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PAWS for

THOUGHT

Newsletter

Of

The Cat & Rabbit

Rescue Centre Sidlesham.

(Registered Charity Number 1010000)

President – SUSAN JAMESON.

Chief Veterinary Officer – MARK ELLIOTT. (BVSc,

Vet MFHom, MRCVS, PCH, RSHom.)

February 2015.

Holborow Lodge, Chalder Lane, Sidlesham, Chichester,

West Sussex, PO20 7RJ. Tel :- 01243-641409

e-mail :- info@crrc.co.uk Web Site :- www.crrc.co.uk

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2015 has arrived and with it some very big challenges for the CRRC. 2014 saw some great improvements regarding rehoming, and some very successful fund raising. In particular ones that were organized by our wonderful group that run the Hayling Island Events. Last year we took in just under 400 kittens! We need to ensure this ridiculously high number does NOT happen again. Emma Nicoll and other members of staff are getting involved in leafletting and advertizing our ‘Get your cat spayed for £10’, and are highlighting some areas we get most of the calls from. It is rather later than planned, but we are hoping to get it

underway very soon. Monique

Charlotte’s Happy Guineas.

Hi just thought I'd send some pics of Portabello (now called Nutty) and Rai-sin. They are inside and get on , although Nutty tries to keep out of Raisin’s way. Raisin occasionally gets grumpy and chases Nutty. Thanks for all your help with the

bonding. Regards, Charlotte.

We adopted our beautiful cat Luca 5 years ago now, and she is still very healthy, happy and very beautiful, see for yourself, photo taken on Christmas day!

Best wishes for the New Year

Jo Bentley

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Booty – fantastic news. Remember our little black cat found under a car with a smashed jaw, face etc, in June last year. She spent weeks hav-ing veterinary treatment from our own vet as well and a spe-cialist orthopaedic vet in Surrey. Well she has a home! Barbara and John who have been vol-unteers for The Centre for many years have adopted her. They have always taken ‘the slightly more challenging cats’ from us. It is still early days, but so far she is doing really well, loves cuddles and laps. She will probably be on mashed food, which she manages to get everywhere, for the rest of her life. Thank you Barbara & John for giving her that chance. After reading about Booty’s plight we received a superb dona-tion and lovely letter, from these lovely young animal lovers. Dear Cat & Rabbit Rescue Centre We have been selling loom bands around our neighbourhood to raise money to help you care for the animals. We hope this helps you and as we have 4 rabbits between ourselves, we de-cided to give the money to you! From Max Hazell age 12, Bethan Hazell age 8, Ellis

Rawlings age 9, Max Wheelhouse age 7 and Louis Wheelhouse age 6 Altogether we raised £28.02p.

Rules are for reasons. CRRC have rules when it comes to rehoming animals, and we like to give a valid reason for why we have them. We have always been concerned when rehoming kittens when there are babies or very young children in the household, mainly because kittens are very vulnerable and kiddies some-

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times squeeze a bit too tight, although they do not mean to. We also know kit-tens often cannot retract their claws until about 5 months old. It was brought home to us, when a lady arrived in a terrible state she had brought a kitten and as a result of the sticking out claws her daugh-ter nearly lost her eye! The best parents in world cannot keep an eye on their child all the time, so we have rules that state no kittens under 5 months if children under 3 years in the house. This picture shows one of the staff’s legs after a kitten used them as a means of getting on the lap, and this was

through denim!

Putting the Fun in Fund Raising. With some friendly persuasion from Pamela Fitzsimons we managed to get store collection time at Havant and Chichester just before Christmas, and what a success, our best ever store col-lections raising £518 at Havant and

£610 at Chichester. I think a lot had to do with our lovely volunteers dressing up. One of our youngest volunteers Al-exandra also dressed up in her very glamourous santa outfit at other events. So don’t forget we are always looking for volunteers to help with fund raising events (it is not compulsory to dress up, but it does help!). To keep it in the family her brother Oliver has

also helped with events and collections.

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Towel mountain. A few weeks ago we had a call from University of Chichester to say they had a lot of towels for us, and could someone come and collect them. Pamela kindly said she would and could not believe the quantity. Pamela and her grand daughter Alexandra squeezed and squeezed it all in,

and brought it all down here.

2014 Statistics. In 2014 we were asked to take in 1933 animals compared with 1936 in 2013 and actually took in 1216 compared with 920 in 2013. In 2014 we rehomed 947 animals ( 425 cats, 352

kittens, 101 rabbits and 69 guinea pigs).

Love, warmth & companionship. We adopted this mother and son in November. Here is a lovely pic of them loving a warm fire. Thanks, Helen Surawy -------------- I just loved this black and white picture – you can feel the warmth of the fire and the happiness of Eddie and Kahea (now known as Keira, as Helen thought she had similar cheekbones to

Keira Knightly!! )

Disturbing Cases. We are called by the social services a lot, usually it is someone who just has too many animals and cannot cope or afford to look after them properly. But just recently we have been called to sort out bad treatment of cats, we have taken them both, and they are doing well. Normally the RSPCA would deal with this sort of situation, but like us all are under a lot of

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pressure, and sadly unless it is very obvious neglect, rarely

does anything come of it.

Dear Cat & Rescue Centre, Midgy sends all her purrs and is thoroughly enjoying her advent cal-endar, lap, cuddles and just all of Christmas already Lots of Love Midgy, Sacha & Tim

Our Vet Facility. Most people know the CRRC has its own vet facility to treat our own animals, and this saves us literally thousands of pounds every year. For example 50% of the adult cats need a dental, either minor or major, this would normally cost £100 plus. Vaccinations from £50 a course, neutering, spaying from £50 Eye operations £200 plus and this goes on and on. Last year a total of 2,271 procedures were carried out from neutering to leg and eye removals etc. Also over 1,000 checks.

Neuters/Spays Dentals Chips Vacs

Misc

Ops 658 568 587 450 8

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Do you have any spare time ? We know that everyone’s time is precious but if you are spending that time helping us help the animals, it is even more precious. If you can spare some time helping to raise funds, please give us a ring at The Centre, 01243-641409 or email us at info@crrc.co.uk

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Don’t have what you can’t afford!

This year we had a trio of kit-ten cats brought in, as the owners could not afford to care for them. All unneutered of course. We were shocked at the sight we saw, not only were they painfully thin, but had serious eye problems, one had

to have the eye removed.

Pen Plaques. When Mr Taylor visited The Centre at one of the fund raising days he saw the donator plaques on the some of pens in Viv Eadon Lodge, and thought what a nice idea this would be to have one to remember his wife Doreen, as she was very fond of cats. He kindly gave a very generous of £1,500, as he said himself, he wanted something to remember his wife, and as she loved animals thought it was very appropriate. Thank you. We have decided to do this although we have the pens

there it costs to keep a cat or cats in there, The annual cost is at least £1,000 (food = £250, litter = £200, veterinary care+staff costs = £600), this is just a very basic breakdown for 1 cat. Thompson Civil Engineering, of Bognor Regis have very kindly raised £1,000 in memory of David Bowley, one of their colleagues. Also the Halseys have also had 2 pens with plaques in memory of Lorraine Halsey’s Sister and

Brother-in-law Pam & Michael.

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Thank you Jenni Grace. Jenni who runs Grace Medi-spa in Clanfield kindly donated a coin counter. This will be a great time saver for us, as we get a lot of odd coins, and counting and sorting them can be a nightmare, not that we ever grumble about getting money!

Another fantastic donation. Remember our fabulous garden rooms, which we have had since 2013 and were for the most part paid for by a very kind donation from Mrs Crawshaw. These 3 rooms have been home to numerous cats, mainly the older or out & abouters. Mrs Crawshaw is making another donation which she would like to go towards the older felines, so on discussion it was decided it would go on our Foster Care Scheme, which has been running about 10 years now and this is for the

animals that would be difficult to rehome, usually because they have a medical problem or because they are elderly and could require more veterinary treatment. Often this puts people off adopting, so this scheme means the animal can have a home, but CRRC pays all the vet bills, or for a particular problem, using our vet. We currently have 52 animals on this scheme,

so this money will help tremendously.

Our Bottle Stall needs all your unwanted bottles, anything in date, “THANK YOU”

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An active CRRC cat!! Hi! Just wanted to give you an update on Suzie! She's doing brilliantly, she slept on my bed with me last night! She's been having a great time, playing with the girls and having lots of attention. We are so glad that we found her, thank you so much! I'll try and attach a couple of photos I took this morning of her playing with her new toy mouse :) From Maria, Holly, Naomi and Suzie

When Suzie came into the rescue, she had hardly any fur, and was covered in red raw weeping sores. After months of treatment and care, she really improved and her coat shone. The staff even made her a coat with her name on it! She was adopted and as the Weightmans say was the most brilliant cat, but then the sores started to appear again, and as she had been adopted with a known skin problem, this was covered by our Foster Care Scheme, so she came back to see our vet. Sadly there is a lot going wrong with her, but we have decided to do absolutely everything we can to help, so please keep

your fingers crossed.

Van signage. We have been trying to get the CRRC sign written for a few months, and The Sign Shop in Chichester did a fantastic job and very, very reasonably. Not only is it superb for collecting animals, but furniture, and fund raising.

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Shop stats. It is CRRC’s aim to do enough fund raising to run The Centre each year and not depend on legacies. Having this policy has really paid off, because it means when we are left a legacy we can look to improve and move The Rescue forward. The neutering scheme for example, giving the animals better accommodation, helping more animals. Our 3 shops in East Wittering, Selsey and Bognor have helped towards this aim, and below are the stats. Don’t forget not only does this money go on to help the animals, but it means less on the land fill sites.

Bognor East Wittering Selsey total

2013 £58,245 £91,576 £41,450 £191,271

2014 £65,220 £105,749 £53,970 £224.939

As you can see the shops have all improved. These figures are all before expenses, but we keep shop expenses to a minimum. Keep buying, Keep donating.

Honey and Smartie I cannot write this without a lot of tears in my eyes. I have been involved with ponies since I was 7 years old, and have never been without one since of was 15, until now. Many people who have visited the Centre will have met Honey, the

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chestnut mare we adopted from RSPCA Stubbington over 20 years ago. She had come into the RSPCA as she was from the New Forest, and suffered from laminitis, (a disease that affects the feet of hooved animals and it is found mostly in horses), she was also very, very nervous, and partially sighted. It took us months to be able to catch her, and that was usually only Nigel, as she adored him. She was petrified of the farrier, but over the years she didn’t even need a head collar on when having her feet done, as long as Nigel was beside her! She had quite a few vet visits for the laminitis and also she had some serious breathing problems, but overcame it all, she was nearly 28 years old, and over the years the medication was having less affect and we had to come to the terrible decision for her to Go to Heaven, it absolutely broke our hearts. Earlier in the year we had a total shock of finding Smar-tie, the mischievous bay Shetland collapsed, he too had lami-nitis, and was being treated by the vet, and had seemed to be losing weight, and the vet was really pleased with him, and we do not know why but he was found collapsed, we immediately called the vet but it was too late. I really miss him, as we had an amazing bond, because he had been so naughty, and he really began to trust me, and I was devastated he was only about 11 years old, we informed the Sussex Horse rescue

where we adopted him from, and they were so kind and un-derstanding. Monique East Wittering shop Extension. After many years of thinking about it, we have now done it. Yes the East Wittering Shop is now MUCH BIGGER. Nigel and I who own the shop decided to use our savings to extend the shop, and hopefully bring in lots and lots more funds. This shop is virtually run by volunteers, and each year the income

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from it for CRRC has increased, mainly because of our lovely customers, but also our amazing donations. We have always struggled with only having a tiny sorting room (actually a cupboard!), and so now we will have a large storeroom, a large home furnishing room with a mass of books. So please come along and help make more funds for The work of The Centre. The ribbon was cut by Di Young and Clare Napier who have been volunteers since the beginning.

Planning the Annexe. We have, after some hiccoughs, got planning permission to replace the greenhouse (which is leaking and falling apart) with a barn type construction. This will be used for storage of animal accommodation, tables and chairs, signs etc. The out and about cats will also have an area to relax in as well. It will

also be ideal for ‘wet day’ events and donation storage.

Amazoning idea.

After seeing how well the Amazon Wish Lists have worked for other animal charities we thought it would definitely be worth using. The wish list allows us to choose goods that we require and if someone buys an item on our list it is sent di-rectly to us. We can update it regularly which means we can list exactly what we need at different times. It is also great for people that want to support us but can’t always bring their gifts directly to The Centre. Started in April 2014 we have now received over 40 gifts from our amazing supporters. We have received items such as cat, rabbit and guinea pig food and treats through to cleaning products and toiletries. We would

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like to thank everyone that has brought us a gift so far and we hope we can continue to receive more gifts in the future. Why not take a look at our Amazon Wish List here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/wishlist/13U3OFYJWLG8F/ref=cm_sw_em_r_wsg_6cOxtb166SNXX_wf

Thank you Laura and Emma who have organized this.

What has been happening? As I have said before, getting money from our fund rais-ing, and not depending on legacies, does give us the opportu-nity to improve the living conditions for the animals. Back in January 2014 CRRC staff and volunteers spent a night in the freezing cold barn to raise money for a door for the barn. It took a long time organizing, but we now have a lovely roller door, large door with a cat flap and glass panel to improve the light. Also to get more light into the barn we have had a small

number of windows installed and the cats love looking out.

Fund Raising Events.

event

date Amount raised

Comments

Spring Fayre

Hayling

Saturday

21st March

The Garden Show, Stansted Park

Friday 5th – 7th June

help needed

Summer Fayre Hayling

Saturday 11th July

Chichester Street Collection

Saturday 18th July

help needed

Hotham Saturday & help needed

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Country Park Fair Bognor

Sunday 1st & 2nd August

CRRC Summer Fayre, Sidlesham

Sunday 9th August

help needed

End of Summer Sale

Hayling

Saturday 19th

September

The Garden Show, Stansted Park

Friday 5th – 7th June

help needed

Please contact Emma if you can help at any of these events

via admin@crrc.co.uk

Perry gave so much. Debbie Cooper, our volunteer Rabbit Rehoming Officer sent this sad but lovely email in February, and everyone can only say a great big THANK YOU DEBBIE

I am devastated to announce that Piri Piri aka Perry is no longer with us. He went to the rainbow bridge yesterday. We estimate that he was 12. He was a lively little fellow right to the end living free range in our house, he would run laps round the sofa. His last few months were winter ones where he enjoyed an electric ra-diator on 24/7 to snuggle up next to and a diet of fresh herbs because his appetite could be up and down, this helped him to eat and gain weight. He was best of friends with our Shih Tzu and cavalier King Charles, they would all snuggle up together

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and sometimes the cavalier would give him a lick. Life will never be the same without Perry who was truly loved and such a huge part of our lives.

After the rescue vet said we should think about putting him down due to his age / need for dentals , I started to take him to

my vet who put him on a monthly check up programme and it was all about regular dentals before his teeth started to become an is-sue. It was a highly proactive approach. I know the costs of this would have been way too high for the rescue so I was de-lighted to fund it all and take the burden away plus secure an extra 18 months with Perry. The delightful picture was only taken 2 weeks before and I am absolutely heartbroken. I don't mean to have favourites but he definitely was. Thank you for all you did for Perry and for bringing him into my life.

RIP Perry

Rabbit Accommodation changes are afoot. Our rabbit accommodation has changed over the years and now the rabbits live in a large fox proof enclosure in pur-pose built, metal hutch and run combinations and they are moved every day to a fresh grassy area. In the Winter to pre-vent the ground getting all muddy they are moved inside. Our vet recommends they should have more fresh air, so we are in the process of building pens on the left hand side of the barn,

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so they can go into the barn, but also have access to the out-side. This area is known as Sharon’s Garden (named after a beautiful goat). We haven’t quite worked out the full plan, but we would like to get it done this year, so if you are rabbit minded and would like to donate towards this area or perhaps do some fund raising for Sharon’s Garden, just send an email.

Tangmere Tortie.

Hello Sophie and all the staff at the rescue centre.

We thought you would like a pro-gress report on our new pet adopted from you last Friday. We are getting her used to a new name TANGO.

She is gaining daily in confidence and now has the run of the house and sleeps happily on our bed every night. She has met the resident budgie and clearly wants to play with him !!! She is always clean and has selected one of our toilet rooms as her own. She is eating well and likes

the occasional cat treat. This morning we gently started to groom her with a comb and she wasn’t upset at all.

Priscilla Skeates.

George Wiseman.

Many of you will have read the lovely letters we have re-ceived from George the cat in the Paws for Thought before, and he always has lots to say. But a few weeks ago, I received

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a letter from him saying he had been involved in a road traffic accident and had numerous injuries, and was being treated by the ‘bionic vet’ in Winchester. It reminded me of Caellum who was also hit by a car back in 2009, so I got Caellum to write to George, as he would understand all he was going through, and hopefully get some comfort from another who had been in the same situation. George is still being treated by the vet, but is home on cage rest. The vet bill was nearly £7,000, but the Wiseman’s had the sense to have him insured, so I cannot stress enough the importance of vet insurance, George lives in a quiet Close, so it is not just the busy roads. I spoke to Mrs Wiseman, and her daughter had a put a bit on her Facebook page about George, and he received a card from a cat called George who lived in New Zealand who had had a similar acci-dent!

Anon Yorkshire Building Society.

Last year YBS ran their annual ‘Make a difference Week’ charity event, during this time their customers, colleagues and members of the public are asked to recommend a local good cause to be considered for support by YBS Charitable Founda-tion and we were nominated and received a donation of £100.

Christmas Donations.

We are very fortunate to receive an increased number of donations around Christmas time, especially with cards, but of-ten not an address, so this is to say a great ‘BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED TO CRRC TO HELP MAKE THE ANIMALS LIVES BETTER.

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ADVERTISEMENTS. (Please support our Advertisers whenever you can and tell them where you saw it).

Mark Elliott and Associates Veterinary Surgeons providing a new

vision of Animal Care

Madam Green Business Centre, Oving, Nr. Chichester

in West Sussex. For more information, look around our website,

(www.markelliott.co.uk)or call us on Tel: 01243 779111

01243 778109.

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Some Families are so lovely. When you sometimes deal with the worst side of humans, you forget about all the lovely people out there, and I met a family just the other day. They had found a cat, heavily preg-nant, and when I collected it, the teenage daughter without any coaxing gave me some money, then her Mum said, ‘it is not much’ and gave me some more, and then their youngest daughter who was quite upset about the little cat, went out of

the room, and came back with her pocket money!

Keydell Nurseries – much more than a Nursery, well worth a visit

KEYDELL NURSERIES, HAVANT ROAD,

HORNDEAN,

WATERLOOVILLE, HANTS PO8 0UU

Tel: 023 9259 3839 • Fax: 023 9259 9149 •

Email: info@keydellnurseries.co.uk

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CATS and RABBIT ENCLOSURE FOR SPONSORSHIP

Bonny-Boots- BLACK FEMALE WHO PREVIOUSLY SHARED A HOME WIH 90 CATS. Buzz - A REAL CUTE TABBY & WHITE LAD.

Calista - BRIGHTLY COLOURED TORTY AND WHITE FEMALE.

Carlos - MAGNIFICENT BLACK CAT WHO LOVES BEING ON HIS OWN. Francesca-MAINLY BLACK WHO LOVES HER LIFE IN THE BARN.

Giggles PRETTY TABBY & WHITE FEMALE WITH A NOT-SO-PRETTY TEMPER.

Honey Bee - A PRETTY LITTLE GIRL WITH A HALF GINGER FACE. Mabel – A BEAUTIFUL BLACK & WHITE FERAL WHO WILL TOLERATE A STROKE.

Molly A ROTUND TORTY FEMALE WHO LOVES HER TUMMY BEING RUBBED. Pebbles SLEEK BLACK FEMALE WITH WOBBLY BITS.

Also THE RABBIT ENCLOSURE – a 2,500 square feet area with 30

hutches & runs which are moved daily onto fresh grass.

The Cat & Rabbit Rescue Centre Sponsorship Scheme

I would like to sponsor ……………………………….(name of Cat/Rabbit Enclosure)

I enclose:-

First Year’s Sponsorship Fee:- ………… £ 15-00

Donation:- ……………………………… £

Total:- ………………………….. £

Name :- ………………………………………. Telephone No. ………………............

Address :-

……………………………………………………………………………...….

…………………………………………………………………………………………...

……………..……………………………Post Code …………………………………...

Signed :- …………………………...........…… Date :- …………………………….

Email:....................................................................................................................... .....

If you would like The CRRC to make more of your sponsorship and you are a

tax payer, please request and sign our separate Gift Aid declaration form and

return it with this form. Please send the completed form(s) to CRRC, Holborow Lodge, Chalder Lane,

Sidlesham, West Sussex, PO20 7RJ.