We have been busy at the RSPCA Herts East Branch this month helping lots of local animals in need.
During January, our Branch Operations Manager, Vicky Burrell, dealt with over 180 calls from across our branch area regarding all aspects of animal welfare. A whopping 38% of these calls were requests for help with the cost of veterinary care for owned pets!
We have also seen a rise in people wanting to relinquish pets into our care and calls asking for help with animal behavioural problems.
In addition to phone calls Vicky has also been busy responding the 732 e-mails received into our office in January!
We have issued £2000 worth of vouchers to help owned pets receive emergency veterinary treatment.
£1000 was spent covering the cost of boarding animal whilst in our care.
A further £300 was spent on veterinary treatment for branch animals.
We have rehomed 4 cats and have taken in a dog and 3 cats.
Our biggest news this month is that we have our own van! This has been something that we have dreamt of for a long time and has been made possible after we received a legacy. We are planning to have the vehicle sign written and will be posting photos once it is ready to go out on the road so you can all look out for us.
Staff and volunteers at our shop in Hitchin have also been very busy throughout January creating a wonderful new layout in the shop for clothing which has been organised by fashion trends, colours, and sizes. They have also been on the lookout for unique pieces in our donations to sell. The new layout has helped to free up enough space for us to be able to sell small items of furniture which will help generate much needed additional income to help support our animal welfare activities.
If you are in Hitchin please pop in and look, you never know what bargains you may find!
Frankie (pictured) is one of the animals that came into our care in January. Frankie is a Dachshund puppy who came to us as his owner was unable to cope for personal reasons and rather than sell the puppy privately he wanted to make sure he would be rehomed sensibly.
Lucky little Frankie has been cared for by one of our dedicated volunteers who helps to foster dogs and also helps in our shop.
Frankie has already been reserved and will soon go off to his new home, but we know that where one animal leaves there are plenty more waiting for the space they vacate.
We can only help animals like Frankie with the help of your kind donations so please continue to support us where you can.