Bits for Pets Blog

A guide dog is helping to lead the hymns every Sunday at a Welsh chapel.

Teddy has become a member of the small congregation at Rehoboth in Five Roads, near Llanelli, where he is adding his bark to the singing.

The five-year-old has been attending services with his carer Nona Rees since February but in the last month he has started to play a more vocal role.

Mrs Rees said the dog only joins with the rousing hymns and often takes a break to sleep during sermons.

She has been looking after the golden retriever while his owner recovers from illness.

“Everywhere I go he goes,” she said.

“He just used to put his head down and sleep but then one day started to join in - I did not know where to look.”

But she said other members of the congregation seemed quite happy with the extra voice so he has continued attending on Sundays ever since.

“It’s not every hymn - its the faster ones and the higher ones he joins in,” added Mrs Rees

“He’s a lovely working guide dog and I will be very sorry to see him go when he returns to his owner.”

Chapel organist Jim Jones said the congregation would also miss him.

“I was playing one Sunday and then all of a sudden he started.

“We are only a small chapel - usually there are less than 20 of us - but they are all singing a bit louder so they can be heard over Teddy.”

Click Here! For the full story

While most pet cats have 18 - five on their front paws and four on their rear - the 10-year-old boasts seven on his front and six on his back paws.

The extra digits have left owner Alison Thomas, of Felindre, near Swansea, pondering whether it is a UK record.

One expert said cats with extra toes were common in the area around the old county of Cardiganshire and were sometimes known as “Cardi-cats”.

A animal with too many toes is called a polydactyl.

There are unconfirmed reports in north America of cats with up to 28 toes - but Mrs Thomas cannot find records closer to home.

Mother-of-three Mrs Thomas said: “He came to us when he was about six months old - he just turned up on the doorstep and it was even more noticeable then because his paws were so big.

“The first thing people say when they see him even now is ‘look at his paws’.

“He is a bit temperamental - if you know him you are okay but Des can be quite quick with his paws and leave a nasty scratch because he has so many claws.

“He did have a problem with his paws a while back - nothing to do with the number of the toes - and the vet said he could amputate the extra ones.

“But they don’t cause him any problems - he does not scratch the furniture - the children know and they say ‘don’t go near Des’s claws’.”

Mrs Thomas said she had read it was common for a polydactyl to have 24 toes - but 26 was ‘very rare’.

Sally Hyman, from the Llys Nini Animal Centre in Penllergaer, Swansea, said she had seen lots of cats with six toes, but never one with seven.

“It’s quite common to have six toes in Cardiganshire, and therefore we call them ‘Cardi-cats’ sometimes,” Ms Hyman explained.

“Its because it’s a genetic defect, the gene pool is actually concentrated in south west Wales, and so it’s more likely to get a cat with that genetic defect, breeding with another cat with that genetic defect in Cardigan, than anywhere, else in Britain.”

Mrs Thomas said she was “amazed”, as Des had been born in Newcastle Emlyn in west Wales. “He obviously is a Cardi-cat,” she said.

Click Here! For the full story

The number of endangered species in Britain has almost doubled in 13 years, according to a major new study.

There are now 1,149 species of plants, mammals, birds and insects, and 67 different types of habitat under threat from climate change and human activity.

Grahame Madge from the RSPB said there must be serious action to restore a “healthy countryside rich in wildlife”.

Among the much-loved species are the skylark, dormouse, red squirrel, grass snake and several species of bat.

The list has been compiled by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) and was the result of two years research by more 500 wildlife experts and a large number of volunteers.

They blame a range of factors including farming techniques and inappropriate rural and urban planning.

The number of endangered habitats has gone up from 49 in the last survey done in 1994. Among those under threat are hedgerows, orchards, pine woodlands, meadows and sand dunes.

Urgent action

The Priority Species and Habitats list also includes 14 kinds of freshwater fish like the common sturgeon and Atlantic salmon, and 18 mammals, such as pine martens and water voles.

But the largest proportion of species are invertebrates like insects and spiders, with more than 400 at risk.

Matt Shardlow, director of Buglife, told the BBC’s Today programme that species like the moonshiner beetle, glutinous snail and Viking sword fly must be protected.

“What we need to do is to address the habitats as well as the species, start to put some of these habitats back into the countryside, get them into good condition so that the species are able to spread and thrive,” Mr Shardlow said.

“Every public office holder has to have a regard for what is on this list and make sure they’re doing their bit to conserve it.”

Researchers looked at the rate of decline of a species, in particular where the UK was responsible for a large proportion of the entire international population.

Quiet countryside

Fifty-nine species and sub-species of birds (up from 27) are endangered, including the lesser spotted woodpecker and the black grouse.

Mr Madge said much of the decline was due to the intensification of farming and the swallowing up of marshes, hedgerows and other areas for agriculture.

“Take the grey partridge - it should be on every farm in Britain. You should be able to walk less than a mile anywhere in the countryside and hear one,” he said.

“It’s a bird that our rural ancestors would have heard every day and now you have to make a real effort to find one.

“That’s why our ultimate aim must be to restore a healthy countryside rich in wildlife.”

UK BAP is a partnership of government bodies and wildlife charities set up after Britain signed the international Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992.

As well as monitoring species levels, it suggests ways to protect them, such as new legislation and physical habitat improvements.

The 1994 report listed 577 species at risk.

Click Here! for the full story

Dogs and dog lovers are in for a real treat on Sunday as Dogs Trust Snetterton Rehoming Centre hosts this year’s Open Day and Fun Dog Show.

Classes for the Fun Dog Show include best footballer, egg and spoon race, waggiest tail, best oldie (for dogs over eight years of age), prettiest bitch, handsomest dog, and, of course, best ex-Dogs Trust dog or bitch, the class for dogs who have been rehomed from Dogs Trust.

There will also be a special “Judge’s Secret Category”, where only the judge knows what he’s looking for. The final category of the day will be Best in Show, where the winner of each class gets to show off their rosette.

Broadland Agility Club will be holding a demonstration and competitions throughout the afternoon. Other highlights of the day include a display by the Prison Service Drug Dogs (Eastern Area) and also NSARDA Anglia Search and Rescue team, featuring search dog Ollie.

In addition to this, there will be the Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze Award Testing, giant tombola, raffle, trade stands, refreshments with a tea tent and home-made cakes and a burger van, as well as loads of fun and games for the whole family.

Gates will open at 11.30am for registration of the dog show, and the event will begin at noon in the field adjacent to the Rehoming Centre, in North End Road, and will close at 4pm. Entrance to the event is £1 per person, with children and OAPs free. Parking is also free. The Rehoming Centre will be open for viewing, but no rehoming will be able to take place on this day.

Anyone with any inquiries, or who wants further information on the work of Dogs Trust, can contact Barbara Emons, support relations officer on 01953 498012, or email Barbara.emons@dogstrust.org.uk

Click Here! for the full story

BOUGHT from a pet shop for around £20 and kept in a decrepit hutch, which was free, prior to being unwanted or abandoned just three months later.

That is the average experience for a rabbit in the South West, according to the findings of a new RSPCA survey.

Of the rabbits seen by the RSPCA in the region between April and October 2006:
# 69% did not have access to a run and spent 24 hours a day locked in a hutch.

# 50% did not have an adequate sized hutch.

# 32% of rabbits were living in old hutches, which they were given free from a friend/neighbour who had previously had rabbits.

In a bid to improve the living conditions for rabbits throughout the South West, the RSPCA is offering a limited number of brand new and suitably large rabbit hutches to existing rabbits owners who would not otherwise be able to afford them.
advertisement

The hutches usually cost around £100 but will be available to successful applicants from the region for a donation of around £25, from their local RSPCA Animal Centre.

RSPCA regional manager Jonathan Silk said: “As a charity, we are not able to provide subsidised hutches for everyone that wants one, but we have purchased a limited number of hutches, which we can make available on a case by case basis according to need.

“We are asking the people for a donation of £25 towards the cost of each hutch, to demonstrate they are committed towards caring for the animal, but if there are people who really cannot afford that amount, they should apply anyway, and we may still be able to help them.”

The hutches are only available for existing rabbits owners, and people wishing to apply for a hutch with a view to getting a rabbit to put in it will not be eligible.

The RSPCA has always known that there is a major problem with the way that some rabbits are bought and kept and this survey has highlighted how many are being kept in unsuitable accommodation.

Click Here! for the full story

Gordon Ramsay’s pet lamb has been killed by what is believed to have been a big cat as it grazed on Victoria Beckham’s estate.

Charlotte, named after singer Charlotte Church, was found dead in a pasture at ‘Beckingham Palace’, in the Herfordshire countryside, and police believe a panther or puma to be responsible.

A source said: “Charlotte’s bones had been licked clean and only her head was left.”

Gordon was raising two lambs for his Channel 4 show ‘The F Word’ and the former Spice Girl, a close friend of his, agreed to house the lambs on her 17-acre estate after they ran out of grass on the lawn of Gordan’s London town house.

Victoria is now said to have given orders for fences around their Sawbridgeworth mansion to be double checked for security breaches.

Several big cats are thought to roam wild in the area after escaping from private zoos.

Locals claim to have spotted a “black puma or panther-like beast” bigger than a Labrador in the local countryside.

Lamb Gavin, named after Charlotte Church’s fiancé Gavin Henson, is now safely back in Gordon’s garden after the attack.

The celebrity chef planned to slaughter both animals and cook them for the series finale on his show.

Click Here! for the full story