A Visit to -
On 15 June Sue Dobbs, (see DF 26 for her tribute to Mr Darcy) my husband Peter and I travelled to heaven on earth, otherwise known as Nether Stowey, in Somerset, to visit a remarkable cat rescue and homing organisation, run by Bob and Barbara Hunt.
Catwork began in 1996, when Barbara overheard a conversation in a shoeshop about a cat who was going to be put down because her elderly owner was going into a care home that did not allow pets: this cat, Carly, was the first rescue. Today, as well as 8 house cats, Bob and Barbara look after with devoted care around 42 very special cats whose circumstances make it extremely unlikely that they would otherwise find a home.
The sanctuary consists of chalets set in large runs, custom-built over the years by Bob, to cater for different groups of cats – and individuals with special needs who have to be kept separate from the rest. There are bushes, trees, undergrowth and rocks for the cats to explore, and the whole thing gives the impression of having grown spontaneously out of the ground – utterly lacking in regimentation and completely natural with plenty of privacy and interesting nooks and crannies, as well as luxurious sheltered accommodation for all – with heated bedding for those who need it.
| Jasper, (a sanctuary cat – pictured right) climbs up your legs to demand attention and loves nothing more than to be picked up and cuddled, going into ecstasies of purring and wriggling so that you feel you want to hold him and stroke him all day. | Jasper: a “Fivery” cat |
| I was struck by how well the cats seem to get on with each other – and how affectionate they are. Burmese house cat Ben’s favourite trick is to leap straight from the floor on to Barbara’s shoulder – despite his 17 years. | |
Barbara has a soft spot for a very handsome ginger in the sanctuary called Captain who, despite the fact that he only has 3 legs, manages to keep the others in order. She calls him her Tripod. Then there are the Lager Louts (bully boys), the Old Ladies, May (a nervous feral who has a run to herself) and Lucky, a beautiful tortoiseshell with a serious heart condition who is nevertheless kept happy and healthy by Barbara’s blend of homoeopathic remedies. For those who need medication, there is no daily battle, as Barbara hides the tablets in a smudge of cheese spread, so they think they are getting a special treat!
We were happily looking around one of the enclosures at the contented cats who were purring around our legs, washing themselves or simply dozing in the sunshine, when Barbara suddenly said: “These cats would all be dead.”
| We were in the “Fivery” – the part of the sanctuary devoted to cats who have tested positive for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), who comprise most of Barbara’s rescues. | Barbara takes drinking water to the cats in the Fivery  |
The shocking fact is that this diagnosis in most cases carries an automatic death sentence, despite the fact that unless the virus develops into full-blown feline AIDS, the cats are not dying, nor are they usually suffering enough to warrant putting them to sleep. Given the right TLC, they can survive for many more months or even years with a good quality of life, before it becomes necessary (for the cat’s sake, not the convenience of other people) to end their lives. Many of Barbara’s cats come from at least 4 well-known animal welfare/rescue organisations where they have been on death row – and sometimes Barbara has really had to fight for their lives. Big Ted’s name was shortened to BT, after the phone call that saved his life. This beautiful large tabby had been found as a stray and was going to be homed by a local group – until he was discovered to be FIV positive. The vet ambulance driver rang Catwork and Barbara got through to the vets at the last minute – when the lethal dose had already been drawn up into the syringe.
Cats who test positive for FeLV (Feline Leukaemia Virus) are also often unnecessarily sentenced to death – despite the fact that tests are often unreliable as the cat can deal with the virus and test negative 3 months later. Like the FIVs, cats with FeLV can enjoy a good quality of life. A few of Barbara’s cats have both viruses – and they are happy. Only when their lives are no longer worth living do Barbara and Bob take the sad, merciful decision to put them to sleep.
Barbara refers scathingly to the wholesale policy of destruction as “cat selection”. But Catwork is a true rescue centre and a real sanctuary – where these misunderstood animals can live out their lives in peace and security with people who love them.
Debby
If you want to help Bob and Barbara with their vital work, why not make a donation? Cheque payable to “Catwork” (address in the resources section of this newsletter). Or send them an SAE for their factsheet on FIV and FeLV.
| COPS BEAT RAP OVER DEAD STRAY |
POLICE who left a stray dog to die after it was handed in to their station will not face criminal charges.
Four months after the body of emaciated greyhound Bushmills Major was found dead in a kennel, the Record understands there will be no prosecutions.
The three-year-old racing dog was left at Dalkeith Police Station, Midlothian, on January 2 by his owner’s son who said it was a stray. It was locked in a kennel at the back of the station but animal welfare workers were not told he had been handed in. No record was made of the dog’s arrival in the station logbook.
It was 10 days before his body was found. The dog was dumped in a bin, which was emptied before bosses were informed.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the Crown Office insisted prosecutors were still considering the case but sources said the lack of a body made charges impossible to bring.
David Melville, of the Greyhound Awareness League, said no prosecutions was “astonishing”. A police spokeswoman said: “We have submitted a report to the procurator fiscal and are waiting for a decision.”
Cops are to carry out their own inquiry.
| Daily Record 17 May 2007 |
The event reported above illustrates a phenomenon ill-understood by those media pundits and politicians who brand compassionate animal rights people as “extremists” or even “terrorists”. What these people fail to realise is that the driving force behind our outrage is not only indignation at the monstrous injustices perpetrated by humans on other species, but also bereavement.
You don’t have to know an animal personally to be sad at its passing. Many people in Scotland and beyond are deeply upset by the unnecessary and inexcusable death by starvation of this young dog. Some express their pain by translating their grief into action. One of these is John Cowen, who tirelessly campaigns peacefully for animal rights and welfare; he is a true exponent of that well-known saying “ The pen is mightier than the sword.” He has kindly shared with DF the correspondence he has been having with the relevant authorities in this case:
Procurator Fiscal’s Office 29 Chambers Street Edinburgh EH1 1LD 13 June 2007Dear Mr Cowen
Death of greyhound – Dalkeith Police Station
I refer to your letter of 3 June 2007 addressed to my predecessor, Mr Frank Mulholland. I note your concern at the decision not to raise criminal proceedings in relation to the death of the greyhound. The background to the decision was that a report was received here from Lothian and Borders Police on the death of the greyhound. The report was considered and then forwarded to Crown Counsel and ultimately the decision by Crown Counsel was as you are aware that there be no criminal proceedings.
These decisions are made independently and impartially and based on sufficiency of evidence or otherwise to prove a case to the required criminal standard of proof. In this particular case there was just not sufficient evidence to take a criminal prosecution and the matter is therefore now being dealt with under police discipline.
Yours sincerely, Lesley E Thomson, Interim Area Procurator FiscalNeedless to say, John is far from satisfied with this response and has written to Ms Thomson to tell her so, pointing out that her response, far from easing his concerns, has increased them. He further points out that evidence for the prosecution presented to Mr Mulholland showed that it was neglect that caused the dog’s death, and that this is a prosecutable offence.
TIMMY
Passed away Easter Sunday 8 April 2007
Your Letters ………..……“ *
Thanks Debby for the latest issue of Departed Friend. I read it from cover to cover and, although it’s not a happy read, it’s well written and well edited and most of all, I think, it’s nice to know there’s people out there who care.
About pets… Kate and Sox are both well and enjoying their new home. Sox, especially, likes the vegetable patch I’ve dug in the back garden. He thinks it’s a great big litter tray!!
Jeff Kleinman
* * * * * *
I am an Episcopalian and do grief counseling for pet loss in the United States (California). I have recently organized a small committee in my church to have a yearly Pet Memorial Service and a yearly Pet Loss workshop for adults and children. Is it possible for me to receive copies of your Departed Friends Newsletter?
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely, Lois Roach
+ – + – + – + – +
I would like to thank everyone who has helped and signed the fireworks petition calling for fireworks to be restricted to licensed displays only at fixed times of the year and to reduce the noise levels of fireworks to a maximum of 85db. This Restrict Fireworks petition containing 129,387 signatures was presented at Downing Street on the 1st November 2006. As a result, there was a debate in the House of Commons on 6th November; the outcome was that … they did not feel that the 2003 and 2004 firework laws had been in place long enough to see if they were working. (N.B. despite injuries to people and animals, damage to property, and death caused to animals by injury and fright – ed.) There is a new online firework petition: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Bonfires/
Deadline to sign: 17 January 2008.
Theresa Kulkarni
I am writing to thank you for the copy of Departed Friend issue no. 27. I have found it interesting, useful and above all, most comforting. I was pleased to see the inclusion of “Tiggy’s poem”, (See DF 27) for which I thank you a second time.
“Tiggy” was just a family cat, very special, as of course, all such animals are ‘special’ to all families. I never use the word ‘pet’ but always ‘friend’, which in the case of “Tiggy”, somehow doesn’t then seem to be quite strong enough. We had her for 14 years, knowing her from the early days from birth, when she was just a scrap of fur in a litter of six kittens.
She was a short-hair tortoiseshell, richly coloured and gentle in her ways. She was fine on Christmas Day and three days later, was “put down” because of the development of a rapid decline in her state of health and the resultant discovery of a serious medical condition.
The grief persists, the emptiness persists, but now there is this brooding anger all the time and the feeling that we were hurried into an action that we have regretted ever since. It all happened so quickly. It will be a long, long time, before I can come to terms with the situation – if ever? An article in Departed Friend describes the feelings rather well. Thanks again for sending me a copy. It was much appreciated.
Dennis Martin
Did I do the right thing?
The decision to end an animal’s life is momentous – because it is irrevocable. Once done, there is no going back. In the brilliantly understated words of “Tiggy’s Poem”, Things aren’t how they used to be. If we are lucky, we are sad but (like Barbara Hunt of Catwork when the time comes for her rescued cats) totally at peace with our decision, certain that we have done the right thing. However, there can be other occasions where the situation, and our feelings, are not so clear-cut. Dennis Martin’s letter (above) describes very poignantly some of the soul-searching that we sometimes do after euthanasia, especially if we feel we have been rushed into it, or had insufficient information on which to make an informed decision. The examples given below are all true, but some details have been altered or withheld to preserve confidentiality:
Pressure and insufficient information
I will always feel guilty about having him put to sleep. If only I had resisted the pressure. Though he was in quite a state, I will never know whether he could have had a bit longer and, with suitable care, been happy for a while. I feel that I murdered him. (Sarah, a friend of Barbara’s – rescued stray cat with FIV euthanased on veterinary advice).
Financial considerations
The vet advised me that euthanasia was the only kind option. I had already spent thousands of pounds on him. I loved him so much but I can’t help feeling that money somehow influenced the decision. I can’t stop feeling guilty about this. (Diane – after prolonged expensive treatment of terminally ill horse).
Not present at euthanasia
I went through agonies afterwards, beating myself up and trying to blame myself, but it appears there was nothing I could have done and the vet said it was kinder to ease his pain this way…..I hope he knew he was safe and loved and that I didn’t desert him at the end. (See DF 26: Sue Dobbs – Tribute to Mr Darcy).
Perception that the timing was wrong
With hindsight, it’s so easy to see that I got it wrong. The vet advised me to have her put to sleep after one of several operations to drain fluid from her lungs, but she seemed to pick up and the thought of losing her before it was necessary was unbearable. When the time finally came, her circulation was so poor that the anaesthetic took a while to reach her heart and she miaowed three times before dying. I will never forgive myself. I wish I had done it sooner – or not at all, so she could have just slipped away peacefully herself. (Debby – special cat with cardiomyopathy, see DF’s 4, 8 and 25).
The guilt and the doubts can also be the other way round, when we feel we ought to have had the animal euthanased, but did not:
Perception that we prolonged suffering
Looking back on it, I now believe that I should have had her put to sleep. I was terribly selfish; I kept her going because I could not bear to let her go, but she really suffered all that year. (Marie – her favourite dog).
Other examples include euthanasia of healthy animals: this may be because of having to move into accommodation that will not accept pets – or where the animal is dangerous and has been sentenced to death by the courts (see DF 14 ).
Sometimes it is possible after the event to obtain further information which confirms that we made the right choice. Sometimes it is not, and we torture ourselves with guilt and “If only…..” If you feel like this, you are not alone. We are only human and bound to make mistakes. It is because we love our animals so much that we feel like this. We did what was possible at the time and our animal is now at peace – even if we are not.
THE GRIEF OF ANIMALS
for each other and for humans
(The subject of animal grief was touched on in DF3)
J Howard Moore (1862 – 1916) was a man far ahead of his time – and ours – in his understanding of animals. His book Universal Kinship, shows how animals grieve:
A dog will follow a handful of rags wrapped around a homeless beggar, day after day, through heat and cold and starvation … the dog who stood over the lifeless body of his master, grieving for recognition and starting at every flutter of his garments, till he himself died of starvation, had in his faithful breast a nobler heart than that which beats in the bosom of most men. And the devotion of Greyfriars Bobby, who every night for 12 years … slept on his master’s grave, was well worth the marble tribute which to-day stands in Edinburgh to his memory.
Very touching is the conduct of the mother (monkey) when her baby is suffering. And if it dies she is in despair. For hours, and even for days, she carries the little corpse about with her, refuses all food, sits indifferently in the same spot, and often literally pines to death.
The following account of the attachment of a male monkey for his murdered consort is a pitiful tale of human inhumanity and simian tenderness and devotion: ‘A member of a shooting party killed a female monkey and carried her body to his tent… The tent was soon surrounded by 40 or 50 of the tribe who made a great noise and threatened to attack the aggressor. … The leader … stood his ground, threatening and chattering furiously. At last … the broken-hearted creature came to the door of the tent and began a lamentable moaning, and by the most expressive signs seemed to beg for the dead body of his beloved. It was given to him. He took it sorrowfully in his arms and bore it away to his expecting companions.’
Dr Vernon Coleman’s book Animal Rights, Human Wrongs, gives other examples:
A herd of elephants travelled slowly to accommodate a mother who was carrying her dead calf with her. When the herd stopped to eat or drink the mother would put her dead calf down. When they started travelling she would pick up the dead calf. The rest of the herd were accommodating her in her time of grief.
Konrad Lorenz described the behaviour of a gander called Ado when his mate Susanne-Elisabeth was killed by a fox. Ado stood by her body in mourning. He hung his head and his body was hunched. He did not bother to defend himself when attacked by strange geese.
A badger was seen to drag another badger which had been killed by a car off the road, along a hedge, through a gap in the hedge and into a burial spot in nearby woods.
In her book Talking to Animals – the Woodhouse Way (first pb. 1954) Barbara Woodhouse the well-known dog-trainer tells of the devotion of a dog she had as a child, which cost him his life:
Once I had a splendid Alsatian … to me he was everything that a dog should be, and he never left my side… he was hit by a car, displacing a kidney. The vet said he would have to be operated on … The operation was successful and I begged the vet to let me have him back with me, or to let me see him; he insisted, however, that excitement of any kind would be bad for him. I cried bitterly at this, for I knew he would fret for me… Two days later my Kazan died of a broken heart, and the vet admitted it… After this, it was ten years before I had another dog of my own, and if I met an Alsatian I felt like crying.
Filed under: No. 28 Jun '07
