GIlbert’s Page

On Friday of last week a gentleman came into the rescue with either his son’s or his daughters cat. The cat was aged around 9 months, a male, not neutered and from its name (Tilly) you would have to ask the question ‘did the owners even know what sex it was?’

Tilly had a blockage in his gut, this had been diagnosed by a vet, in fact the owners had been to two vets because they had wanted a second opinion. We are told they were quoted £800 for an operation to remove the blockage or £45 to have the cat PTS. The owners unable to afford the operation had approached both the PDSA and the RSPCA neither of whom where willing to help.

At the time the cat was brought to Freshfields the owners were apparently so distressed they were no longer able to deal with the situation and Dad had stepped in. It’s pretty obvious the family loved the cat or why else would they have gone to the bother of a second opinion or to contact numerous animal charities? To quote dad ‘they’ve got no money, they are just kids… they were given a kitten and thought all they would need to do was feed it!’

After listening to how the PDSA and RSPCA wouldn’t help, I had to explain to Dad why technically Freshfields shouldn’t be helping either.  As a rescue and rehoming charity with limited resources we don’t have a budget dedicated to making up for the shortfall in the education of the general public. Said shortfall resulting all too often in the acquisition of pets without proper consideration of the possible monetary costs that might come along with them ie, neutering, medicating and feeding!

From that Dad assumed we wouldn’t help either so he suggested he take the cat back home to die for want of a better (cost free) option. This again highlights the lack of basic education amongst much of the general public in terms of animal welfare and welfare laws, in fact let’s forget about laws for a moment and think more in terms of basic morality when dealing with animals instead!

As gently as possible and with the help of our (slightly aghast) visiting on site vet, what was wrong with this suggestion was explained.  Tilly (now Gilbert) was signed over to Freshfields making him legally our property and he was transported to our vets where he was reassessed and later operated on to remove the blockage.

Gilbert is making a good recovery and will be brought from the vets to the rescue centre today, it bears saying however that roughly a week had passed before Gilbert first arrived at Freshfields, a week of suffering and slow dehydration which did nothing to add to his chances of recovery!

So who should we blame? It’s a tricky one this because there are many factors that have brought us to where we are today.

Do we blame the vets for not operating? Well no, because they are running a business not a charity and if they operated for free on one animal they would be inundated with pleas for help and free services from who can gauge how many people.

Do we blame the RSPCA and the PDSA for not stepping in? Well I’d say no again because each charity has their own set of policies and criteria that a case must match before these charities will become involved. Their criteria and Freshfields differ greatly and whilst we may not agree with the choices of others they still have a right to them.

Do we blame dad? Probably not, he’s just looking out for his child and whilst he is fond of the young cat he never signed up to be its carer and it is not therefore his personal responsibility! Should Dad have educated his children better? Well definitely yes but what are the chances that Dad was himself given a thorough education in basic animal welfare?

Do we blame the owners for not providing adequate care for their animal? Again probably no… who is to blame for lack of knowledge, the ignorant or those in the know (the government and through them our education authority) that have the systems but who do not rate animal welfare as a topic worthy of expenditure? (No offence intended here towards individuals who are also teachers as many I am aware are excellent, responsible pet owners who set a wonderful example)

Perhaps we should blame the person who passed on the kitten, who allowed their own pet to breed indiscriminately resulting in the birth of yet another unwanted litter? Did they know enough to know better than to allow this to happen?

So many questions and so many avenues for blame and yet we all know the latter is not the best way to spend our precious energies! What then is the solution? How do we bring education to the populace and how do we convince those that have the power already that this cause is worthy? Should we start at root level and educate the educators, show them just how useful and ultimately preventative (of suffering) a class this would be? Still more questions…if any answers are out there they would be welcomed!

It's all upward from here !