Intelligence and Bravery of Dogs Shown Yet Again

Explain this by mere instinct, if you can! How did the dog understand that the fire truck was the right place for the rescue of her pups?

Amanda, a heroic, intelligent mother dog, saved her 10-day-old puppies from a house fire in Santa Rosa de Temuco, Chile.

Realizing that her babies were in danger, the German Shepherd mix picked them up in her mouth, carried them one by one away from the burning house, and gently placed them onto the steps of the nearby firefighters' truck.

Mother and babies were then taken to the vet's. Although one of the puppies, Amparo, did not survive her burns, the other four were fine.

The vet, Felipe Lara, said that Amanda had been defensive of her puppies when people tried to take them away from her to look after them. Eventually she let them check over her pups but she remained with injured Amparo and never wanted to let her from her sight.

Unleash the Dog

This is an ideal dogs kennel, as I think all should aim to be.

It's in Northern Italy, and its Italian name is "Slega il Cane", which means "Unleash the Dog".

Dogs live in packs here, as is in their nature, and roam in fields and woodlands.

It has the best of both worlds: it combines safety, protection and care for the dogs with their freedom.

Although this is actually a dog pension I think that it would be wonderful if animal homes and shelters, not just for dogs but for all animals, could be like this.

Volunteering with the branch

Maisie, one of our injured strays

Volunteering opportunities with our branch probably don't fit the ideal image most people have of "helping at the RSPCA". Most of the animals we have up for rehoming are boarded at a private kennels, so we can't allow volunteers to just drop in and help out with dog walking etc. because this would mean disruption to the kennel owners' work caring for the private boarders.

A typical rescue case for us generally manifests via a call to the branch emergency phone from a private vet who has just received an injured stray with a log number from the RSPCA National Control Centre. This log number guarantees that the RSPCA will pay for emergency first aid. The Control Centre (NCC) is staffed 24/7 and responds to emergency calls from members of the public (or vets who have received injured strays directly). Sometimes an inspector or animal welfare officer will be sent out to deal with the situation (e.g. if the injured animal is dangerous), but if the finder has transport and can handle the animal they are usually requested to take it direct to a vet so that treatment can begin as soon as possible.

The National RSPCA pays the first £60 + VAT to get first aid started and the vet will then contact their local branch to fund continuing treatment and (hopefully) to rehome the animal once he or she is fit again.

This inevitably means that our rescues start off scattered all over our branch area, and we need to move them to our clinic for further treatment; to foster homes for recuperation, or to kennels for rehoming. Inevitably everything is guaranteed to happen at the most inconvenient time possible.

This is why we don't have many opportunities for people to come in and help with caring for the animals, but we always desperately need more foster homes and volunteer drivers.

If you might be able to help with either of these, please email: rosemary@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Update from our homing co-ordinator

Our cat numbers in kennels are now up to 21 and I've got various desperate messages from people wanting us to take cats and everywhere else seems full so it's quite a problem.

Clare (Inspector) phoned me about a 18 month old pomeranian that she got signed over as owner wasn't coping. It sounds as though it's destructive but I dont know much else. It should be very rehomable being small and a "breed" unless it has bad behavioural issues.

I agreed to take a rabbit from a home in Newmarket, again owners seriously not coping.

I had a call from someone who had 2 cats from us some time ago. One has since died and she adopted another from a different rescue. She has had an awful time. Her husband's been ill a while with a brain tumour so can't work and is now in a care home. They had to sell up their home to pay debts and now have to leave their rented accomodation as the landlord's moving into it having lost his main residence. She and the two kids are having to go to a hostel temporarily, which won't allow cats. She really didn't want to give them up but cant afford to pay boarding costs for ages. Bearing in mind that if they were given up for rehoming we would be obliged to at least take Ronnie back and we would possibly be stuck with him ages (he was a long stayer before she adopted him) I have agreed to have them with a view to her having them back when she gets a permanent home. Could be quite some time though!

Its a shame really as I was intending to take on a couple of oldies from the kennels but this will bung me up again!

Maggots! (Fly Strike)

These two videos from Vetstoria.com explain exactly what flystrike (maggot infestation) is. Warning: some upsetting pictures.

Rabbits are the animals most likely to be at risk, but it is possible for ANY animal, including cats and dogs, to be attacked if he/she has open wounds, soiling round the anus, or has difficulty in grooming all parts of his/her body (for example due to old age or obesity). We had a request for help with treatment for a cat suffering from fly strike at our branch this weekend.

There are veterinary preparations which can be used to reduce the danger of fly attack, so if you keep rabbits, this is something you should discuss with your vet. Be aware that sensible diet is an important method of reducing risk: rabbits should have hay and grass as their main source of calories with vegetables and commercial pellets only as a treat, not their main meal. It is also important to keep cages and litter trays scrupulously clean to avoid attracting flies and prevent them from breeding. Avoid leaving uneaten cat or dog food anywhere where flies can get at it to lay eggs.

Any animal with conditions causing soiling of their anal area needs to be checked for fly eggs at least twice daily during warm weather when flies are active. If eggs or maggots are found this is an emergency and you need to contact your vet immediately. Wounds or sores are also attractive to flies and should be checked as well.

Separation anxiety and rescue dogs

Probably the most frequent cause for rescued dogs being returned after an unsuccessful placement is separation anxiety. This is one reason why we are usually strict about not rehoming to owners who will need to leave their dogs for very long periods. Many rescue dogs are very anxious that their new owner will disappear and not return — after all their previous owner did just that from the dog's point of view. However all of us need to be able to go out sometimes on errands where we can't be accompanied by our pets, so new owners need to be forewarned that this may be a problem and prepared to take action to cope.

One useful tool is a dog crate. This should not degenerate into a prison where your dog is locked up for hours on end, but it does provide a way to keep him safe and your posessions undamaged, while you train him to be less anxious. Properly used, the crate will become a den area where your dog feels secure; knows you will return; can rest comfortably and knows he will have some special toys that he does not have access to anywhere else. If distress at being separated from you causes your dog's house-training to be erratic, a crate lined with newspapers and standing on a washable floor will make cleaning up not too unpleasant.

There is some advice about training to relieve separation anxiety on the dog club site. It may also help (preferably before you acquire your rescue dog) to read some of the books which have been written about adopting a rescue dog, such as Understanding the Rescue Dog, Living with a rescued dog, or Second Chance: living with a rescued dog.

Make mine chocolate - but not if you are a cat or a dog!

As Easter approaches, please remember that ordinary chocolate is poisonous to dogs, because it contains a stimulant called theobromine, which we can detoxify safely, but carnivores like dogs and cats cannot. Special dog chocolate is safe for pets because it contains little or no actual cocoa bean extracts.

You also need to be careful about using cocoa bean husks as garden mulch if your dog likes to pick up stuff and chew it.

Rehoming Gallery

Just to flag up that we've now switched our rehoming pictures entirely over to the blogger format, which looks nicer and is probably easier for most people to read. You should be able to use the labels on the right to select particular classes of animals to view—for example clicking the "cats" label will show just cats available for adoption. We're still experimenting with tags, so any comments on what you find most helpful would be appreciated.

Statistics for January

During January we rehomed five dogs and six cats, neutered fourteen dogs, thirteen cats and thirteen rabbits and provided veterinary treatment for 219 dogs, 124 cats, 9 rabbits and 11 miscellaneous small animals.

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.

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.

Consultation on Cat, Dog and Equine codes

DEFRA has just issued a consultation on the proposed codes for the welfare of cats, dogs and equines. Once completed, these codes will operate in conjunction with the Animal Welfare Act to enforce the duties of animal owners towards their pets, so their contents are extremely important.

Draft Codes (all PDFs)

Cats

Dogs

Equines

I've only had time to read through the cat code so far and most of it looks excellent, although it goes a bit overboard on the idea that cats are completely solitary animals: that's true to some extent, but it's also true that female cats will raise their kittens in communal nurseries for protection from predators.

Continuing saga of the dog with the prolapse

She had her surgery last Wednesday but my sigh of relief was a bit premature. Owner phoned yesterday afternoon to say she was very dull and not eating or drinking. Unfortunately, because we got the op. done by the private Clarendon Street vet (as her owner didn't have any way to get to the Madingley road site) and it was now the weekend, the closest available cover was the 24 hour vet at Milton. Managed to arrange for her to be taken there, and fortunately it seems she's simply uncomfortable because of the double operation (to replace the prolapse and spay her to stop it happening again). This morning she's gone back home on stronger pain-killers and the vets say she's bright and lively.

Very relieved, as, although vaginal prolapse looks horrible, it's not actually life-threatening or hugely painful (although it's probably pretty uncomfortable). I would have felt really bad if we'd pushed the owner to get the operation done and the bitch hadn't survived.

Fingers and toes crossed that nothing else happens.

NB: this is why I need to have a mobile phone. MI5 are welcome to listen in, but they would be very bored after a bit.

Just to get the weekend off to a good start...

Thirteen dogs signed over from an address in Newmarket. RSPCA West Suffolk have kindly offered to take the mother staffie bitch and her puppies as they have a suitable foster home where the pups will get proper socialisation rather than being in kennel conditions. We're taking four adult dogs (all friendly, young adult females) — a Belgian Shepherd, Husky cross, Rhodesian Ridgeback and an Akita.

If you might be interested in adopting any of these dogs, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

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.

Today's dog - Ben

Ben is playful and energetic in spite of being thirteen years old and a little chubby. We think he's not a pure-bred golden retriever, although that's obviously a major part of his ancestry. He's very healthy considering his age, but has had some problems with irritation of his ears and may need regular ear-drops to keep this under control.

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

Today's dog - Maddison

Maddison is a lovely, friendly longhaired German Shepherd who came into our care as the result of a cruelty case (she wasn't severely neglected, but a second dog was).

She's about four years old and needs an experienced owner willing to make sure she gets the training, mental stimulation and exercise she needs.

If you think she might be the dog for you, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

National Dog Adoption Month

August is National Dog Adoption Month, so this week I'm going to feature the dogs we have waiting for new homes. This is Wee Man, a funny-looking chap with rather short legs, who is rather shy, but good with cats and other dogs. He would like a quiet home, but would be happy to fit in with other pets.

If you would like to visit him in our kennels, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

More Parvo

Vet phones in to say another dog belonging to the family with two parvo-infected puppies is vomiting. They've got no money, so I've agreed to cover basic supportive treatment - given in their surgery car park as they daren't have something that infectious brought into their building to put the paying clients' animals at risk.

State of play

On the plus side, the kitty with the extreme hair-cut, little Tommy, the yorkie, Hendrik, the Shi Tzu cross, and Bob, with the dislocated hip, all have homes booked. 

On the downside, there's another cat waiting for collection from Arbury road vets (with a drain for his nasty abscess that will go on leaking pus for several days - oh joy!). 

Plus one angry hamster, product of an unexpected litter. This is more common than you'd think, considering that Syrian hamsters are solitary and should be kept in individual cages. The child who owned the original hamster appears to have given the babies out like sweets to her class-mates, some of whose parents weren't happy to be landed with the chore of cage-cleaning.