SPCA
WINELANDS
Hill’s Pet Nutrition
Hill’s Pet Nutrition have informed us that they will be supporting our organisation for the year 2008 with donations of damaged products. To date we have made two collections, the first of dog food only and the second of cat and dog food. This is an enormous help to us, even though we have to travel to Stikland to collect the donation. The food is used for our kennel dogs and hospital patients, and is donated to needy homes in the outlying rural areas. It is not for sale. We thank Hill’s for their support.
Boarding kennels
Boarding Kennels We receive numerous phone calls requesting details of boarding facilities – here are some names and phone nos. but it is necessary for you to check these facilities to ensure your pets will be adequately cared for.
* Lihanton Kennels, Worcester. 023 3424156
* Leliefontein Kennels, Du Toits Kloof Pass 021 8621820
* The Barnyard Kennels, George 044 876 9975
* Syringa Country Kennels, Stanford 028 3410961
* For cats Only: Kattemaai Motel, Nuy 023 3421203
* The Purrrfect Cattery(in Swellendam)
028 5141643
* Overberg Dog Boarding Kennels
Nr Swellendam
Phone 079 95175129
Wishes
- • Donations of white exterior paint and exterior wood varnish would be very welcome. Our building is very exposed and takes a hammering from the weather. It badly needs a new coat of paint and varnish.
• Volunteers who can assist with fund raising. Price increases in fuel, pet food and drugs is seriously affecting the amount of work we are able to do. Fund raising can be on a small scale, such as baking cookies or making jams to sell, or on a larger scale in the form of approaching business for sponsorship. New Beginnings
Altogether 70 plus “New Beginnings” were created in 2007. We wish to exceed that figure in 2008, with your help!
These are some of our newly adopted pets – we wish them a very happy future.
Peggy
Yoda and FriendView more of our happy new Beginnings..........
On the Shop Front
Come to us for your pet requirements: We have a small shop incorporated into our reception area, selling toys, collars, leads, bowls and litter trays. We hope to extend our range, and would appreciate your input as to what you would like available.
New stock has just been received, including brightly coloured cushions and blankets, flea and de-matting combs, hooves for dogs, and ping pong balls for cats!
Going away....
If you have pets, be they Polly the parrot, or Tarzan the boerbul, it means that you cannot simply lock your front door and drive away. Planning is required and it must be done in good time, especially during holidays. Elsewhere we list kennels and cattery where pets can be boarded, but you must book well ahead. If you choose to ask a friend or neighbour to care for your pets at home, be sure that they are reliable and leave all emergency phone numbers – vet, SPCA, your cell nos..etc. – with them.
New Kennels Completed.
Our new “hospital kennels” are continually occupied by injured or sick dogs, strays waiting for their owners to contact us, or dogs that have been confiscated, due to neglect or abuse.
Catmobile!!!!
Have you ever seen a Catmobile? Is this a world first?! A generous and clever resident of Montagu, clearly a cat lover, built this wonderful mobile enclosure for little kittens. It can be wheeled into the sun or shade or even inside. There is a state of the art jungle gym inside. Our Inspector is proposing to sit inside herself for a few hours, when the stress gets too much! 
Support Winelands SPCA as a member
If you would like to support Winelands SPCA as a member, this is arranged by contacting our office. Members pay an annual subscription, for which they receive a quarterly newsletter (with different content to the web site!), and nothing else is required, unless a member wishes to become more involved. Paid up members are able to vote for the management committee each year at our Annual General Meeting. The 2008 AGM took place on 1st July.
Home-Made Dog Biscuits
We are proud to announce the official naming of our home-made dog biscuits, and to show you the label designed by Kim Dreyer of Montagu. Let your dogs try our Barkers’ Biscuits!!
Montagu Park Market
WSPCA has a table at this market every Saturday morning. Barker’s Biscuits, items from our shop, cards, raffle tickets and more are available. This is a very busy market, so be sure to put it on your “To Do List”.
Barker’s Biscuits were also available at the very successful “Robertson Slow Food Market”.
Our new Market collection dog Trevor
Working at Robertson Slow Food Market
WSPCA at Montagu Market
World Animal Day 4th October 2008
World Animal Day is an international occasion and Winelands SPCA has a link to the WAD website www.worldanimalday.org.uk . The date coincides with the last day of the Robertson Agricultural Show and, being on a Saturday, also means a regular Montagu Park Market Day. Therefore we will have two opportunities to promote the welfare of animals – although we obviously try to do this 365 days in the year.
Animal week also begins on 4th October – would it not be wonderful if, for just one week, all animals in South Africa were treated with kindness and respect – it might then become a habit. We will give you more information regarding this promotion nearer the time.
SPCA Winelands News:
How Could You Do This?
Some years ago a young dalmation was adopted from an animal welfare organisation in Cape Town, possibly the SPCA. Sadly this home did not last, and, contrary to our adoption rules, the dog was passed on to the adopter’s parents on a farm (any pet adopted through the SPCA must be returned to them if there is a problem and may not be passed on to somebody else). After a while the parents had to go into an old age home, and the “problem” of the dalmation arose again. The old people wished the dog to be given to the SPCA but the original adopter said “No, they will just euthanase it”. So the dalmation was given to a labourer.
For more on the subject of euthanasia please see our Information Page.
Then the nightmare began – first tied to a runner line that did not run, then put into a corrugated iron “hok” and through all this, adequate food was not provided. When we were called to remove this dog, it weighed 12kg – half the weight it should have been.
This dog’s name is Pendi and, despite her previous experience of humans, she never fails to wag her tail at us. Initially she could not digest her food, so she was given tiny helpings of boiled rice and marie biscuits. Slowly some Hills dry food was introduced and now she is on only Hills. It will take some time before she picks up weight and without our intervention she would have died a miserable, lonely death. We hope to bring her up to strength and find a loving home for her.
Thank you to Hills for their latest, large donation, enabling us to give not only Pendi but all our cats and dogs quality nutrition.
August Up Date on Pendi – She has picked up weight well and is becoming a real character. Living in the largest of the hospital kennels, and being frequently in the exercise area outside her kennel, she now feels “in charge” and checks out all new admittances, cheering them up or disciplining them as necessary. We have started looking for a kind and secure new home for her.
A new driving licence and a new cat!
On a cold Monday morning in July the WSPCA gate bell rang and a very patient friend walked in. She had just been to the Ashton traffic department, around the corner from our premises, to renew her driving licence, only to be told that the computer was not working due to the cold weather! It might be working by mid-morning. Our patient friend, instead of blowing a fuse, drove round to us to talk to some cats whilst she waited for warmer times.
We first asked her to talk to a patient who had had a very rough week. The little cat in question had been hit by a vehicle and had lain for two days and freezing nights in a ditch by the side of the road. When our Inspector first saw her she thought she had arrived too late, but then a battered little face looked up at her and begged for help. The little cat was rushed back to our clinic and examined. Her face was very bloody, her mouth very sore and one eye badly injured. She was cleaned up, plied with hot water bottles wrapped in blankets by our dedicated cleaning lady, and given a little milk. We did not know whether she would pull through.
Next morning she was looking much brighter. More hot bottles, and a little fish jelly from the top of the tin. That went down a treat, and we were told a little of the fish with the jelly would now be very acceptable, thank you. She was on the road to recovery.
During the eight days we cared for her, no owner phoned to enquire for their cat, so what was to become of her? We were already overrun with delightful cats that have been waiting for months for new homes. What would happen to a cat with a wonky eye?
Then came the traffic dept. computer that only works in warm weather and the arrival of our patient friend who did not mind waiting. It was love at first sight from both sides, and thus a new driving licence (yes, the computer did warm up)and a new cat were acquired, on that lucky morning. Little cat has been christened “Angel” and maybe the computer should receive the same name too!
August Up Date on Angel – She is very happy in her new home, and was recently brought back to us for her compulsory sterilisation. Her name has been changed to Anoushka, as the neighbours became confused when Angel’s owner was heard calling “Angel, Angel” when madam was late in for her supper!