As some of you know, last wednesday i had to have my beloved fudgie cat pts. she´d been with me for 16 years and spent practically every night of those 16 years sleeping on my pillow. her not being there now is a massive loss and i can´t quite believe i will never see her again :-(

What this has highlighted to me, however, is that the loss of a pet is something that none of us really want to think about but really should plan for so that our wishes can be carried out properly.

We had decided the week before fudgie was pts that the best thing for her would be to stop her medication and therefore i had an idea that the time would soon come when she would no longer be with me and i decided that that was the time to start looking in to my options, while i still had a fairly clear head and the ability to make important decisions. so i started to think about what i wanted for her, ie burial, cremation, ashes kept / scatterd, casket choices etc. I looked on line for crematoriums near to me as i decided i actually wanted to "be there" and take her to the crem rather than just leaving her with my vet and them arranging it all. There were a few options in my area but i soon realised that a lot of them did not do "same day" cremations and i really wanted to just get her home with me asap. The place i used in the end was called Chestnut Lodge (http://clpets.co.uk/default.aspx) and they are one of the founding members of the Association of Private Pet Cemeteries & Crematoria - which put my mind at rest that fudgie would be dealt with in a sympathetic way and that i would get the service from them that i would hope for. it seems to me that pet bereavement is handled quite baldy in a lot of cases and this association seems to have been put together to set down some guidleins to try to get some regulation in to the industry.

They were very sympathetic when we arrived and asked if we wanted to spend some time with her before the cremation. they had a little area put by where they laid her out for us and we sat in private with her. once we had said our goodbyes we went to the office to discuss options, ie if we wanted a specific casket etc. we decided to just have her ashes returned in a "scatter tin" as i was waiting for a necklace i had ordered to come from the USA to put some of her ashes in. they kindly said that once this arrived we could take the ashes back to them and they would fill the necklace for me so that i wouldn´t have to do this.

we got a call a few hours later to say we could collect her. we were given a lovely tin with fudgie´s name on it along with a condolence card and on the back of this is a small piece about how she was handles whilst in their care and a guarantee that the ashes returned to me were my pets. it was all quite tasteful. they confirmed that the ashes were in a bag inside the tin rather than just loose and when i looked they had placed a piece of tissue paper and a dried flower on top of the bag - which i thought was a nice touch too.

fudgie is now on the fireplace in the lounge until the arrival of my necklace, so that i can always have a small piece of her with me. i have also brought a nice casket for the remainder of the ashes.

the thing this has taught me is that although it is not a nice thing to think about, if you want something doing with your animal after it dies, then you really do need to thik about it prior to the event as chances are, your mind will be a bit all over the place afterwards. i had a few days to make arrangements and even then i messed it up by arranging the cremation at 9am saturday only to later realise that we would have to leave home by 7.30am to get there in time and the vets wouldn´t be open that early (they vets held on to her until we made arrangements for her) so we had to collect her the night before and had to keep her in the downstairs loo as its the coldest room in the house - not the most respectful thing to do! but again, this shows that things need thinking about in advance, i was adamant i wanted the ashes the same day and had not thought through the fact that the process takes a few hours - just things you don´t necessarily think about at the time when you are so upset.

My concerns with the RSPCA now seem to be quite simple (although possibly not so simple to resolve):

1. They need to build bridges and work together with other rescues in order to avoid the destruction of healthy animals.
2. The fact that the outcome of a situation for an animal varies so much from inspector to inspector. That is a huge concern for me. The fact that each inspector carries with him or her the means to put most animals to sleep there and then and that not all animals will be seen by a vet prior to being pts – especially if the inspector feels that the animal will be hard to rehome. These fears may in part be helped by 1. above, ie if there were more homes readily available through 1 or 2 phone calls to various different local organizations then all inspectors might be able to find homes for the animals they collect rather than just putting them to sleep if they know that the local RSPCA shelter is full.

The one other thing that really rung out through this whole experience is a belief I held firm before hand but has been totally re-confirmed and that is the need to cut back on the number of animals bred in this country and the availability of animals. I am now more firm than ever in my belief that breeders must be registered and restricted for most if not all species. That private breeding should be banned completely and that pet shops, shopping centers etc. should NOT be allowed to sell animals. If animals are only available through licensed breeders who are only allowed a certain amount of litters per year then it will be much harder for people to get animals and therefore anyone obtaining an animal will be much more likely to properly care for that animal. I know there are issues of enforcing regulations such as these but the whole time any tom, dick or harry can walk into their nearest pet shop and stock up on whatever animal takes their fancy that day, with no prior information about that animal at all and no idea of its needs or what it may become in future, then we will always have an abundance of animals being dumped and abused and, ultimately, destroyed.

We then had some other calls to follow up, a report of a dog being kept inside all day and never walked and a dog being locked in a shed that was whining constantly. Neither owner was in unfortunately. In the case of the dog kept inside all day, we certainly saw the dog, quite a large GSD jumped up at the lounge window when we knocked on the door. We had a look at him through the window and he seemed in good health. I asked what would happen in a situation like this. My inspector said that she would leave a card asking the owner to call her and discuss the issue. She said that although it was not necessarily the kindest thing to do – leaving your dog at home all day while you were out – there were no laws against it and little she could do to prevent it. She said when the owner called she would offer advice but would also listen to their side of the tale too, ie it may be that the dog is aggressive and therefore only walked late at night and no-one saw that so people just thought the dog was never walked.

With regards to the dog in the shed, we visited the property and again, no-one was home. we could not see in to the back garden other than through a small crack in the gate but we could not see a shed. We could hear no sounds of a dog. My inspector said that in this case she would visit again the next day at a different time and then at a weekend if still no reply. She would keep trying until she managed to speak to someone. She didn’t wish to simply leave a card as if they were holding a dog in a shed this would alert them and they may “dispose” of the dog and therefore there would be no evidence of such behavior.

We visited a pony my inspector was aware of being kept in a local field. She said she regularly checked on this pony as his owner often didn’t fill up the water buckets etc. On arrival she asked for my opinion on the pony and its situation. I said that he didn’t look in too bad condition. His coat was quite nice, he had brambles in his mane but I guess that wasn’t really a welfare issue. He had water, not the cleanest, nicest water, but water nonetheless. He had no injuries and was not underweight. The field was not the nicest I had ever seen, there was no field shelter but 2 large trees, it wasn’t very big and was overgrown with weeds. However, I guessed none of these were issues she could really take up and she agreed. Basically these were not conditions you or I would keep our horses in but bottom line, he had space, water, some shelter, and food – nothing more she could do. However, it was quite nice to know that she would be looking in on this pony regularly to keep an eye on the situation. She said that she had quite a few cases like this, ie owners she regularly visited just to check on their situation and that things were not deteriorating or getting out of hand. She explained that this was where her people skills came in hand as she dealt with a lot of travelers and aggressive people. She said that a lot of inspectors could not go on the travelers sites without being attacked but she had quite a good rapport with them and therefore could keep an eye on their animals and just nudge them in the right direction with regards to caring for them.

Our next call out was to collect an injured sparrow that had been found in someone’s garden. On initial inspection we were quite hopeful for this little sparrow, however, once we had taken him from the person who had found him and had a closer look, his wing was really mangled and therefore he was pts too ?

Our last call for the day was to issue a Caution to a man who had let the fish in his pond die. This was quite a sad case. The man in question had gone through a really hard time (wife and kids left him, was £50,000 odd in debt, was loosing his home, lost his job etc) and basically the fish in the pond in the back garden just slipped his mind. He was apparently in tears when the RSPCA visited him and was clearly shaken when we arrived to issue the Caution. His circumstances do not ease the suffering those fish must have gone through but I agreed with my inspector when she said that there was no gain from taking a case like this to Court. He accepted his Caution and was, in my opinion, truly sorry for what had happened.

All in all it was quite a “slow” day apparently, with most people we visited not being at home. it gave me chance to discuss many issues with my inspector and get to know her a bit. She was genuinely nice and I really liked her. My day waylaid some of my concerns regarding the RSPCA and certainly made me realize that I couldn’t believe all I heard about them and not to take every story I hear about them at face value, there is often more to things than meets the eye. She was very candid with me, showing me complaint letters she had received and explaining the situation whereby those complaints arose etc.

I am glad I won the day and part of me wishes I could go out with them again as my inspector said that she feels that I didn’t get a good overview of all the work they do and that often, with “ride alongs” you need to go for 2 or 3 days in a row to get a real feel for the job. The day put at bay some of my fears and concerns about the RSPCA but raised a few new ones and, ultimately I was left with a really deep, sinking almost despair at the conditions “we” keep our animals in. what seems generally considered to be acceptable by most is just totally unacceptable to me. I just can’t understand why people have animals if they are not going to do their very best for them and my inspector for the day totally agreed with me on this point!

I asked whether the credit crunch was having an effect on the number of animals being dumped and she said that she personally felt that people were using the credit crunch as an excuse for abandoning or neglecting their animals.

I asked whether she believed the RSPCA brought enough prosecutions and she confirmed that, in her opinion, they should only prosecute those who “deserve” it, ie those who are unremorseful. If they issue a caution to someone then that person has to admit guilt and sign over the animal. If that person gets visited again and found to be causing suffering to an animal then the WILL be taken to Court. My inspector said that she personally would prefer not to prosecute but if a person won’t admit guilt or sign over an animal she strongly feels is suffering then she has little choice but to take them to Court as this is the only way the RSPCA can obtain ownership of the animal. One of the main reasons they take an owner to Court is to get the animal away from its owner if they won’t relinquish ownership voluntarily. Any animal seized by them must be examined by a vet. If the vet then states that the animal is not suffering then the RSPCA must return the animal to its owner. She said she gets no pleasure from seeing “vulnerable” people taken to court, ie those who are suffering mental illnesses. She has come across cases in the past where the owner is not “in their right mind” but that they are causing suffering to their animal. If the owner will not voluntarily hand over the animal then she has no choice but to take this person to Court to get ownership of the animal even though it is distressing for the owner. Ultimately, she has to do what is right by the animal.

I then asked what she felt the RSPCA does best and what they are not so good at. She believed that the things they do best are the collection and rescue of animals and the advice they give out to people regarding how to improve the care and life of their animals. Also they work they do with regard to organized crime, ie dog fighting / badger baiting is very good but this work is very hush-hush and so a lot of people are not really aware of all of the investigations going on, including most of the inspectors!

With regards to the things they “do worst” she said that she felt that they “have their fingers in too many pies”. She thinks some things should be handed over to other organizations as the RSPCA Inspectors cannot be experts in every field, ie livestock issues should be handled by DEFRA as they are more experienced in this respect.

Finally, I asked “what would help you most to help more animals” and, after some thought, my inspector said that what helps her most in her day to day work is cooperation and good relationships with other organizations eg DEFRA, local councils, other charities etc. She said that what would help her help more animals would be more funds to enable her to say “yes I can help” to more people, and more space to take in unwanted animals. She said that the rescue / rehoming centers are always so full with all types of animals that there just isn’t much space for new animals coming in and whole days could be spent trying to find one animal a placement. She also said that it would be nice if they could stop so many people breeding and selling so many animals.

So, those are the questions I asked and the responses I received. Here is an account of my day:

Our first call out was to a group of 5 rats that had been found abandoned in their cage in a communal bin store in a block of flats in the maidstone area. It was on the drive back to maidstone that my inspector and I discussed most of the above. On arrival at the address we were shown a very dirty cage with a bunch of very poor looking rats. I was quite glad that rats were our first call out because I have experience of rats and therefore know what I’m looking at when I see them. As we were in someone’s house we couldn’t really get them out and examine them there and then so we simply collected them, had a look around at the location they were found and then took the rats to the local RSPCA Rehoming Centre, Leybourne. On arrival at Leybourne we took the rats to the examination room and had them out in turn. They were all boys. The first we examined was the sorriest looking creature I have ever seen. He was so skinny and mostly bald or covered in scabs, and he obviously had a brain tumor. He was pts straight away. The rest of the rats were all balding and scabby and were obviously all infected with mice and / or lice. Other than that, they all seemed in good health, apart from one who had an injured leg. My inspector managed to persuade the centre, who had initially said that they had no room for any more rats, to take them in for rehoming and a checking over by their vets, paying particular attention to the one with the injured leg.

I asked my inspector what would have happened had she not been able to persuade the centre to take them in. she said that she was lucky in that she had a fairly good relationship with most of the RSPCA centers on her “patch”, especially Leybourne as that is where her office is situated. she said that in the case of small furries, if they definitely hadn’t been able to take them in then she would have had them looked at asap by a local vet and then probably taken them home herself until a placement could be found. HOWEVER she said that other inspectors would not do this. They may not have good relationships with the centers and would not take animals home themselves and therefore there was a good chance that these rats would have been pts just because there was nowhere for them to go. This really upset me. 3, if not 4 perfectly healthy animals pts just because there was no place for them in an RSPCA shelter! I asked whether they would consider using other charities but the issue of their “not so great relations” with other charities came up and also the fact that it could potentially take most of the day finding them a space. I pointed out that if they could only build some bridges then surely it need not take so long to find a space. I for one know that Raystede at present have no rats in at all. And there are many small, home run rescues that would make room if it meant health animals dying. She totally agreed with me. This raised my first real concern of the day, ie the relationships with other charities and the difference it makes to an animals life depending on which inspector picks them up! Ie one inspector would spend time finding a home for an animal whereas another would simply put that animal to sleep straight away believing it would be hard to home.

Throughout the day, again and again, the issue came up of there being not enough room for animals and, linked to this, the RSPCAs bad relations with other charities who could possibly help them with regards to finding a place for an animal in a rescue centre. In my mind, if there is an animal that needs a home, then shouldn’t all the charities work together to find that animal a placement? My Inspector believed that just because the RSPCA may have different views and aims to other charities, it should not necessarily mean they couldn’t work together in this respect. I definitely believe that this is one of the main issues the RSPCA should be working out. Building bridges with other charities so that they can all help each other out in times of need. Obviously there are going to be issues that may need to be worked on but wouldn’t it be advantageous to the animals if the charities could put their differences aside for the good of those animals? Surely “the good of the animals” is what they are all working towards after all?

I was told that it was Head Quarters who make decisions as to who to prosecute, not the “field officer” as such. The field officer can make recommendations etc. but ultimately it is not their decision.

I asked why there were sometimes differences in regulations for rehoming animals from the RSPCA between the different branches and was told that branches of the RSPCA are run as independent charities and do their own fundraising etc. they also have some of their own policies with regards to rehoming etc even though they are obviously affiliated with the RSPCA Head Quarters. This may explain why rehoming regulations vary from branch to branch.

I asked about lifetime bans and how these were enforced etc and was told that the RSPCA do and could not go and check on every person given a ban from keeping an animal, it just wasn’t practical. She said that they mainly rely on the public to inform them if a person who has been banned from keeping an animal, is now doing so. If the KNOW a person is likely to re-offend then they will go and have a quick check on them from time to time. She confirmed that a ban issued in the UK would stand throughout the whole of the UK as if a person had received a ban it would be the outcome of them being committed of a crime and if you are committed of a crime in the UK then it is on your record no matter where you go. She said that where the problem arose is that if people moved, they could not possibly keep a track of them and so there were cases of people moving to say, Scotland, to avoid a ban on keeping animals from being enforced.

I asked whether she often felt bogged down with “red tape” and admin etc. She said that that was not really an issue in her job other than in the respect that there are some things which hinder her ability to help animals, ie nowhere to “put” them once the Inspector has collected them. She said that with regard to the Animal Welfare Act, this does help. It means they can now intervene BEFORE suffering occurs, if it is likely to occur, rather than having to wait for an animal to actually be suffering before they can get involved. However, even with the AWA they still rely heavily on assistance from the police and they usually require concrete evidence that entrance is required to a property before they will help out. Some police officers / forces are quite obstructive and not very helpful at all. Also, they still require a vet to approve and confirm that suffering may occur and a lot of vets are unwilling to get involved in RSPCA issues. I asked why she thought this might be and she said that a lot of private practices did not want to be associated with the RSPCA as often clients would be worried that their animals would be taken away from them if the vet considered them to be neglected etc and the vet was associated with the RSPCA! This would obviously result in a loss of money for the vet.

On Thursday 23rd July I had my day with an RSPCA Inspector as won in a competition run by PetStreet. I was more than a little nervous about the day as i just didn´t know what to expect. The inspector arrived at about 9am having had to travel from the maidstone area to pick me up. she explained to me that the area each inspector covers is quite vast and she showed me a map of the area she covered. Unfortunately i couldn´t keep a copy of the map or i would have uploaded it to show you all.

Firstly, I’m going to try to set out the information I learned and the questions I asked. I will then do some narrative about the actual day itself. You will have to bear with me. I found the day quite hard going and re-thinking it all now is quite difficult.


The Inspector informed me that as a whole, the RSPCA receive around 4,000 phone calls per day from members of the public. I asked whether the call centre staff receiving these calls had to have any special training or knowledge and she said that she believed that although they would be given guidelines to work by, the call centre staff do not necessarily have to have any animal related qualifications or knowledge. the call centre staff are not actually employed by the RSPCA, the centre is run by a different company and there is no doubt that some of those staff just view it as any other "call centre" job. She did say however, that it should be taken in to account when criticising the call centre, that there are not a large amount of people working in the call centre compared to the huge volume of calls they receive per day.

i then asked if you had to have an animal related background to become an RSPCA inspector and she said that really, people skills were considered to be more important. i understand this perspective to a certain degree...doing the job the inspectors do, you need to be able to deal with people in a calm manner especially if the person they are dealing with is aggressive and angry. i also understand that "technical" stuff with regards to dealing with the animals can be taught, ie capture procedures, restraint procedures etc. but in my mind it would surely be a help if people could demonstrate when applying to become an inspector, that they have some kind of compassion for animals?

The Inspector then asked me why i thought the RSPCA got such a hard time from people and other charities etc and i said that i believed it was, in part, down to the amount of animals they pts. She said that she understood this but that the figures "we" receive cannot always be taken on face value. she said that other charities have the luxury of being able to pick and choose the animals they take in for rehoming, ie Dogs Trust will not take in certain breeds as they know they won´t be able to find them a home very easily. Unfortunately the RSPCA don´t have this luxury, they have to take in all animals that come their way and they too find it hard to rehome certain breeds and on some occasions they have no choice but to pts these animals as they just have nowhere to put them. I found this very sad and one of the main issues that arose for me out of the whole day. I DO understand that obviously they need to house the animals they take in but it is so upsetting to know that so many healthy animals are pts each year because there is just no room for them.

next day found me back at michelle´s yard eager to try again and see how i got on. instantly upon sitting on the "horse" i noticed i sat in a better position, more on my seat bones and leaning slightly further back than i had done the day before...however i was pretty sure this wouldn´t last once the machine got going! michelle said that today she wanted to try to concentrate on getting my legs "back and round" more so that i was using the correct part of my legs to encourage the horse onwards but also so that my seat was more secure so if a horse did spook, i would be less likely to fall and more likely to "go with the movement" and therefore just be able to push the horse on and through any issues he was having.

i instantly found that i had improved from the first lesson, i was now used to the feeling of the trot on the "horse" and could keep myself much better balanced, using my stomach muscles and pelvis to help me rise and feeling that i wasn´t quite tipping forward so much. there were still occassions when michelle had to ask me to lean back in to her arm but not quite so many as the first lesson. however, now the issue was my legs! i thought my leg position wasn´t too bad but from looking in the mirrors i could see that my toes were slightly pointed out and so michelle asked me to point my toes in and heels out so that my whole lower leg could wrap around the horses sides, securing my seat even more. she also needed me to bring my leg slightly further back and under my seat. it felt fine while she was holding my leg in the correct position but as soon as she let go it swung forward again..we repeated the exercises from the day before, going from rising to sitting trot, trying to remember to sit back, and also now trying to keep my legs under me with my toes turned in, eventually i could start to feel how it SHOULD feel and began to correct myself when my leg slipped forward or toe turned out, which was a good sign.

with about 5 minutes to go michelle said we should try a little canter work and so she put the machine in to the canter pace. this was lovely and smooth and i managed to keep my position quite nicely. she then brought it down to trot and turned on the leg aid sensors so that effectively i would be the one making the "horse" go forward in to the canter. straight away i noticed how much more effective my leg aids were when i my leg was in the right position, with the toe turned in, rather than when my toes were turned slightly outwards, we experimented with the two with michelle asking me to put my legs in my "usual" position and asking for the canter and then asking me to put them in the correct position and asking again, the reaction from the machine was much quicker as my aids were much clearer when my leg was in the correct position. michelle also asked me to tip my upper body forward slightly in the canter to demonstrate how much more comfortable and secure a rider would feel sitting back, in the correct position, rather than in this slightly tipping forward manner, the difference was instantly noticeable. it was instantly clear to me that not only was it more comfortable for me and the horse for me to sit back but it was also far safer as should the horse react to something or stop dead and i was tipping forward then i would be far more likely to be unbalanced from the saddle and fall.

all in all i can say that these lessons were great...totally exhausting but well worth it. i think i will still have confidence issues with regards to horses spooking etc but i also think that mechanical riding lessons will certainly help me gain confidence in my ability as a rider and definately improve my seat so that if anything should happen, i´ll be more likely to stay on board!

i would advise anyone who gets the opportunity to have a lesson like this to grab it with both hands...its a real eye opener! and i really believe that anyone thinking of taking up horse riding do a few months on a mechanical horse before getting on board a real one. a good seat is the best grounding for making a good horse rider and this is the best and quickest way i can see of really teaching that.

i´m definately interested to see how what i have learned with michelle transaltes to my next riding lesson on an actual horse...and it´ll be a real test as my next lesson is a lunge lesson on a horse that, last time i rode it, i was really nervous of! i only wish i could have more lessons with michelle as i really think that regular lessons with her on top of my usual riding lessons would help develop a good stable seat which would not only benefit any horse i rode but also help boost my confidence.

This week i had 2 mechanical horse riding lessons with Michelle Cogger at her yard near East Grinstead.

the reason i decided i wanted to have these lessons is that i´ve been suffering from a real lack of confidence due to some past bad experiences riding at my previous riding stables. i hoped that a few lessons on a mechanical horse would help boost my confidence by helping to improve my position and seat.

the mechanical horse at michelle´s yard is qutie impressive, it is so advanced that it is fitted with sensor pads which allow riders to work on their leg aids. There are also sensors in the mouth to allow the rider to work on the contact and the simulator has recently been developed further by introducing neck bend, showing riders how to keep an even contact on each rein.

on arriving at the yard, which is small but absolutely beautiful, i had a quick look round and found 8 lovely loose boxes and a fantastic indoor school completely surrounded by mirrors. the place looked like every horse owners dream! in one corner of the yard there was a large, open loose box from which i could hear a strange, mechanical noise and on closer inspection i found this to be my mount for the next 30 minutes! someone was in the middle of their lesson and i didn´t wish to interrupt so i went back to the car wondering what on earth was to be expected.

michelle came to meet me and was instantly warm and friendly. she took me in to the box where the mechanical horse "lives" and mounted me up. the stable the machine is in is surrounded by mirrors in front and to either side of you so that you can constantly check your own position and see what michelle is doing. michelle asked me to not hold on to the reins but to simply sit in my usual riding position with my feet in the stirrups, which i did. she instantly said i needed to sit back more on to my seat bones, and she held her arm along the length of my back to give me something to lean back on to, this instantly felt insecure and wrong because it was not how i was used to riding but was technically correct. leaning this far back also made my legs want to swing forward to it was quite an effort to keep those in an even vaguely decent position!

Michelle explained to me that at first the action of the horse would feel quite unusual and that rising trot was the gait most people found hardest as unlike a real horse the mechanical horse would not push you up out of the seat with every other pace so you had to learn to rise yourself without the aid of the horse underneath you. now, i´m not a confidence person, as i guess is obvious from this article but not only do i suffer from nerves i also lack confidence in my ability as a rider, something else i hoped these lessons would help me out with. however, i felt pretty sure that i could at least do rising trot! haha...WRONG!

sitting trot was quite comfortable and so we went to rising. at first i couldn´t even work out the rythm and when i was meant to rise but i soon got the hang of that, what also became apparent was that i normally tip forward slightly when i rise and so again, michelle had her hand at my back to give me some support to lean back in to to ensure that my seat was tucked well under me. however, as soon as she removed her arm, i lost my balance slightly and "bounced". we alternated between sitting and rising trot regularly and roughly every 10 minutes michelle would stop the machine and stretch my legs right out to loosen me up through the leg and thigh.

at the end of my first 30 minute session i felt absolutely exhausted and slightly less confident than when i started! i was convinced i was the worst rider michelle had ever seen and the only person who had the problems i seemed to be having!

this is my blog for my entry in to the "win a day with an RSPCA" inspector, unfortunately i don´t really expect to win the competition as we have to write about what we think the RSPCA does best...

unfortunately, my experiences of the RSPCA to date have only been negative. i have called them on numerous occassions regarding injured wildlife (seagulls, pigeons etc) and regarding pets i have come across that i believe are not being looked after very well and either the owners should be advised on how to look after their animals better, or the animal possibly being removed. on every occassion i have called upon the RSPCA i have been disappointed with their responses. in the case of the wildlife calls i have always been told that this is not an issue they can help with and i should take the animal or bird in question to a local shelter or vet...despite the fact that i cannot drive.
with regards to the pet neglect i have reported i have been even more dismayed at the apparent lack of concern.

the last case i had cause to report concerned several cats, a rabbit and a guinea pig being kept by my neighbour. the situation came to light when a small, shabby looking cat started venturing in to my house through my cat flap. she would eat my cats food and then try to hide in the lounge or kitchen. we asked round our neighbours and discovered she belonged to a house 3 doors down from us. i knocked the door there several times, at various times during the day and on different days but never received a reply. i was also shocked to find a rabbit and a guinea pig in their small front yard (which is at basement level) each was in a seperate cage and each cage was pitifully small. neither animal had food or water, bedding of any kind or any toys etc. at this point i became concerned that perhaps the owner had had an accident and was lying unconcious in the flat or had abandoned the property and animals. i therefore called the RSPCA. i asked if they could please send an investigator round to the property to check the owner was ok and - if they were there and in good health, ask about the state of the rabbit and gp and also about the cats.
i also put a note through the owners door asking them to contact me about these issues.

the next day i got a note back saying the cat was theres and that she was free to come and go as she pleased...but also stated that they did not have a cat flap (despite owning 4 cats in total) and that if she went out to work for the night and the cats weren´t in then they got shut out - hence the little cat coming to us. she made no comment about the rabbit and gp.

the day after i called the RSPCA for a progress report and was told that an inspector had visited the property and found the owners in who explained that it was "cage cleaning day" and this was why there was no bedding or food in the cage. the inspector was "happy with this" and left. i was appalled. i explained that obviously they had been in this stage, ie without food or water or bedding, for at least 4 days as they were in this state when i went round previously and were STILL in that state when the inspector went round. he simply told me that most of the rabbits he saw were kept in awful conditions! i asked about the 5 freedoms that were cited in the new animal welfare acts and even quoted the RSPCA´s own website for their requirements when it comes to keeping rabbits - the fact that they had no food, they had no water, they could display no natural behaviours, that they had no bedding and had no company - all he could say was the last thing he would do to people like this was recommend they get more pets to keep the others company as this would be condemming more animals to live in these conditions! i couldn´t believe it. if he thought the conditions were so bad then why did he not do something about it, advise the owners on better care and arrange a repeat inspection, or remove the animals from their care??

eventually the cat came to live with me. she is 13 years old, was severely underweight and suffering from severe food allergies and astma, none of which had ever been diagnosed or even noticed by her previous owners...she didn´t even know her name (how she was meant to come when called so as not to be shut out at night if this was the case, i´ll never know). the rabbit and gp have since been moved from the front yard - whether they were rehomed by the owner (annoyed by my constant pestering about their welfare) or whether they were simply killed off, i will never know, but i do know that the RSPCA did NOTHING to help these animals.

i would therefore LOVE to spend the day with a local RSPCA inspector and find out what exactly it is they do! i´d like to learn more about the training they receive and, honestly, i´d like to give them the opportunity to try to change my mind about their organisation.

every time i write a blog it seems to be about losing another rat :-( last thursday i got home from riding to find nanuk dead in the cage. he looked very peaceful and seems to have died quite naturally as opposed to from a tumor or something else nasty. he had been eating well and ok in himself. he had had his little chocolate treat in the morning (when the others have their medication, which is in chocolate, so he didn´t feel left out) and seemed ok. he was the only one of my remaining rats not poorly with respitory problems so it is a shame to have lost him but am glad he died at home, in comfort and he did not appear to suffer. all my previous animals have had to be pts at the vets and i have not been able to bring myself to bring them home for burial, however, as nanuk died at home i felt it right to bury him there so on friday we dug a little hole at the end of the garden and said our goodbyes.

3 rats in 5 months...this is not good! i hope to got it is not something i´m doing wrong, i don´t think it is as they have all died of different things but you can´t help but wonder!

i had to have my lovely little girl rat pepper pts last night. i had noticed that she had lost weight the weekend before last when i did the rats´ monthly weigh-in and thought this was down to her being a bit timid and the others barging her out of the way at food time so i started to put the rest of the group in the run at dinner time and leave her in the cage with the food so she could have first go at it. friday just gone i got them all out to do my weekly cage clean and she didn´t appear to have lost any more weight and was running round happily with the others. sunday i got them out for free-range time on the sofa and i was nearly sick! she had lost so much weight and looked like a skeleton. i instantly weighed her and she had lost 30g in a week - most of that in the last 2 days by the looks of her!! she was also very unsteady on her feet (much like koda had been with his brain tumor) so i took her to the vet yesterday and found that she had a tumor in her spleen / kidney area. the vet said there was nothing he could do to remove the tumor and it was just sucking the life out of her :-( we only got her from the rescue in july and she was such a sweet natured little girl. i will miss her terribly.

so, the boys and girls have been living in the cage together for over a week and things seem to be going really well. i will often find them all bundled up together asleep :-) nanuk has commandeered the rattick style hammock but frequently the girls will be curled up in there with him too - bear seems to be making the most of the new bucket hammock we got which is hung right next to the rattick. bear is much more active now that the girls are in with him - nanuk is taking his time and still a bit slow but things are definately going well.

pepper pinned bear to the floor the other day amongst some quite frantic squeeking but there was no damage done, no biting or anything, i think she was just putting him in his place! there have been one or two small squabbles but like i say, no fighting or biting so all going really well.

i weighed them all last night when they came out for some free-range time and am REALLY happy to say that both bear and nanuk have lost weight (about 40g each) which is brilliant news as they really were quite fat! the new diet and the additional activity brought on by the girls seem to be really working. all in all, it couldn´t have gone better and i now have a really happy, healthy rat family :-)

Ok, so yesterday we tried our first introductions of the boys and girls. we decided to do this in the bath as it needs to be done in neutral territory in a safe, escape free environment. we set the bath up with some matting on the floor, some toys and treats and armed ourselves with water pistols to break up any fighting that should occur. put the boys in and they had a little wander about and then nervously put the girls in. at once the size difference between them became glaringly apparent. they boys are about 600g and the girls about 300g! so i was really nervous as if any fighting did break out then the boys could probably really hurt the girls.

however, i needn´t have worried...the girls ran staright over to the boys, sniffed them and then just ran around exploring! periodically the girls would go back over to the boys for more sniffing but that was it. no squeeling, no fighting, nothing :-) must admit that the boys looked a bit scared and confused but all in all a very successful first intro.

going to repeat this again tonight and then tomorrow i´m going to put them in the run together. this is an area that both groups have been in individually so we may get a small amount of territorial aggression but to be honest, i doubt it. the boys are far to laid back and the girls are just too nosey! therefore, i hope to be able to put them all in the same cage on saturday morning. i will give the cage a good clean and re-arrange first so that it doesn´t smell totally of boys (and therefore again possibly triggering some territorial aggression) and the theory is that if you do it in the morning they will be sleepy and not so interested in running round and possibly fighting as rats tend to be more active in the evening, so fingers crossed! so far so good though :-)

so, after the most awful journey in the world to collect our new rats (seriously, we are never going outside of hastings or tunbridge wells again...we just get too lost) we finaly got them home safe and sound saturday evening! 2 lovely, lively little girls, 1 himalayan and one PEW (pink eyed white). we have called the himy Pepper and the PEW Mya :-) we popped them in to their new cage as soon as we got them home with some food and water and left them to it. we covered part of the cage so that they had a bit of privacy whilst getting used to the sight, smells and sounds of our home. they spent the first night sitting in their litter tray bless them, so on sunday i moved this and put a comfy bed in the corner where the litter tray and been and luckily it seems its that particular corner they like rather than just the litter tray, and they soon snuggled up in their new bed :-)

they are quite active, very eager to get out of the cage every time i open the top to pop some food in :-) last night i stroked my boys and then put my hand in the girls cage and Mya went nuts! haha...think she is quite eager to meet her new male roomies. Bear came down to sniff their cage and decided he wanted to have a little walk along the top of it, again driving Mya nuts, she started trying to nibble his tale so he just waddled back off to his cage to have a think about it!

am going to spend the evenings this week having the girls out one at a time in the run to try to teach them their names and hopefully bond with them, then once they are comfortable with me i will start the introductions. fingers crossed!

Star rescue (where i got the girls ) run by Sarah and Dave is wicked. they live in a normal house and have jobs and yet they still find time to take in all these animals! they have all sorts of their own plus all the rescue small furies - they do a fab job :-) we got to meet molly, their rescued squirrel who was just far too cute. she was rescued after a cat attack and sarah took her in. she has brain damage and therefore cannot be released in to the wild but has lived a very content 9 years with sarah now so she must be doing something right :-) Mya and Pepper where waiting for us in the lounge along with the rest of their group. we first met another himalayan girl but we felt she was a bit too much for us - very active and getting up to mischief constantly! we were then handed Mya and Pepper (they were known as Blanche and Akuti then though) and we just fell in love. Mya appears very gentle and Pepper is into everything - just what we wanted really. the others in the group were all very pretty, they were some lovely dark hooded rats but sarah said that these were not quite as sociable as the others so we decided to leave those.

will keep you posted as to how i´m getting on :-)

ok, so i´m hoping to start a little blog about my new rats. i haven´t got them yet and don´t know how much time i will have to write but fingers crossed.

so, the situation is this, i adopted 3 rescue rats from raystede last october time. unfortunately, last month we had to have one of these rats pts, poor little fella. so i am left with 2 quite lazy neutered boy rats in one very large cage. obviously my little brain starts turning to the idea of getting some new ratties to fill the cage a bit and liven my boys up :-)

i am a member of a rat forum called fancy rats and on there is a re-homing page and obviously i "stumbled" across that one day and saw some lovely little ratties for re-homing in a small rescue in surrey. i filled out the application form and sent it off. a few days later i received an email from one of the owners of the rescue who said that all the details on the form looked ok, that they would take up my references and give me a call back for a chat.

on the form they had asked whether i wanted boys or girls and whether these were to be introduced to an established group. i said that i had a pair of neutered boys and was quite prepared to take advice from the centre as to whether it was best to get young or old boys to mix in with my 2 as i had never done intros before. i had not at this stage really thought about getting girls. in the email back to me confirming my application was ok they raised the idea suggesting the intros would be easier with a boy / girl mix and also it was a more natural lifestyle as obviously in the wild they would be in mixed sex groups. ok though i...i´ll do whatever is advised. i was then shown a group of 7 girls all looking for a new home with a view of me adopting 2 of them.

so....thats where i am at. they called for the chat about 2 weeks ago and hubby and i are driving to surrey on saturday to pick out our new ratties :-) i´m VERY excited and can´t wait to meet them. also, a bit nervous about the intros but the rescue are very helpful and always there to answer questions and stuff so fingers crossed it will go well.

keep you posted :-)

when we got home from work last night we went to check on koda straight away. it was immediately apparent that he was worse off rather than getting better. he couldn´t sit or stand properly and lept falling over and just lolling about. it was horrible to watch. i called the vets who said that all they could really suggest was to continue as we were but if he was definately worse we should take him in. unfortunately my vet was not in that day but the head vet was available and we know from past experience that he is fantastic with small animals, so we rushed up there. it took him about 5 minutes to say that there was nothing further we could do, he was not responding to the baytrill and / or metacam and so the kindest and only real option we had was to have him pts. i had guessed that this would be the outcome of the trip but i still cried. poor koda.

when we got home we let the other rat boys down to the bottom part ofo the cage (where we had had koda seperated during his illness) and they sniffed around for him but i thought that was the best thing to do, so that his scent would gradually weeken and they would realise he was not coming home. i really miss the little guy and just wish we could have helped him. hope he is somewhere happy and pain / stress free now. love you koda.x

what a week! why is it that you never just get one sick animal...its always at least two!

got home from work monday and went straight in to the garden to groom the bunnies. grabbed chong and set her down on the grooming table only to nearly scream at the sight of her left eye! it was totally gunged up and sealed shut! it looked awful. the left eye had been a little weepy on saturday when i groomed them and the skin around it looked a little sore but my two buns were born with eye problems and this was nothing unusual. i bathed the eyes in the normal way and she seemed fine! i couldn´t believe the mess on monday. obviously, called the vet immediately and they told me to bring her straight in. to be honest, she looked like she had myxi even though she is vaccinated! couldn´t see my usual vet, kate, but the girl we did see was very good. she too said she would have though myxi if she had not read up on chong´s history and saw she suffered with eye problems. i explained that i had never seen them anywhere near this bad though. we were told to seperate her from binky and give her baytril twice a day by syringe and eye drops three times a day, keep an eye on her eating etc. and bring her back in two days time.

got home, made up the run in the lounge and settled her down for the night. sat down and ate our dinner and then my husband went to feed the rats their fresh food for the night. gleefully he exclaimed "look, koda is letting me stroke him" (our rats are rescues and not particularly hand tame), i instantly got a bit suspicious but ten seconds later he yelled "oh my god, he´s got blood coming out of his eyes". luckily i had read a few rat books before getting the ratty boys so i was aware that this probably wasn´t blood but more likely porphyrin (a substance in rat tears when they are stressed that is red and therefore looks like blood) but still, it was not a good sign. he was sat in his cage, all hunched up with these horrible red crusts all round his eyes...not a happy chappy. i checked my rat book and it suggested that he may have a respitory infection and if so, get him to the vets at once. by this time it was about 9.30pm so i called the emergency vet - who told me to bring him right in, which i did.

long story short - emergency vet was awful. kept us waiting for 40 minutes while they mopped floors etc (this is an EMERGENCY service?) didn´t listen to a word we said, gave him one crappy antibiotic injection and told us to see our own vet in the morning. oh, and charged us £55 for the pleasure! totally mis-diagnosed him too!

got koda to my own vet asap on tuesday, she was quite concerned but unsure as to what the problem was. gave us baytril twice a day and metacam once a day - told us to seperate him from the others (which we had already done the night before) and keep an eye on his food and water intake. i said he hadn´t eaten or drunk anything and she said we may need to assist feed also.

it is now thursday and he is still not really eating or drinking on his own. i am syringe feeding him baby food mixed with water to try to get some food and fluid in him but can´t possibly do it enough to match his correct dietry and water intakes. he did try to nibble on a muffin yesterday but that is about it! whenever he does manage to walk he just looks like he´s drunk. explained this to the vet when i took chong back in to see her yesterday (chong is A-OKAY now btw) and she is not massively hopeful for his outlook. she explained that unfortunately it is really hard to get blood from small animals such as rats and therefore very hard to do tests to find out 100% what is wrong with him. so...we go on with the medication and assist feeding, trying to tempt him with ANY food or liquid as well, and hope for the best. kate the vet asked us to call her tomorrow with a progress report and suggested we talk then about our further options, although to be honest i think the only option may be to have him pts!

i´ll keep you posted :-(

weeehhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! my new rat cage FINALLY arrived :-) i can't express how happy i am with it! took us a whole evening to put together but its fantastic! so big! they LOVE it. will definately get some pictures on to the computer soon so you can see it. need to get them more hammocks and things just to fill it, its great! that will have to wait till payday though...spent so much on them recently, but they are worth it bless 'em

Elvis is driving me mad! he keeps chewing the plastic ends to the tubes in his cage that lead from the top of the cage to the bottom! little bugger. i have given him all sorts of different alternative wooden things to chew but no...he HAS to chew the plastic! am sure he must be ingesting some of it which can't be good for him! if anyone has any ideas on how to get him to stop this and chew something better for him i'd love to hear them!