Hastings SPCA Winter 2013 News - June 2013

In this issue

• Meet one of the team • A day in the life of a vollie • Animals for adoption • A Happy Tail • Honours Board

Winter 2013 Newsletter

W e l c o m e

Welcome to our Winter newsletter!

Our readership’s expanding rapidly as we’ve received increasing community support over the last 12 months.

Increased accessibility with our website and Facebook is also helping us get the word out of the work we do. But at the end of the day, it’s all about the animals. We’re all working tremendously hard to make sure that the welfare of animals in our area is respected and preserved. If you believe in this also, please help us. We need financial support. We need people who can volunteer some time to help at the shelter or out collecting. We need you to talk to your friends and encourage them to become members too. If you haven’t become a formal member, it isn’t too late to join up now.

Everyone can do something, and even if it is little, it will help.

We welcome Simon Kale on board as our Inspector and say farewell to Rachel Wenman who’s represented you excellently as our Inspector for 8 years. We also welcome two new members to the committee and thank those who stood for re-election at the AGM and are working hard behind the scenes. I hope you enjoy this edition of our newsletter.

Sharon Arcus President.

Cupcake D a y

The annual SPCA Cupcake Day is on the way but there’s plenty of time to think ahead and make it the best Cupcake Day yet!

It’ll be held on 26th August this year, so start thinking about dusting off those cake tins, cranking up your oven and finding loads of inspiration!

Cupcake Day is a great way to raise funds for your SPCA shelter whilst having the chance to show off your creativity and baking skills.

A huge “Thank You!” to all who have responded to the pledge flyer that was included with the Dog Registration notices – your donations will help us to help the animals. If you’d like to make a regular pledge please give us a call or visit our website. Just a few dollars a week can make a huge difference.

We’re also asking people to consider supporting our shelter in your will. Leaving something to the Hastings & Districts SPCA is a way of being remembered for your humanity and it’s a way of helping us – and helping animals – for many years to come. Contact us for a chat if you’d like any further information.

If, however, baking isn’t your forte, don’t panic as we’ll be sharing some failsafe recipes with you nearer the time on our website.

Besides, what’s more important than having picture perfect cupcakes is making the effort to do something which will directly benefit the animals in our care?

If you register your Cupcake Day with us, either via our website or simply by getting in touch with us, the money you raise will go directly into your shelter.

For those of you with culinary flair we’ll have competitions for most creative cupcake, so now’s a good time to start experimenting!

If you’ve ever wanted to raise some funds for the shelter but weren’t sure how to go about it, this is a great way to get involved.

We recommend pre-selling your precious cupcakes to friends, family, colleagues and school mates so that you can plan ahead and meet all the demand.

Cupcakes are very hard to resist though, so it’s worth making more for those passersby who’ll be tempted!

Many of our supporters have successfully held stalls to sell their cupcakes. If you wish to do this in a public place please let us know by giving us a call or filling in the fundraising form from our website. Check out our website and Facebook for news and tips nearer the time.

Proudly sponsoring this newsletter.

Lucy’s Happy Tail

Meet the team Meet

our

Inspector,

Simon

Simon Kale has recently come on board as our new SPCA inspector and has certainly been busy for his first few weeks.

He came to us after studying animal care at Hawke’s Bay EIT. Simon’s first position was a weekend animal attendant and ambulance driver but before long he was offered the opportunity to train as a warranted inspector.

It’s great to have Simon working for the welfare of all the animals in our community.

A n i m a l s a d o p t i

f o r o n

Bobbie Ruby

Bob

Luke Roxy

Sophie

Mischief

Delta

Billy

Lizzie adopted Lucy the Schnauzer from our shelter a couple of years ago. Here she gives some insights on what it’s like to adopt from the SPCA. I’ve always wanted to adopt a rescue animal so I could give an animal another chance at life.

I volunteered at the shelter for a while as part of my Animal Care course at EIT. I saw one of the shelter workers at the supermarket one night and they explained how a lovely looking Schnauzer had come in. I’d always wanted another dog after my first Jack Russell passed away. My mother who was with me at the time turned to me and said the words I had been dreaming of for a quite a while. “You don’t even have to ask”. So in a way it didn’t take me long at all to find Lucy as I didn’t really have to look.

The most challenging thing about adopting a new pet was not knowing exactly what I was going to get with Lucy. I was unaware of what she had been trained so had no idea what I was in for.

The most rewarding thing about adopting a pet from a rescue is when they learn to trust you.

I’d definitely adopt from the SPCA again!

To anyone thinking of adopting from the SPCA I would only suggest that you have a home trial with the animal before committing. It can be hard on an animal if it turns out for who knows what reason they aren’t right for you, or vice versa. I was just lucky that Lucy turned out to be right for me and that I was able to help her improve her behavior that might otherwise have caused me to give her up.

Could you give an animal a second chance at happiness?

Here’s a small snapshot of the many loving animals we have available for adoption. If you could offer an animal a safe and caring new home, please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can meet our residents daily, between 10.30am and 2.30pm.

Roxy (right, second from bottom) is a friendly but independent feline who in July will have been resident at the shelter for one year! We’ve no idea why she keeps getting overlooked, so if you’ve space in your heart and your home for a girl like Roxy, please pay her a visit.

Sign up to our e-newsletter at www.spcahastings.org.nz

Hono u r s

We rely greatly on the kindness and generosity of others and we’re sincerely grateful to the many organisations and individuals who lend us a helping hand. If you’re able to help the shelter by offering free or subsidised goods or services please contact Faye Johnson on our details overleaf. We’d love to hear from you.

B o a r d

• We’re extremely grateful to have received valuable funding from Infinity Foundation Ltd and Endeavour Community Foundation Ltd for staff and Inspectors’ wages.

• The Mazda Foundation have supplied a data projector, screen & speakers for our education program, which will help us to engage with schoolchildren about animal welfare and empathy.

• NZ Companion Animal Register have donated two microchip scanners for our animal ambulances which will help us to identify lost pets and reunite them with their owners.

• National Service Club have donated an RTNZ discount fuel card, helping our ambulances respond to emergencies and call outs.

• The Bernard Chambers Charitable Trust is helping us to build a fence for our dog isolation area, allowing dogs in quarantine to be kept separate from dogs for adoption.

• A big thank you to all the venues and businesses who have given us permission to collect recently and also to the volunteers who helped raise close to $5000 at these events: Horse Of The Year at Church Road, Triple Peaks Challenge, Creative Hawkes Bay at their concerts and ‘Live at 5’ series. Thanks to everyone who dug deep.

• The following local business have kindly given us their sponsorship. Tri Tech Solutions did our photocopying; Cheep Azz Signs donated complimentary signs; Snap Fitness offered free workouts in exchange for pet food donations. We also wish to thank the Hastings District Council, Black Dog Design and VW Print for their wonderful support with our pledge forms.

• The Anchor milk promotion held at Hastings New World raised $1687.00. Thanks to Hastings New World and to everyone who voted for us.

Day in the life of a vollie

One of our dedicated volunteers, Devorah, shares some insights into what it’s like being a ‘hands-on’ helper at our shelter What’s the best thing about being a volunteer?

Definitely the interaction with the animals. There are so many amazing animals that come in here each with unique personalities. It’s always such fun to discover them finding out that the kitten growling in the corner is actually a real sweetheart and just a bit shy is always exciting.

Which area do you help in the most? I mainly help with the cat room and cleaning the garage area. With the cat room it’s usually just the routine cleaning - changing dirty bedding, replacing the litter trays, sweeping, mopping and of course patting the cats!

How many hours a week do you spend at the shelter? I only go on Wednesdays but I often spend six hours or more there.

What’s the most challenging thing about being a shelter volunteer? The hardest part about being a volunteer is dealing with some of our sadder stories.

An animal which is unsuitable for adoption (usually because of sickness or social problems) is always a terrible sight to see.

wrong. A shelter isn’t all sunshine and roses. There are a lot of sad sights to see such as abused or abandoned animals but there’s so much love there that you tend not to dwell on it. It’s a place of second chances. What’s not nice about that?

How do you feel about the role the shelter plays in the community? I believe the SPCA is a vital part of our community. If it weren’t for this organisation being here there would be a lot more animals on the streets, animal cruelty cases that wouldn’t be dealt with and so many animals that would die without having the chance to be loved and to go to a good home. This is a place that brings people together for a great cause. I don’t think we could go without it.

What do you say to others who’ve thought about volunteering but maybe haven’t gotten round to it yet? Just thinking about it isn’t going to get anything done! Do it!

If you’d like to join us and become a volunteer we’d love to hear from you. Details overleaf.

What’s the most rewarding thing about being a shelter volunteer? The best reward is when you see an animal, especially one that’s been there a while, get adopted. To know that they’ve gone to a home at last is just so wonderful, though it’s bitter-sweet because you’ll miss having them around.

A lot of people might think that an animal shelter isn’t a nice place to be... They’re right but also so very

Adopt from the SPCA and save a life.

All of our animals are de-sexed, vaccinated, microchipped, flea and worm treated.

Vet Column Tre a t i n g f l e a s

Stopping flea treatment during the colder months is a common mistake. It used to be that we could rely on fleas showing in the summer and disappearing in the autumn, but not anymore. The cat flea is our dominant flea type (which despite its name will also attack dogs). It will live inside and outside quite happily through the winter months. Stopping flea treatments now will undo the good work you’ve done reducing levels in your house and will allow an outbreak as the weather warms. It’s strongly recommend to continue flea treatment with an effective brand throughout the year.

Wo rm Tre a t m en ts

Adult pets should be wormed every three months with a broad spectrum wormer.

I personally find the easiest way to keep track is to worm my pets at the change of each season (ie 1st Dec, 1st March, 1st June, 1st Sept). So if you can’t remember when you last wormed your pets, now’s a good time to start. If you’re using Advocate or Revolution, you’ll be automatically protecting against most of the common worms affecting pets and will not need to worm separately.

However, they will need worming against tape worm annually and the best time to do this is at the annual health check.

Kindly supplied by Dr Sharon Marshall of Veterinary Associates, Hastings.

P e ts th a t itch

Skin allergies can still be an issue, so don’t be surprised if there’s still some scratching, licking, rubbing etc if your dog is affected by atopy. If it seems worse than usual, or not controlled by the usual treatment, then it’s possible that secondary infections are present. These include yeast, bacteria or even mites. Best to get these cases checked by our veterinarian as delaying treatment can worsen the skin changes and make control more difficult (and expensive).

A rth ritis

Many older pets are more affected by their arthritic joints in the colder months and may start to struggle with activities that they normally find easy, such as jumping into cars and getting onto beds. Don’t forget that cats can be as affected by arthritis as dogs, but tend to hide it better. Watch closely for the tell-tale sign of ‘thinking twice before jumping up’. If your pet has only mild symptoms, then the addition of glucosamine or chondroitin supplements can be beneficial. There are many over the counter forms of such supplements available from vet clinics. If you suspect your pet has arthritis but have never had it diagnosed, it would pay to have a consultation, as some pets need more support than just glucosamine in the way of anti-inflammatories.

Getting in touch Web www.spcahastings.org.nz Facebook www.facebook.com/spcahastings Post PO Box 930, Hastings 4156 Location 8 Heathcote Road, Hastings 4175 Shelter Hours Daily, 10.30am – 2.30pm Phone 06 878 8733 Email contact@spcahastings.org.nz Email committee@spcahastings.org.nz

PEOPLE FOR PETS ARE ON THE MOVE How fortunate we are to benefit from the support of the People for Pets Trust which operates its Op-Shop in Hastings.

Last year the People for Pets Trust was a significant and appreciated benefactor.

Its substantial financial contributions helped to ensure we could continue our services at the shelter and provide our 24/7 Animal Ambulance Service.

It’s timely to acknowledge the support given by the Trust founders and volunteers as the People for Pets Op-Shop moves to its new location on the corner of Queen Street East and Warren Street. The shop may be smaller but the amount and variety of stock available for sale keeps growing which is great news for the local animal charities which the Trust supports. As well as the SPCA, the Trust also helps fund smaller local animal groups.

We encourage all our members to support People for Pets by either donating goods or by shopping there and picking up a real bargain at old fashioned Op-Shop prices.

We wish People for Pets Op-Shop continued success in its endeavours and reiterate our thanks and appreciation to the Trustees for helping us so generously.

Breakers Quiz Night Friday 9th August Join us for a fun trivia evening at Breakers Hastings. Lots of prizes!

Ta b l e s a r e $ 1 0 0 f o r e i g h t g u e s t s .

Why not get a group of friends or colleagues together and join in for a good cause.

Contact Faye for more info. fundraising@spcahastings.org.nz or 021 607 329 Toyota has celebrated 25 years as New Zealand’s bestselling car company by paying it forward and giving to the RNZSPCA. We’re grateful to have been chosen as one of the branches to receive a brand new Prius for one year. The vehicle will enable us to get out and about to schools and educate children on animal welfare. Thank you Hawkes Bay, Taupo & Eastland Toyota!

The RNZSPCA is proudly supported by Hills Science Diet

Become a member. Visit our website or contact the shelter to find out how.