Cats Protection: Cat Cabins

Cats Protection is the UK’s leading cat welfare charity. Founded in 1927 the group just celebrated its 81st anniversary and it also found some of its funding at risk due to a crisis in Icelandic banks where funds were held.

Cats Protection is a network of over 256 volunteer operated branches throughout the UK and 29 adoption centers.

One of these centers is the National Cat Centre (NCC) near Sussex, England. This facility provides cat adoption, feline education, and veterinary care.

This feline adoption center is one of the largest of its kind in the UK and has separate wings for admissions, re-homing, isolation, and maternity–featuring 202 state of the art “cat cabins” for the felines housed there.

In addition, the feline facility is open to the public seven days a week making it very friendly to potential adopters and other visitors.

All new feline arrivals are examined on site at the Veterinary Care Centre. Each feline is vaccinated, neutered, microchipped and treated for any other issues if needed.

Having the veterinary facility on site helps reduce stress encountered during transportation for veterinary medical care. Also, any issues that arise can be dealt with quickly and easily because of this.

The Training & Education Centre supports a cat friendly exhibition along with a shop and cafe. The shop provides a large selection of gifts for cat lovers and essential feline supplies for new pet parents while the café provides snacks and meals encouraging a longer excursion.

In addition, this section of the facility is available for rent to schools and community groups.

Currently the Cats Protection program rehomes and reunites an estimated 55,500 cats per year. The new “cat cabins” will help to add an additional 3,000 cats to that annual number.

You can take a look at the Cats Protection annual report for the past three years online.

If you live in the United Kingdom or just want to donate to this registered charity and sponsor a cat cabin click here.

StopLik Pet Product

In my career I have refrained from the use of any type of shock on an animal. I’ve tested collars and had my hand go numb for a half an hour on a low setting and have always found other ways to address behavior problems.

For lick granuloma I have used elizabethan collars. Today there are soft collars as well.

However, the StopLik product caught my interest because of the complications some dogs have after surgery.

StopLik was designed to help dogs recover from lick granuloma, surgery, and wound recovery.

Available only through Veterinarians, StopLik gets wrapped over the bandaged area to protect the treated area (or wound) but is also used to prevent the licking of surgical sutures and  to prevent the removal of IVs, catheters, and Seton drains.

The battery operated product delivers a mild current to the dog’s tongue if licked.

I’d be interested in testing this product to see just how strong it is because I have my doubts. However, I am still looking for a good alternative to deal with the after veterinary procedure issues that surface.

Healing would be expedited if the dog patient can be deterred from licking or removing stitches and drains.

Those dogs who severly injure themselves through chewing and licking might also be candidates.

Fortunately, this product is only available through veterinary clinics but you can learn more at the StopLik website.