Response to government plans to toughen dangerous dog law

The Mayhew Animal Home, an animal welfare charity working at the forefront of this issue in London, welcomes the recognition that change to the Dangerous Dogs Act is long overdue, having witnessed firsthand the horrifying consequences from the misuse of certain breeds in our capital and the ineffectiveness of present legislation to address the root causes of this escalating problem. However, it must be remembered that the dog welfare issues now prevalent in our society are not just as a result of “dangerous dogs”, but basically down to indiscriminate breeding, easy accessibility to and widespread irresponsible ownership of dogs across society as a whole.


Yes, we need to tackle the issue of anti-social behaviour with dogs, and amendments in legislation is a part of this, but it change will only happen if there is a wider overhaul of dog welfare strategy in the country, which should have as its basis prevention rather than draconian cure.

The Mayhew would welcome the opportunity to bring its wealth of experience on this issue to the debate as it was one of the first, forwarding thinking animal welfare organisations which has long been working with local authorities in London, the Metropolitan police and RSPCA to address this issue in a constructive manner.

The Mayhew believes that effective legislation must address issues of public safety, must place greater onus on the owners of these animals, not the dogs themselves. It must also primarily address the issue of where these dogs are coming from in the first place and why they are so misused and abused, otherwise nothing will change. The Mayhew would advocate a more over-reaching agenda as follows:

- A repeal of breed specific legislation

- Make compulsory micro-chipping, which alone will not address the issue, part of a registration package for responsible dog ownership, which should include animals being neutered, vaccinated, checked regularly and insured.

- Tighter regulations placed on the trade in pets from pet shops, on the Internet and other forms of media, and priority given to the stricter monitoring of both registered and “backstreet” breeders.

- Government/local councils to invest in designated and trained personnel, such as Animal Welfare Officers, who can work alongside animal welfare charities, both with local residents and pet owners to prevent the escalation of this crisis and make our communities safer for animals and people alike.

- Government to consider funding neutering programmes, which presently many animal welfare charities strive to fund themselves with extremely limited resources

Caroline Yates, CEO, The Mayhew Animal Home

Pets in need

The Mayhew Animal Home is asking for unwanted goods to help cats and dogs in need




London -The Mayhew Animal Home relies on the generosity of our supporters and there are many things that the rescue centre in Kensal Green needs to look after the animals at the Home and also carry out the day-to-day duties of a busy charity. The Home prides itself on the high standard of animal care and the kennels and cat cabins on site are always comfortable, warm and have a rotation of toys to prevent the feline and canine residents getting bored.



While they are at the Home, The Mayhew cats and dog also have access to play areas, which are stocked with different toys and activity centres.



The Mayhew Animal Care Manager, Gillian Rich, said: “We are very lucky to have kind supporters who regularly bring us toys and blankets for the animals we have here and there may be many readers who have a stock of items at home that are simply no use to them. It is great for us to have new balls and bowls for our dogs, but there are so many things that The Mayhew could make use of and all of this will help lower the overall costs for our charity.



It costs over £3400 a day just to keep The Mayhew running, so when people are having a clear out it is a great if they could spare a thought for the Home and how they can help us out.”



Here is a wish list for bits and pieces that may be collecting dust in North West London homes and could be put to good use at The Mayhew:



Towels

Blankets (not pillow cases or duvets)

New dog and cat toys

Paper towels

New Mops

Buckets

New brooms

New sponges and cloths

Agility equipment

Dog and cat new grooming brushes

Cat bowls

Dog bowls

Toilet rolls

New books

Any new and unused toiletry gift sets

Plant pots

Garden tools

Garden tables or furniture for events



Printer cartridges: Samsung ML-2240 - Samsung MLT-D1082 Toner Cartridge 1.5k



Cannon LBP -3360 - Canon 708H High Yield toner cartridge 6k



HP C7200 - hp ink no: 363 (All colours)



Stationary:



A4 plain paper

Staples



Please drop off items at the reception of The Mayhew in Trenmar Gardens, or post to:

The Mayhew Animal Home, Trenmar Gardens, Kensal Green, NW10 6BJ. Many thanks.

Homeless Valentine’s Day litter of kittens born under moon of love on 14th

Six tiny kittens were born on Valentine’s Day at The Mayhew Animal Home after the mother was found wandering heavily pregnant off busy Harlesden High Street in North West London.


Rescued by The Mayhew’s Animal Welfare Officer, the mother cat –now named Valentine Love –gave birth to six healthy kittens on the 14th to the delight of staff at the Home.

The teeny felines are now being cared for by the Cattery staff and will be looking for new homes in nine weeks time.

In keeping with the theme of love and romance under which they were born, staff at The Mayhew have given each kitten a name meaning love in various languages: Amour (French) Upendo (Swahili) Agapi (Greek) Amore (Italian) Liebe (German) Lyubov (Russian)

Mayhew Animal Welfare Officer, Claire Harper, said: “It is wonderful that this story has such a happy ending and that on the one day of the year where we all have love on our mind, these beautiful kittens were born in to a Cattery decorated with hearts and flowers for the 14th! There is a sad echo to the tale though, as the mother, Valentine Love, was extremely heavily pregnant when I found her and there probably wouldn’t have been such a happy ending had she given birth on the streets. We don’t know if this cat has an owner, but many people do let their cats outside without thinking of the consequences of them being unneutered and how they are contributing to the high numbers of unwanted kittens.”

The Mayhew Animal Home makes sure that all cats, dogs and rabbits re-homed by the charity are neutered before they are adopted. The Mayhew vets will neuter kittens from nine weeks old, so after this age they will be available for adoption.

Anyone interested in adopting any of the Valentine’s Day kittens, should call The Mayhew from the 19th April 2010 on 0208 969 0178

Animal charity staff create valentines al a carte menu for homeless kitties

Mayhew Animal Home provides a feast for their felines on the 14th and asks people to come and adopt their purrrrfect partner!


Instead of the usual work with brooms and buckets, staff from The Mayhew Animal Home are donning chef hats and wielding rolling pins in order to produce a special Valentine’s menu for the cats and kittens awaiting adoption at the rescue centre in Kensal Green.

Whilst waiting for their new owners to arrive at The Mayhew, the lucky felines will be presented with a menu of Kitty Kisses, Fabulous Flirty Fishballs and Sexy Salmon Mousse.

Deputy Animal Care Manager, Caroline Brown, said: “While we ensure all year round that our Mayhew animals get lots of care and affection, we wanted to prepare a special Valentine’s day feast for the cats and kittens and show them some extra love. I have taken tips from top recipes for the al a carte menu and while our kitties will be feasting on Flirty Fishballs, we are encouraging cat lovers to visit the Home and consider adopting their purrrrrfect partner!”

Over 12,000 animals in need helped by The Mayhew

To start off the year highlighting how many animals and pet owners in the UK capital desperately need help, we have released statistics from our veterinary database.

Our computer system means that every animal that arrives at The Mayhew can be tracked and logged into a database. This includes every stray, abandoned and unwanted pet and also any of the cats, dogs or rabbits that have come to the Community Veterinary Clinic onsite at the Animal Home since June 2006.

These figures prove that as a small charity in a capital city it is essential to provide the services we do in order to save the lives of thousands of animals and provide support and advice to pet owners facing difficulty. These statistics reflect just how many animals are in need. The Mayhew is committed to giving every animal a second chance and we have veterinary staff available every day, in addition to care staff and foster carers, in order to get every animal back on their feet, no matter how long it takes.

The Mayhew Animal Home’s neutering statistics also reflect the high demand for both a low-cost and a free service. From 2007, the clinic has carried out 4523 neutering procedures. This includes the 513 outpatient bull breed procedures carried out free of charge in their Community Veterinary Clinic in 2009 alone (1130 since 2007 when the scheme began). Working on the premise that every female dog will breed and every one of her offspring goes on to breed then that can be 20-40,000 dogs in their lifetime* meaning a total of 1,026,0000 bull breed puppies were prevented from being born into a society already flooded with unwanted puppies and dogs.

*HSUS.org

In addition to re homing cats and dogs, we offer a Pet Refuge programme and run several Community Animal Care schemes with their four Animal Welfare Officers, including Trap, Neuter and Return for feral cats, homeless community support and free micro-chipping services. The Community Veterinary Clinic at the Home offers low-cost neutering and vaccinations in addition to the Free Bull Breed Neutering scheme, which is offered to all bull breed owners, irrespective of location or financial status as a way of actively adressing the hugh problem on over population and status dogs in London.

Flood victims illustrate crucial problem of strict landlords regarding pets.

The devastating floods in Cumbria have indirectly highlighted one of the problems that is putting strain on UK rescue centres; the strict ‘no pet’ policies held by some landlords of rentable properties.



Today (23.11.09), BBC Five Live discussed one of the problems faced by flood victims as many are struggling to find temporary accommodation that allows them to bring their family pets.



The Mayhew Animal Home in London is taking this opportunity once more to emphasise to all UK landlords the importance of reconsidering their strict ‘no pet’ policies on rented properties. High numbers of cats and dogs arrive annually at rescue homes across the country after owners have to move and are unable to find a landlord to accept their existing pets. Rescue centres are continually fit to bursting and with long waiting lists. Landlords would be helping a great deal to alleviate the crisis by considering tenants with pets.



In existence since 1886, The Mayhew is confident that any responsible pet owner to ensure that their cat or dog behaves well inside the home and animal staff from the Home are always happy to offer information to any pet owners who are looking for behavioural advice.



The Mayhew proposes that landlords ask pet owners for references from previous landlords and their vet in order to establish they are a responsible owner. They should also ask for all pets living in the property to be neutered, therefore eradicating any territorial marking of the property and unwanted litters of puppies or kittens. Landlords could potentially ask for an increased deposit to be placed as reassurance for while the animal is living at the address. All these measures would offer a huge amount of security for concerned landlords and would reduce the high numbers of dogs and cats needing to be re homed unnecessarily through rescue centres.



Mayhew CEO, Caroline Yates, said: “We hope that by raising the awareness about this issue while it is highlighted in the media, in regard to the flood victims, private landlords will take into consideration how a well-trained pet can present them no problems whatsoever. They will also be directly helping rescue centres like The Mayhew by reducing the numbers of animals arriving to be handed over.”

Don't forget about pets on World Diabetes Day

This Saturday marks 2009's World Diabetes Day and this is a medical condition we recognise well at The Mayhew -not because staff have the condition but because of the numbers of cats that arrive with us; unwanted as soon as they are diagnosed with diabetes.

As many pet owners know, diet is a real contibutor to the disease and our vets are always keen to highlight to pet owners just how dangerous it can be to let your cat, or dog become overweight.

Sadly, we see arrivals to our Cattery who have diabetes and are no longer wanted since they have developed their conditions; their owners decided they no longer want to take responsibility for caring for their health. This is naturally a very sad situation, but as The Mayhew is committed to giving every animal a chance we will happily take in and care for diabetic cats.

The condition can be easily managed, often with diet and sometimes with medication and we have adopted out many diabetic cats, one of whom went to a diabetic owner earlier this year.

We would dearly love to find a home for Angel, one of our diabetic cats, who has been with us for a while. She is a wonderful feline, who needs injections for her condition, which she accepts very well. She is a loving, affectionate and gentle cat who deserves a forever home.

Here is a bit of information about caring for diabetic cats, which we hope will make people feel less overwhelmed if their pet develops the condition, or perhaps for potential adopters who could home a diabetic cat :

Caring for Diabetic Cats


An owner of a cat with diabetes must be prepared to make an individual commitment in order to keep the animal as healthy as possible.

Cats determined to have diabetes are generally monitored in a pet hospital and once a treatment is found to be effective, it mainly involves prescription medications, diet and check up visits to the vet.

Insulin injections are commonly prescribed for diabetic cats.

Most cats under veterinary care are prescribed two injections a day, but some only require one. Many cat owners find the process to be painless for their cat, and much easier than anticipated.

Feline diabetes is also controlled through a well-monitored diet. A feline diabetes diet is generally high in fiber and low in sugar.

The veterinarian will also recommend the amount of food to best meet the health care requirements and needs of the cat.

Diabetic cats can live long and contented lives provided their diabetes is properly treated and controlled.

Owners of cats with diabetes must be prepared to make a commitment to their cats to keep them as healthy as possible.

Veterinarians generally recommend feeding a cat with diabetes a measured amount of food at regular intervals. Feedings are usually twice a day and should be provided before injections are administered. Although feeding a cat at predetermined times can be challenging, cats once provided food on demand can become accustomed to eating at specified times.

A cat with diabetes should be weighed on a regular basis, and the appetite needs to be monitored for changes. A baby scale works very well for weighing a cat. Detailed notes should be taken so the appetite and weight can be monitored and made available to the veterinarian if necessary.

Monitoring Diabetic Cats

Monitoring a cat with diabetes also requires measuring the input and output of water. Water should be measured (refilling water bowl from a measuring cup and output can be determined by using litter that clumps when wet.

Urine must also be checked for sugar content as often as recommended by the veterinarian. This can be accomplished by using pea gravel, fish tank gravel, or foam peanuts or a cat litter that does not absorb any urine (called Katcor and is available from our vets at the Mayhew) instead of cat litter just long enough to obtain the sample. Glucose test strips are available where health care products are sold. These are the same test strips used by people monitoring their diabetes.

A diabetic cat will impact certain parts of your life. Arrangements will have to be made for any time you spend away from your home, you will need a responsible person to take over the care of your cat while you are away. Some veterinarians offer boarding facilities or in the home care and with these services you can be assured of your diabetic cat’s treatment. A responsible adult friend or neighbour may be able to do this for you but would, of course, have to follow your complete instructions.

Caring for a cat with diabetes sounds overwhelming and time consuming, but it isn't as difficult as it seems once the right medication and diet is prescribed and enforced. The owners of diabetic cats can provide their pets treatment that will allow those felines to live a long and healthy life full of love and dedication.