And another rabbit!

She's medium sized and fawn coloured. Taken to Vet24 by someone who found her wandering just after Christmas.

More and more cats!

Pretty apricot tortie brought to Cambridge Veterinary Group on Cherry Hinton Road and a black and white tom cat at Arbury road vets. The tortie is fairly well except for a probable thyroid condition and the tom cat has a fractured pelvis which they think will just need cage rest. They're keeping both cats in for a few days to see how they go.

Update on Santa and Sox

Good progress report for Sox (the current blocked bladder kitty), who's doing well following his operation and has an excellent chance of being able to live a normal life from now on, except that he will always need to be kept on a diet of wet food with no dry kibble. Not so good for Santa (collar wound), as the injury has opened up again and will probably need to be closed with a skin graft.

Nice, peaceful Christmas day

Wonderful! No calls at all. After the Christmas Eve frenzy I was bracing myself for even more impossible to solve calls over Christmas day itself, but fortunately it seems that everyone managed to have their disasters beforehand.

The animal clinic will be open as normal on Tuesday, closed on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, then back to normal opening times.

The Christmas Eve blues

Kicked off to a cracking start (excuse bad pun) with a kitten with probable broken bones in one foot (plant pot fell on his toe). As there's no RSPCA clinic session now until Saturday I agreed with the private vet that it wasn't fair on the kitten simply to give pain relief and wait until then, so we covered x-ray and support bandaging as well. If the x-rays suggest that the foot actually needs surgery the owner will go to our clinic on the Saturday.

Followed in short order by a vomiting dog (probably just an upset tum as she is fairly current with her vaccinations).

Next, and more worrying, an ownerless cat from Swavesey area with diarrhoea. She's not seriously ill, and the 24 hour vet was reluctant to have her occupying a cage over the whole of the break as the space will probably be needed for emergencies. The kennels where we board is completely full until some of the private boarders go home, and this is academic in any case as no-one is available for transport as Janine's car won't start. After some frantic phoning, I asked the vet to call the finder and ask if she would be prepared to have her back until after Christmas now the diarrhoea's been treated. To everyone's relief she was very understanding and drove in to pick up the cat. Annoyingly this one actually has been chipped, but it seems to have been done in America and none of the chip databases have any record of her owner's current address. Best guess is that she originally came from one of the bases and was either rehomed in Swavesey or got there by accident after hiding in a vehicle of some kind.

Santa, the cat with the collar wound is doing well, but needs to stay in for the moment as his wound is still draining. Yet another cat with a blocked bladder has been signed over to us as his owner couldn't cope and he's had his operation too and is also looking good.

And a kitten!

She's about nine weeks old, and black with white feet. Found in Isleham and taken to Swayne & Partners vets. She's not injured or ill, and if she'd been older we'd have suggested that she be returned to the place she was found, as it's most unlikely that a healthy adult cat in good body condition is lost or in trouble unless there are other factors (such as being found shut in a vehicle) which suggest a problem. That's not appropriate for such a small kitten, so we're boarding her at the vets over Christmas and will move her to our kennels in the new year if her owner doesn't turn up in the meantime. 

I'm wondering whether she belongs to someone staying at the marina for Christmas and managed to get out.

Happy Holidays - Summer ones, that is

If you plan to spend part of your Christmas break looking through catalogues of exotic places, please bear in mind that your pets' holiday arrangements need to be booked well in advance too. My spare room has two extra Christmas "guests" whose owners didn't realise that all local boarding kennels would be completely booked up a fortnight before the start of the break.

On the plus side, this has forced me to bite the bullet and relocate Nicholas to a pen in a busier part of the house and his neurotic reaction shows how necessary it was. After a day on hunger-strike, he's still complaining bitterly, but wolfing down his dinner and using his litter tray. He's still completely unaggressive, just very unhappy about enforced proximity to people. He must have been socialised at some point, because it's perfectly possible to pick him up (trembling like a leaf), and he makes eye contact when he cries asking to go back upstairs. After a bit of grumbling, "Why is that Cat making All That Noise," my own cats are ignoring him, which is a relief.

Spoke too soon!

Now, it's another stray at Swayne & Partners in Newmarket with a broken pelvis. He's a large, neutered black cat.

Update on white cat

Her owner has turned up, so that's one less to worry about over the Christmas break.

Andrew's Christmas window display at the bookshop

And another cat

This one sounds as if she may have an owner somewhere out there. She's adult, but fairly young, mostly white, with some black markings. She was taken to Stone Lane Vets in Meldreth last night after being hit by a car. They think she has head injuries, which will probably clear up with nursing care over the weekend, but she probably also has a fractured foreleg. Plan is for them to see how the head injury goes and x-ray the leg on Monday if she's fit enough then to give a general anaesthetic.

External fixators

The Vet Nurse has an interesting post showing "before and after" radiographs of a puppy's broken leg fitted with an external fixator to keep the two ends of the bone in alignment so that they will heal. I thought I'd link to it so anyone interested can see what's actually going on when I talk about animals we take in having an external fixator on a broken leg. 

Rabbit behaviour

Just been reading the coverage of the case in Hampshire involving a very large number of rabbits which was finalised in November. One very striking (and alarming) feature of the comments on the case is the number of people who believe that:

• Rabbits are solitary.
• Rabbits don't need exercise.
• Rabbits don't need to be vaccinated.
• Rabbits don't need to be neutered

So, I thought I'd post a few videos culled from YouTube and Google Video showing what rabbits can do if they're given the chance (the New Zealand white in the last clip could teach some dogs a thing or two about obedience training).

Switch on Radio Cambridgeshire tomorrow morning

Janine, our homing co-ordinator will be on Radio Cambridgeshire tomorrow morning (Thursday) being interviewed in their mobile van about the problem of long-stay dogs in general and Ghost in particular. 

Poor Ghost is our longest-staying dog. He nearly found a home earlier in the year, but unfortunately it fell through at the last moment. 

Ghost will be "interviewed" along with Janine (not sure if he barks on cue). It should be on-air around 7.30 am, but if you miss the live version, you should be able to get the interview via the BBC's listen-again option on the web (look for the breakfast show).

Here's hoping the poor little guy gets lucky this time.

Another cat with a collar wound

Call from Arbury road vets to say they've just taken in a stray cat with a badly infected collar wound that will need surgical repair to close it. He's another entire male, but fortunately has tested negative for FIV/FeLV. He'll need to be transferred to the clinic tomorrow morning.

Update on Nicholas

Had his x-ray yesterday and all looks fine. Still terrified of vets, though. Poor little chap sat there shaking so much they decided trying to check whether his heart murmur is real or not was pretty pointless. 

184 Mill Road Closing Down Sale

All items out on display are now £1. Call by to pick up some fantastic bargains (and to save me from spending this Christmas carting stuff between shops. Last Christmas we shifted all the books into the larger sales area at 188 and it nearly finished off the lot of us).

We hope to see you throughout 2009 at the bookshop, which continues at 188 Mill Road and later in the year at much improved and expanded premises nearer the centre of town. We're still in discussions with the agents about the lease agreement for the new shop, so keep watching this space.

184 was in the nature of a trial of the possibility of a specialist vintage clothing charity shop to maximise the revenue potential from clothes donations. We think it's demonstrated that the idea will work; but not on Mill road, which doesn't get a high enough volume of potential purchasers on weekdays. In a more central position we'll be able to showcase our stock to the student and University population and to tourists.

On Vaccinations

The Vetnurse blog has a long and excellent piece about nursing dogs with parvo-virus. It isn't worth risking a dog's life in order to save the cost of vaccination. 

Whether or not animal charities should be prepared to help with the cost of vaccinations for owners on very low income has sometimes been a contentious issue. 

On the negative side: vaccinations are a predictable expense, unlike, say, a broken leg. If vaccinations are offered at charity-run clinics and hospitals, they are potentially competing for business with private vets. This is not just unfair to those vets: it might be harming the pet owners who need to use the private vet (by decreasing the number of private veterinary surgeries so that it's more difficult to find a local vet). 

On the positive side: £30 is a lot of money for someone on benefits of £60 or £70 a week. It's always likely that they will put off getting their pet vaccinated and just hope they'll get away with it. Providing low-cost vaccinations encourages more people to get their pets vaccinated, and reduces the spread of infections. This benefits other pet owners whose animals may be at risk in spite of being vaccinated, because they're very old, or very young, or have inefficient immune systems. 

As a courtesy to local vets RSPCA clinics are expected to consult them before offering a low-cost vaccination service. We did that several years ago when we first started providing vaccinations at the Cambridge clinic and, to their great credit, every one of them backed us in spite of the risk that they might lose money by it. 

Two cats abandoned

The vet nurse at Soham Pet Doctors turned up to start the day shift and found two young cats in a cardboard box sitting on their doorstep. They're about 6 months old and seem to have been well-cared for (and, to give the owner credit, they had at least been left where they were guaranteed to be found and looked after). 

Cruelty Prosecutions

As the purely volunteer side of the RSPCA, we have comparatively little to do with prosecutions. If animals are signed over to the Society early on in the course of a case, then we may be asked to take them in for rehoming. If animals are confiscated by the court and transferred to the RSPCA at the end of a case, we may be involved. However, in general, we have no knowledge of ongoing investigations beyond what is available to the published media. This is as it should be, because investigation and prosecution is something which should only involve trained professional staff.

However, the campaign on the Petstreet site to stop the RSPCA carrying out prosecutions made me wonder about the way cruelty investigation and prosecution is organised in other countries. (I should point out that Petstreet don't want to stop cruelty to animals being treated as a crime; they simply want the process of prosecution to be restricted to the Crown Prosecution Service because they think the RSPCA is too willing to prosecute people.)

In Scotland, the SSPCA actually have statutory powers but this doesn't include the ability to take out prosecutions. The SSPCA's submission to Holyrood during the enquiry into the provisions needed for operation of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland Act) said:

"It is essential that the Scottish SPCA have use of these powers under Sections 29-32 in order to carry out the functions outlined above to relieve animals from suffering on a daily basis. Due to Scotland’s system of public prosecutions, unlike its counterpart in England and Wales the Scottish SPCA does not and cannot carry out private prosecutions. Like all prosecutions in Scotland, all prosecutions under the 1912 Act are pursued by the Procurator Fiscal, to whom the Scottish SPCA reports cases and not the Scottish SPCA itself. This will remain the case under the new Bill.
Without recognition under the new Bill, Scottish SPCA Inspectors would not have the same authority to report cases to the Procurators Fiscal as they do now. If the express powers under Sections 29-32 were to be given to local authorities and to the police, and not to the Scottish SPCA, a defence solicitor may well challenge Scottish SPCA evidence based on the manner in which the evidence was collected. This would be undesirable and damaging for animal welfare, for the prosecution of malefactors, and for the standing of the Scottish SPCA."

There appears to be some discontent among other animal welfare groups in Scotland who believe that the SSPCA is too cautious about using its powers.

The USPCA has no statutory powers and no citizen's right to prosecute. 

The legal situation in Australia appears to be virtually identical to that in England and Wales, with RSPCA Australia taking out private prosecutions, using the common-law right of ordinary citizens. Interestingly, there seems to have been a vociferous attempt to strip RSPCA Australia of its right to prosecute in the belief that this would lead to a higher, rather than lower, number of prosecutions of animal owners.

The New Zealand SPCAs have more statutory powers than any of the UK SPCAs (including the RSPCA):

"There are approximately 90 SPCA inspectors in New Zealand

Inspectors duties vary greatly depending on their locality but the priority for all inspectors is to enforce the Animal Welfare Act 1999

An inspector is issued a warrant by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry after successfully completing a series of assignments and examinations.

A warranted inspector has powers under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 to enter at any time - by force if necessary - into any vehicle, aircraft, or vessel, or on any land or premises, for the purpose of inspecting any animal, where he is satisfied on reasonable grounds that an offence against [the Animal Welfare Act 1999] is being, or has been, committed in respect of any animal.

Inspectors can remove (seize) an animal and take it to a safe location while enquiries are made."

The New Zealand SPCAs take out private prosecutions in the same way as the RSPCAs in England and Australia.

The situation in the US is more complicated, because all the states have slightly differing animal cruelty laws. However the SPCAs and Humane societies do not take out private prosecutions (the citizen's right of private prosecution seems to have fallen into disuse). The normal course appears to be for the SPCA to call the local police and request them to investigate if they suspect animal protection laws have been broken. This appears to result in a relatively high acquittal rate. Part of the problem appears to be lack of resources; cruelty investigations may be shelved because other crime is considered more urgent, and they may be "hived off" to Animal Control, which is itself very over-stretched (rather as though cruelty complaints in this country all had to go via the dog warden). 

The CPS itself states:

"The right of individuals to bring private prosecutions (with certain exceptions) was included under the Prosecution of Offences Act, which set up The CPS. The CPS has the right to take over the prosecution and continued it; OR to take over the prosecution and discontinue it; OR to allow it to continue. The CPS recognises that the right to bring a private prosecution should remain and that The CPS should not take over a private prosecution unless there is a good reason to do so."

What's the lesson from all this? I would be unhappy if we ended up with the chaotic system we see in the US. Ironically the least complained-about system is the one where the SPCA has the greatest powers — possibly because the fact that SPCA inspectors are also sworn as law enforcement agents increases confidence that those powers will be used responsibly. Possibly the legal status also reduces criticism from groups who think the SPCA don't do enough to change the way animals are treated, because it's clearer that a quasi-statutory body can't go beyond what is acceptable to the majority of people (by advocating universal adoption of vegetarianism, for instance).

Update

It seems that the position of RSPCA Australia is less similar to ours than I thought. 

"TICKY FULLERTON: One message councillors did receive came as a warning. The State Government relies heavily on the live trade economy. The RSPCA's $250,000 annual funding from government could be under threat.

YVONNE PALLIER: The chief executive was very clear to the council. He said that if we proceed... If we proceed with this prosecution, we will lose our government funding.

TICKY FULLERTON: He actually said that at a meeting?

YVONNE PALLIER: He said that. Mm-hm.

ERIC BALL: Uh, that's got to be put in perspective. What he said was that the council needs to recognise, needs to recognise, that if we succeeded in stopping the live export trade, you may well then alienate any funding from any State Government.

TICKY FULLERTON: If you succeeded in stopping the live export trade in Western Australia, wouldn't that be worth a couple of hundred thousand dollars?

ERIC BALL: Oh, yes, and he wasn't suggesting that we...we should be influenced by that. But he did say we need to recognise that not only will it cost us funds to prosecute, but it may also stop the future flow of funds. And that may be...may be important in our sustainability.

TICKY FULLERTON: Just last Friday, Eric Ball told Four Corners that the case was not closed. He has further reports to present to this week's council meeting. But there's another factor that could influence the decision - a fear that government could strip the RSPCA of its prosecution powers.

MARK PEARSON, ANIMAL LIBERATION: I asked Dr Hugh Wirth quite clearly, "Why is it that the RSPCA aren't proactively investigating, and when necessary, prosecuting intensive farming corporations for cruelty to animals?" And he said to me very clearly, "Well, look, Mr Pearson, if I were to do that - if the RSPCA were to do that - proactively as you say, we would lose our powers. The government would take away our powers as a prosecution authority."

DR HUGH WIRTH, RSPCA NATIONAL PRESIDENT: Well, it is true that the governments in Australia have in the last 15 years, uh, tightened up on who can prosecute and have tightened up on who can be an RSPCA inspector. And remember that Labor governments are throughout Australia now. Labor party policy is to remove all private organisations from enforcing criminal law."

That was in 2004, and seems to have been something of a nine-days wonder as I couldn't find any later references. 

The whole thing is a bit odd, because the people complaining RSPCA Australia was too subservient to government influence seem not to appreciate that this is not a very good argument in favour of making cruelty prosecution entirely dependent on the state. 

If you read the full transcript, you'll see there were also some complaints from the other side of the spectrum that RSPCA Australia was "emotional" and the five freedoms are anthropomorphic. 

It would be an interesting project for a law student to do a real in-depth comparison of all the different systems. 

Freedom Food

More on Freedom Food stocking density negotiations in Farmers Weekly Interactive.

Currently, Freedom Food egg flocks have a maximum external stocking density of 1000/ha. However, last month, Lion eggs announced that it was doubling its external stocking limit to 2000 birds/ha from 1 January 2009 and called on Freedom Food to follow suit. This is still below the 2500 birds/ha upper limit allowed under the EU marketing regulations.

It's worth reading it all to get a feel for the way Freedom Food standards are developed. 

November Figures

Just totted up the stats. for November. Altogether the branch provided low-cost treatments for 207 dogs, 111 cats, 14 rabbits and 7 miscellaneous animals. We neutered 10 dogs, 9 cats and 18 rabbits, and microchipped 4 dogs and 9 cats, and we rehomed 3 dogs, 9 cats and 3 guinea-pigs. 7 dogs, 4 cats and 2 rats had to be put to sleep on veterinary advice.

On money, myths, donations and dogs

The St Bernards saga has provoked the usual "how dare the RSPCA ask for donations" chorus over at Petstreet (which is actually an interesting site except for the way it's been taken over by people with axes to grind). I must confess that I only visit occasionally out of respect for my blood pressure. 

However, as it's Monday, I'll try to address a few of the perennial myths and misrepresentations.

National RSPCA funds. A figure of £200 million is always bandied about as if this was sitting in a bank account somewhere. In fact, just under half of this is the value of buildings used for RSPCA animal welfare activities (shelters, hospitals etc.). The rest is approximately the amount of money which would be needed to keep the RSPCA going for a year if something catastrophic caused income to dry up entirely. In reality, the society wouldn't just run for a year, then disband; the reserves would be used to buy time to close down everything except absolutely core activities, so that a reduced organisation could continue indefinitely.

Donating pet food instead of money. The reasoning behind this seems to be that by giving food, donors can ensure that their generosity doesn't simply go towards lining someone's pockets. The problem with this is that food is only relatively small proportion of the cost of caring for animals. If a large number of animals need to be taken in, they'd normally be spread about among a combination of animal homes owned and run by the National Society or its branches; ordinary private boarding kennels and volunteer fosterers. 

Donated food is very useful for our own animal homes and our fosterers (who would otherwise buy in food). It can be a bit of an imposition for private boarding kennels (because it means we're asking them to take an assortment of food, calculate its value, and knock the amount off their invoice to us). From their point of view, we're asking them to do extra work when it would be much simpler just to use their normal supplier. 

When you consider that we're probably also asking them to accept animals at odd hours; take animals to and from the vet, and deal with adopters asking to view animals you can see that it may not be sensible for us to ask them to use donated food as a way of saving money.

If you'd like to donate pet food, cat food is generally more useful than dog food (because cats are more likely to be fostered than dogs), and RSPCA-owned shelters are more likely to be able to make good use of food than branches who don't have their own animal centre.

You can find your closest RSPCA-owned animal centre via the main website. (Enter your own post code and pull down the menu to "Rehoming"). Most branches without animal centres rehome via private boarding kennels, and most animal centres use private kennels as "overflow" capacity.

Christmas Closing Dates

The Animal clinic will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Normal emergency cover arrangements will apply.

Charity shops will close at 3 pm on Christmas Eve, and re-open the day following New Year's Day. 184 Mill Road which will then be permanently closed (but volunteers will be busy sorting its remaining stock for storage until our new shop opens in February).

Winterfair results

The tombola raised £117.20 and was sold out in only two hours. Many thanks to Nicola, Sharon, Michael and everyone else who helped or bought tickets. It was perishing cold, so the helpers probably wouldn't have wanted to put in very much longer, but next year we'll try to collect enough items to keep going for at least three hours.

At the other end of Mill Road, Sue was doing a brisk trade with her veggie hot dogs, but no final total yet.

This was the last day 184 will be trading as a specialist clothing boutique and for the rest of the runup to Xmas it will be operating as a "pound stop" selling off the items that aren't good enough to keep in store until the new premises near the Grafton Centre are up and running.

Please look in for lots of excellent bargains.

The secondhand bookshop at 188 will continue and is the place to visit if you're in need of holiday reading to tide you over the Christmas break. Xmas cards are now in, and we also stock cotton "long-life" carrier bags as part of the drive to make Mill Road a plastic carrier free area.

Pet Insurance woes again

It does make me cross. An owner who did the responsible thing and got her dog insured found that her policy was almost worthless because the insurers refused to pay out until they'd received a copy of the paid invoice from the vet, and the company employing her usual vet were insisting on payment up front. 

For many people this wouldn't be a big deal: they'd simply pay with their credit card and pay off the card when the insurer reimbursed them. This owner was on benefits (and kudos to her for putting aside the money to pay her insurance each month in the circumstances). Hopefully she will get at least something back on the policy, as she's eligible to use our clinic and will be able to claim reimbursement of the cost of having the dog's operation done there. That doesn't make it fair that she's had nearly a week of misery thinking the dog might die if she couldn't find a way to get the operation done.

Moral: read the small print before taking out pet insurance, and ask your vet to check their practice's policy on settling bills via insurance claims. 

More stocking fillers

The delightful series of animal books by Doreen Tovey have just been reprinted in paperback. 1% commission payable to the branch if you buy them from Amazon by following the links above. Best not read while drinking your tea as spluttering may occur as the hapless Toveys battle with recalcitrant Siamese cats and other animals.

Charity Shops Mini-Survey

One of our main sources of regular income is the work of our three branch charity shops. 

As with many aspects of animal welfare, there are different (and bitterly-opposed) schools of thought about the best way shops should be organised in order to maximise income. In an attempt to get some feel for what potential shoppers actually do prefer I offer the survey below. Any and all responses much appreciated.

Updates

Samuel, the little terrier, now has a home.

Nicholas continues to eat for England. Still looking very pathetic (partly because his rear end was shaved for the surgery, so he looks like a mini-baboon), but he's progressed to loud wails of discontent whenever he thinks meals are due and he doesn't appear to have any pain at all now when he walks. I'm a bit concerned that he's still so shy; he's not at all aggressive or "spitty", but he hides in his igloo and peers out waiting until I've left the room before he will eat. I was hoping that he could go down to the kennels if his X-ray gives the all-clear next week, but he's not going to "sell" himself if he hides away. 

It might be better to move him to a pen in a more populous area of the house to encourage him to come out of his shell, but that's going to be a problem if Otto and Luigi (or any of the females come to that) decide to take exception to the presence of an entire male. I would really rather not share a home with cats who have decided they're cross enough to start spraying. Thistledown used to pee into electric sockets, which is dangerous; expensively wrecks the house electrics, and creates an aroma which does not give the right impression.

No news yet on the culture results for Darcy.

Update on the St Bernards (from the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph)

I should again stress that I don't have any inside information. However, this update has just appeared in my newsfeed for RSPCA items, and is from the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph. 

Stocking Fillers

Superior crime novels by Nevada Barr, with the intriguing twist that they are each set in a different North American National Park, with the natural world playing the part of a major character in the plot. Each cover picture above links in to Amazon and we will get a small commission for each book purchased via the link.

Soya and cancer

A soya milk and tofu diet reduces the risk of breast cancer, according to research. In an epidemiological study, women who were eating a lot of soy and soy products were 60% less likely than women who ate the least soya to have the "dense" tissue associated with breast cancer.

The following are also types of foods and drinks that protect against cancer by minimising the risk of developing tumors.

Tomatoes. Studies conducted in USA have shown that 3 servings per day greatly cut the risk of prostate cancer. Not only fresh tomatoes have this beneficial effect, but even pizza toppings, pasta sauce and tomato ketchup.

Brazil nuts and grains. They are all rich in the trace element selenium. Trials have found that selenium supplements help cut the risk of prostate cancer.

Broccoli and cabbage. They are rich in glucosinolates, which some studies have shown to reduce the risk of cancer by 50%. They appear to be particularly effective against both breast and colon cancer.

Strawberries. They contain antioxidant chemicals called coumarins. Antioxidants protect against cancer-causing agents. Other kinds of fruits and berries, including raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, raisins and prunes, also destroy in the blood free radicals which promote cancer.

Green tea. It is rich in antioxidants, which are substances effective against carcinogens (cancer-causing agents). Only one cup per day is recommended.

Garlic. Studies in the USA have shown that people who eat garlic more than twice a week are only half as likely to develop colon cancer as those who do not eat garlic.

Water. Drinking lots of water helps reduce the risk of bladder cancer, because it dilutes the concentration of cancer-causing agents and cuts the time that they are in contact with the bladder lining. A minimum of 8 cups per day are recommended.

Please don't phone about the St Bernards yet

I don't have access to any information beyond the published news stories and we are not one of the kennels which have been asked to take some of the dogs. Anyone interested in adopting one of them if they are transferred to the ownership of the RSPCA is probably best advised to keep checking the national website www.rspca.org.uk for further announcements. 

Please don't phone any of the emergency contact numbers as this will stop callers who need urgent help with sick or injured animals getting through.

There is absolutely no question of any of the dogs being put to sleep unless a vet advises that they are too ill to be treated, nor of other dogs being put to sleep to make space to house them.

Updates

Samuel, the little terrier cross with the broken pelvis, has had his operation and the vets say he's looking good and should be able to come out tomorrow or the day after. Janine has a possible home lined up and she's going to ask them if they'd be willing to have him for his month's cage rest as that would be much nicer for him than going into boarding kennels.

Nicholas, the cat with the broken pelvis, is still very timid, but eating like a horse and looking quite comfortable in his cat igloo.

The elderly cat at Swaynes vets is having further tests to try to find why he's so thin.

Darcy, the cat with pyothorax, still has some fluid in his chest, so they're going to drain it again and culture the pus for sensitivity in case the bacteria causing the infection are resistant to standard antibiotics. 

Yet another stray via Stone Lane Vets — a tabby and white neutered male about four years old. For a change he's got no apparent injuries or illness, but the finder is fairly certain that he's been left behind when his owners moved away.