evening panic

Modern surgical techniques make some absolutely remarkable repairs possible, even where the main bones of a limb have been broken in several places so that they effectively hang loose. For really bad cases, the vets will usually implant a "surgical fixator" - effectively a metal scaffolding bonded to the pieces of bone to hold them rigidly in position so that they can grow back together. The result looks fearsome, but seems to completely relieve the pain of the break. In the accompanying photo Tiger Lily demonstrates how unworried she is by the fixator holding her upper forelimb together.

The downside is the length of time needed for bone to grow back between the broken sections. This can take several months, and until the natural join is complete it's essential that the animal doesn't put sudden strain on the leg by jumping or falling and the fixator has to stay in place (it's removed by a second operation once X-rays show natural bone growth has filled in the gaps).

This means the animal has to be closely confined and only exercised under strict supervision and various sorts of cages have to be used, none of which are entirely satisfactory. The large plastic cages sold for indoor rabbit-keeping are easy to clean and free of snags on which the fixator can get hooked up, but they are rather hot in sunny weather. Fibre-glass or plastic indoor kennels and dog crates are preferable in many ways but the bars can be a problem - as one of our fosterers discovered on Sunday when his foster-cat managed to slip his fixator through the cage bars, and panic, turn sideways and get completely wedged. It then required two of us to release him, one to rotate the cat and the other to slide the fixator through the bars. Not entirely my idea of a fun Sunday night.

East Regional Conference

The Regional Conference for all branches within the East and East Central areas will be at the Deafblind UK Conference Centre, Cygnet Park, Hampton on 4th October.

Any interested members, supporters or volunteers from the Cambridge branch are welcome to attend. Please email rosemary@rspca-cambridge.org.uk as soon as possible if you would like to come, so that we can let RHQ know the numbers for catering. Lunch will be provided and will be either vegetarian or vegan.

There is a very interesting program this year, including a talk by Mark Evans (Head of Companion Animals Department), whom you may have seen recently on TV in connection with the program about the problems of inbreeding of pedigree dogs.

• 10.30 coffee
• 11.00 Welcome by Chairman Bob Baylis, Regional Council Representative
• 11.10 Regional overview - Suzie Graham, Regional Manager
• 11.20 Awards
• 12.05 Presentation by East Winch Wildlife Centre
• 12.30 Open Forum
• 13.00 Lunch
• 14.00 Update on the Society - Nigel Yeo, Director Animal Welfare Services
• 14.15 Urban Search and Rescue Dog Teams - Chris Pritchard (fire rescue service)
• 15.00 Positives of the Animal Welfare Act - Inspectorate
• 16.00 Chairman's closing summary
  

We hope for a good attendance as this is the one opportunity most branch volunteers get each year to meet up with their "opposite numbers" in neighbouring branches. Also, we have an ulterior motive: there is a prize of 60 free microchips for the branch with the largest number of attendees.

Map showing the location of the Deafblind UK Conference centre. The centre is in the region between the Serpentine and Fletton Parkway (click view larger map to zoom in to locate it). We will be meeting in the Bradbury Suite

View Larger Map

We need your old towels!

If you're throwing out any old towels and can get to our shop at 188 Mill Road reasonably easily, we'd be very grateful for any you can donate as our fosterers and volunteer drivers are currently getting through large quantities of old toweling which we use as temporary animal bedding. Towels are ideal as a soft lining for cat and dog carriers and as bedding for sick animals who may be more likely than usual to have little "accidents" because of difficulty in getting to the litter tray on time.

Hedgehogs

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

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

Dog flea treatments and cats

Don't! is the short answer.

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

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

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

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

No wonder there's a credit crunch

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

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

Newmarket shop refurbishment

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

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

More and more cats

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

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

August Figures

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

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

RSPCA Rescue dog of the Year Show

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

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

Myxomatosis

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

Breeding like... Rabbits!

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

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

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

Low cost pet neutering

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

The Wednesday morning session (9 am - 10.30 am) is reserved for pre-neutering checks and vaccinations, so is the best time to bring your animal along to be booked onto the waiting list. Charges are £35 for a bitch, £30 for a dog, £20 for a female cat, £12 for a male cat. We can also neuter rabbits and ferrets at the same charge as for a cat. Payment must be made in advance, and your pet will be given a health check to see that they are fit enough to have the operation. Once this has been done, your pet will be added to the waiting list and called in when they reach the top of the list (currently this is a few weeks).

Dogs and cats should be at least 6 months old before they can be checked to go on the waiting list for neutering. If a bitch is in season or just finishing a season she can not be put on the waiting list, but should  come back for a vet check to be put on the list in about 2 months. 

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

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

Experimental Lost Cat Notification Form

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

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

Kittens!

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

Details are as follows:

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

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

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

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

Two more cats

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

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

Hamster of the day

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

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

July statistics

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

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

Rehomed 4 dogs, 3 cats and 2 birds.

Microchipped 11 dogs and 10 cats

Neutered 13 dogs, 12 cats and a rabbit

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