Paws to give a thought to injured animals

Holly is missing a leg. It was ripped off when she was hit by a train as a puppy.

• Linda Nunn keeps a firm hold of a group of boxer dogs, which are on the lookout for a new home.

To make matters worse, the five-year-old boxer dog is also dying of acute kidney failure, a condition that has come with a hefty price tag over the years and one her former owner could no longer afford to treat.

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Along with hundreds of animals across the Lothians - some with similar costly illnesses, others without - Holly has been handed in for re-homing as the financial strain of keeping a pet in the current economic climate proves too much for many families to bear.

"We're pretty sure that Holly arrived here because of the extent of her vet bills," explains Linda Nunn, the West Lothian kennel co-ordinator for Boxer Welfare Scotland.

"Her treatment can cost as much as 50 every time she has to go to the vet, her specialist food is easily another 50 a month. The people who brought her to us had another two boxer dogs as well - they are not cheap to have as pets."

Luckily for Holly, a new home has already been found, a quick turn around for the dog who only arrived at the charity's kennels in Kirknewton earlier this summer. With her new family she will see out her final days, Linda revealing her vet says she "doesn't have long".

Holly is one of many dogs to have fallen to the care of Boxer Welfare Scotland, which has taken in record numbers of dogs over the last year and is now at maximum capacity - a trend that similar charities across the Lothians have also experienced since the recession took hold. For some owners, it is the simple day-to-day costs of pet food that proves too much, for others it is when vet bills loom, and while some do the right thing and hand their animals in for help, others abandon them in the hope they will be picked up as strays and taken into care.

"Over the last two or three years there has been an increase in the number of people contacting us to say they can no longer afford to look after their pet," says Kenny Sharpe, assistant manager at the Scottish SPCA's Edinburgh and Lothians Animal Rescue and Re-homing Centre in Balerno,

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"In particular, there seem to be more people who have had to move out of their house or been evicted from their flat because they cannot pay their mortgage or rent. These are very sad circumstances and often people in this situation are moving into temporary accommodation and are not allowed to take their pets with them.

"Yet sometimes pets are actually left behind in the properties and are brought into our care by social services."

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Neglect is all too often a reality for these pets, many of them clearly failed by their owners as they are in desperate need of costly medical treatment for a variety of conditions.

"I don't think people realise how demanding it can be to have a pet, particularly a boxer dog," Linda says.

At her feet is the "old man" of her Kirknewton kennels, nine-year-old Jerry, one of five boxers to have been handed in over the summer. With a heart murmur, his energy levels are low and his vet bills can be as much as 300 when specialist treatment in Glasgow is required.

Chloe, an eight-year-old with striking white fur is standing next to him, a visible pink scar on her back leg from where surgery has been performed in recent years on a problematic ligament, a process Linda reveals will have been far from cheap.

Next in line is six-year-old Tilly who arrived recently from Fife with her owner, who admitted she could not afford to keep her.

"She had four dogs and one had to go," says Linda. "At 50 a month, four dogs would have been expensive."

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The summer months are notoriously busy at re-homing kennels across the Lothians as people go on holidays and either struggle, or refuse, to pay for temporary accommodation for their pets.

"On the flip side of that, though, last summer we also saw an increase in the number of pets being re-homed," says David Ewing, manager of the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home in Seafield.

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"It could have been because more families were, and are, choosing to have stay-at-home holidays of which a pet can be part of. Dogs in particular can go on caravan holidays, that type of thing.

"There is absolutely no question, though, that over the last couple of years, we have seen an increase in animals who need vet treatment and their owners are not in a position to pay for it.

"It is an expensive business when your pets get ill."

For the PDSA, which offers free veterinary treatment for sick and injured pets, the economic downturn over the last couple of years has seen a 55 per cent increase in demand for its services in Edinburgh.

Pet owners using its PetAid hospital in Hutchison Crossway must meet strict criteria, including being in receipt of council tax benefit or housing benefit, so the increase speaks volumes for how hard it must be for some families with pets to make ends meet. "There can be a lot of tears when it actually gets to the stage that people have to give their pets up though," says Wendy Johnston, assistant manager of the Lothian Cat Rescue kennels in Bonnyrigg.

"We always have a box of hankies at the ready. In the last year we have seen an increase in the numbers of people who cannot afford their cats any more."At the moment we have 90 cats and a waiting list of a further 60. This year and last have been the worst we have ever seen."

Can anybody find us somebody to love . .?

GIZMO

This eight-year-old cat is in desperate need of a new home after he was handed into the Lothian Cat Rescue in November last year.

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"He arrived with another two cats because his owner could not afford to keep them," says assistant manager Wendy Johnston.

"The other two have been re-homed, but Gizmo is still waiting. He has been here the longest from all the cats we have. His owner was very regretful when he was handed over - most people in that situation are really upset."

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Gizmo had been used to a life indoors having lived in a high-rise flat in Edinburgh before he was brought to the Bonnyrigg kennels, and was scared of his new surroundings at first.

"But once he started to get out more, he became a different cat," says Wendy. "Far more happy."

Depending on their age and medical requirements, cats cost an average of 6 a week to feed, including cat litter. Insurance can be as little as 5 a month and micro-chipping is around 30. Flea and worming treatments usually cost about 10.

• For more information on Gizmo and other cats in need of new homes, call the Lothian Cat Rescue on 01875-821 025 or visit www.lothiancatrescue.org. The organisation will be holding a fundraising open day at its Bonnyrigg kennels on July 31 (2pm to 4pm).

BRANSTON

It was because of the "pickle" this beautiful dog was in when he arrived at the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home earlier this year that prompted volunteers to give him his name.

With severe oral hygiene problems, Branston needed to have eight teeth removed at the vet in a bid to cure him of the infection he had in his mouth.

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"He was picked up as a stray," says manager David Ewing. "It may have been a case that his owner was overwhelmed at the cost of the treatment he needed, which cost a few hundred pounds in the end.

"His breath was very smelly, so there is no way someone wouldn't have known something was wrong."

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Now cured of his previous problems, this Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross has stolen the hearts of volunteers at the Seafield centre, but is looking for a permanent home.

• For more information, call 0131-669 5331 or visit www.edch.org.uk.

• For details on how you can re-home the many boxer dogs across the Lothians in need of a new family, call 01224-515 101 or visit www.boxerwelfarescotland.co.uk.

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