Home is ready for Wiltshire's unwanted pets

ANIMAL welfare charity Bath Cats and Dogs Home is braced for the traditional manic post-festive season influx of unwanted pets in spite of its campaign ‘A Home For Life, Not Just Christmas’. Staff at the home, which also looks after neglected or mistreated pets, are anticipating having to work around the clock with festive feline and canine casualities during its busiest period. The doors at Bath’s biggest animal charity are open from 11am to 4pm daily, only closing on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Although a branch of the RSPCA, the home does not get financial support from the organisation for the £1.5m needed every year to keep it running, so relies on donations and fundraising from the local community. Karen Ethier, animal care and welfare delivery manager, said: “It doesn’t matter how often we say it, people still go out and buy puppies and kittens as presents, only then to discover they grow into full size pets with a healthy appetite, exercise on the brain and big vet bills. Giving an animal a good home is a lifetime of commitment and not exclusive to just one day of the year.” The Bath-based charity, which has been in existence since 1937, always runs at full capacity on a one-in-one-out basis, which means every penny counts and kennel and cattery spaces are a premium. In a year that has seen cruelty cases across the South West up 38 per cent on 2012, the home is also asking for more donations. Head of fundraising Rachel Jones said: “Staff are still shocked by the volume of abandoned animals and degree of abuse; animals that have been left out in the cold because they are either too old or have a medical condition. It’s for this reason our winter appeal is so poignant.”