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PAWS for THOUGHT

Newsletter of The Cat & Rabbit Rescue Centre

(Registered Charity Number 1010000)

President – SUSAN JAMESON. Chief Veterinary Officer – DR. MARK ELLIOTT. (BVSc,

Vet MFHom, MRCVS, MLIHM,PCH, DSH,RSHom.)

July 2016 Holborow Lodge, Chalder Lane, Sidlesham, Chichester,

West Sussex, PO20 7RJ. Tel :- 01243-641409

e-mail :- info@crrc.co.uk Web Site :- www.crrc.co.uk

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Welcome to 2016 More than halfway through our 30th year, it is unbelievable. Plans to celebrate our 30th Birthday is going well and as you will see lots of information about the BUMP. 2016 is our 30th year here at Holborow Lodge, and what a lot has changed since 1986. I arrived here in 1986 with 6 cats and 3 rab-bits. We had 2 outbuildings, an old caravan which we made do with for many, many years. But thanks to YOU and some amazing peo-ple who are no longer with us, but remembered us in their wills, we have come a long way. We now have a 6000 sq foot building con-taining 51 pens, 28 pens for recovery and isolation, reception, stor-age areas, 3 garden rooms attached to lovely warm rooms, vet facil-ity, sluice room and toilets. We also have other facilities suitable for the rabbits and guinea pigs as well as cats. We would like to or-ganize some coffee mornings at The Centre, so people can have a tour, and see some of the work of the Cat & Rabbit Rescue Centre, but would need someone to take this on, any offers?

I made the right choice in getting Todd a new brother (yes I know Todds a funny name for a girl) after sadly losing her birth brother. They are getting on so well and Todd just loves getting a wash from Tof-fiffee. I've been sitting in with them and I'm pleasantly surprised how he seems to taking to me as well. This is them enjoying the freedom of the garden. It's very rewarding to rescue an animal and I'm very grateful that I have been allowed to - Amy Knight.

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Some we will NEVER forget Every animal here is special, but some just tug at your heart strings more than others, and Terry (seen here in his party hat), was one of these. He was an elderly gentleman, and was an enormous help to Claire in the office. Sadly he was no youngster and had to Go To Heaven, and we all miss him terribly.

4 cats 12 legs!!! In the last PFT I told you about our 4 cats each with 3 legs, well we have another! Am pleased to say Kevin has been rehomed, but Amandalyn has joined the 3 legged club. Her story is a rather sad one. She was owned by a person who did not get her spayed, and did not keep her in when she had kittens, and she was knocked down and badly injured when the kittens were a few days old. The PDSA was contacted and told the owner she would have to hand feed the kittens while mum cat had the operation. The owner could not cope with this, and so we were involved, and agreed to take mum cat and the kittens. Our vet did the operation, and I am pleased to say that they are all doing well. Amandalyn is with her kittens and was able to feed them after her op as everything went well.

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Press Cuttings – from our John Dyer May 2016 – interesting article about the risk of skin cancer due to sun exposure, mainly on white areas of cats/dogs/rabbits, and sun-block needs to be used daily particularly on ear tips and nose during the summer months. The two ponies we have from the wonderful Sussex Horse rescue also have to have factor 50 on their noses so we are getting through quite a bit at the moment! Pet obesity – according to the PDSA 1 in 3 dogs, 1 in 4 cats and rabbits are overweight, mainly due to the wrong foods and not enough exercise. The consequences are alarming. Sean Wensley, president of the British Veterinary Association says “Being over-weight causes diabetes, cancer, heart disease and joint problems. Your pet isn’t enjoying a good life”. Too many Charity shops in the UK? Many high street charity shops should be closed as they cost the Govern-ment more in tax breaks than they make in profits.

This is the conclusion being drawn from a True and Fair Foundation study

of the UKs 10,500 charity shops which showed that many were less profit-

able than high street retailers, which didn't have the advantages of an

80% reduction in business rates, donated goods to sell and volunteer

staff. The Foundation campaigns for more efficiency in the charity sector

and points out that £1.6 billion in tax breaks to charity shops only results

in profits of £290 million, or just 18% of the value of the concessions,

without the free goods and free staffing.

According to the Foundation: "There simply are not enough sales or cus-

tomers to justify 10,500 charity shops in the UK"

I thought this was an interesting article, because many charities, like our-

selves depend on the profits of their charity shops, but what it does not

relay is that if the charities did not make their own money, then the gov-

ernment would need to help these causes, and also the donated goods

would end up in land fill which is a huge cost to the government and to

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the environment. CRRC is looking at all 3 of their charity shops and look-

ing to increase profits and profit margins. So please think of us when you

have something you no longer want, in good condition, that would make

some money for us. Monique

News cutting from Russia Bailiffs in Russia, seized a man’s cat in order to give the debtor a stimulus to quickly pay off his liabilities, and it did the trick he paid off his entire debt of 120,000 roubles to the next day to keep the cat!

Some Local Info

Missy the ginger cat has been given a

permanent memorial after spending ten

years greeting travellers waiting for the

No. 39 bus in Dunsbury Way Leigh Park,

Havant. Missy was killed in a hit-and-run

but her story touched the hearts of animal

lovers worldwide and more than £5,000 in

donations arrived from as far afield as Australia and China. A memorial

bench has been placed opposite the bus stop.

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Horatio and Darwin (formally Piquant and Tuc) are now settled into their new home! So much love for these two boys!

Georgina Reece

Permanent House cats - update Desmond – a 20 year young man has joined the house cats, he was a bit of a nuisance at first, thinking he could be boss cat, but that was sorted out very quickly. He does tend to eat for England, but is very happy, and seems very happy. Tails – a feral cat who was let out on site a few years ago, with her brother Sonic, and they lived very happily nearly always together, but not mixing with the other out and abouters. Then a few months ago, Tails started to come into the house, and was a like any other domestic cat! It was so sudden, and we tried to get Sonic to join her, but he was having none of it, but now in the evening they go outside and play running up and down the paddocks together, but Tails always comes in to sleep in the house. We are still hoping Sonic will join her soon.

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Celebrating the Queen’s Birthday – Mouse style

" These splendid Royal catnip mice were made by another of our wonderful Mice Knitters and taken to the Bognor shop. She has recently given great amusement to customers and staff by naming mice after celebrities and footballers. This batch are named (tongue in cheek) after members of the Royal family as a tribute to the Queen's 90th birthday celebrations. A huge thank you for keeping us supplied, and the cats happy. " Valerie Deacon A big thankyou to all our mouse makers and these continue to bring in vital funds for the CRRC. Seems Daft, but perhaps not! Dyson’s latest new very quiet hairdryer, has had its first customer, and it is designer Karl Lagerfeld’s cat! We do have to use hairdryers for the animals when they have had to be washed, and the normal hairdryers can be noisy, so perhaps Sir James Dyson will donate one to us?

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Ernie & Trevor

Hello Just to say we are doing fine X Just for a change – an elephant story! John had given me this lovely cutting and I thought it would be nice to report it. In Zimbabwe a bull elephant, who was severely injured had climbed a steep, narrow ridge leading to the Bumi Hills Safari Lodge, an up-market establishment. The injured animal stayed there for 6 hours, only 2 metres away from one of the homes. One of the guides summoned a veterinary surgeon who sedated the elephant, cleaned the wound, applied antibiotics and fly repellent and revived it. The elephant then wandered off, and his mobility has much improved. The injury, most likely caused by a poacher, which is a major con-cern as elephant population has fallen by 75% in the past 15 years.

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Happy Birthday Holly Just wanted to share a pic of my lovely cat "Holly" we adopted Holly and her sister Daisy (who was sadly put to sleep earlier this year) we got them from you in 1997 when they were 8 weeks old holly celebrates her 19th birthday in 3

weeks and although

she is an old lady she still

loves her cuddles

Katherine It was so lovely to see this, if anyone else has any pictures/ stories of animals they had from us, especially from a few years ago, please email them to info@crrc.co.uk. Monique

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Croydon’s Serial Feline Killer You have probably seen the stories in the national newspapers about 50 cats that have been killed in Croydon, and I am pleased to say this is being taken very seriously by the police Sadly this has occurred closer to home, and a CRRC cat, on the morning of 12 April 2016 between 6.45 am and 11.30 am, in the vicinity of Cow Lane, Sidlesham. The owner told us "When some-one shot our much loved Pike with an air rifle, they took the life of a member of our family and committed a crime". If you hear any-thing about this please contact the local police on 101 and quote 0699 12/4/2016.

Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, anyone found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal could face a maximum six-month prison sentence or a £20,000 fine.

This of course was shocking for us to hear, but the wider picture is most child killers/abusers start with animals.

Thanks Laura & SSE And the winner of last month's SSE £50 Charity draw is.............Cat & Rabbit Rescue Centre - yay, thank you so much Laura Callaghan for choosing us and to SSE for such a wonderful scheme to help charities.

Here is Ben George, CSM, presenting the cheque to Laura which we will use to-wards the BUMP (Barn Up-grade and Makeover Pro-

ject). Thanks guys, you're amazing xxx

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Fabulous Christmas Gifts

"These splendid catnip-mouse-filled crackers were made by Stella, one of our supporters. She made over 40 with the crackers and their trimmings handmade and filled with her knitted catnip mice. Stella helped to raise over £80 with the crackers and some Christmas themed mice. A big thank you to Stella and to all the knitters who keep us stocked up with mice. Some of the seasonal themes are just so innovative and help to encourage sales. Keep it up." Valerie (I forgot to put this in the last PFT, sorry Stella – Monique)

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Dear Cat and Rabbit Rescue I came along to your rescue centre on Friday 19 March to select a

cat to give a forever home to. I chose Phaedra and apart from one slight hiccough when she came across the dog unexpect-edly she seems to be settling in very well. Phaedra is now Misty (name chosen by other half) and she purrs, rubs around my legs, eats healthily and no sign of stress or diarrhoea. She is a very pretty cat and has already become a welcome addition to our home.

It's still early days where the dog is concerned, mostly they ignore each other but if he runs fast to greet me will get the odd swipe from Misty and a few hisses thrown in for good measure. She has taken over his box which he's fine with as he prefers the sofa any-way. I just hope we pass the test on your six week visit as it would be very hard to let her go as she definitely has a character which is gradually coming out. Not long afterwards I received the following: Dear Monique Ellie here, Mum of Misty (Phaedra) and to let you just how well she has settled into her new home. She decided to lie in the basket of our friends' dog who was staying for a sleep over. Alice the dog was quite happy as she was happily lying on our sofa. She has since sat on my lap before curling up and going to sleep. The only time she is nervous is in the garden and doesn't actually venture out much which makes us think that perhaps she was more of an indoor cat at her previous home. We don't mind as she can take her time on that side of things and we make sure we are around to reassure her when she does venture out.

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Our dog Barnaby and Misty have sorted out who is the boss (Misty of course) and they can now be left together in the same room without any problems. Thank you for letting me take Misty, she is a delight to have around, runs up to me when I enter the room to say hello and has helped fill the void left by the loss of my 19 year old cat. Kind regards Ellie From the crazy people who took home 3 kittens!

Hi, just wanted to drop you a line with some photos of our amazing kittens! Ozzie - the young man (silver tabby). Doris (the black and white lady!) and Norma (white patch on nose, the abso-lute terror who will eat ANYTHING she can!!!) We hope you think they look happy! We love them to bits. Steve didn't leave me af-ter all and loves them as much as

me now!! Thank you, Katie and Steve

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Hello, I should like to introduce myself. My name is Tabitha (was Vivica), though I have been known by two previous names. Now I have two new owners and a new home. Before coming to live in Fareham I was in a rescue home, the Cat and Rabbit Rescue at Sidlesham, who were very kind to me for several months while I was recovering from neglect by my previous owners who lived in Portsmouth. Though I have only been in my new home since June 16th I feel that I would like to settle here for the rest of my life as I am 9 years old and do not wish to move home again. They are a lovely couple and have made me most welcome to their home even though I was very nervous for the first two days. I love their lounge window sill where the sun shines through and I can sit/lay relaxed on a sheep skin mat (not real, I can tell) looking out of the window or having a sleep. Today I've had fresh cooked coley fish and a Felix pouch as well as biscuits and washed down with cool water, lovely, what more could I ask for? Though I have a choice of beds I'm not sure at the moment where I prefer to sleep but as I am a cat I like to roam around the house during the dark nights while my new family are fast asleep. Peter

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30th Anniversary - BARN UPDATE AND MAKEOVER PROJECT

The Barn is nearly as old as CRRC and is getting past its best, so we need to do some-thing about it, so the BARN UPDATE AND MAKEOVER PROJECT has been launched. This 30th year project is well underway, and we have had some lovely donations, one was from staff at CAPITA who raised a fantastic £177.75 to-wards our new kitchen in the barn. They wanted to buy the

much needed scales for weighing the guinea pigs (seen above with Quiche, and two of the lovely employees Jo & Melanie) and rabbits. With our discounts we managed to get these for under £100, so the rest of the money will go towards other kitchen items. Then we received the following email Good Afternoon Nigel & Monique, Just going through our emails and noticed on one of your newsletters that you are looking for a new kitchen in the barn area. We have had kittens from you a couple of years ago, (Franklin & Bolt). We are also a family run kitchen manufacturer who would be happy to donate brand new kitchen units and help you out where possible. Kind Regards Paul & Pam (Off Plan Kitchens - www.offplankitchens.com) Needless to say we said yes and are over the moon. We do not have all the final costings but if you can help with any of the following with a contribution, please send a cheque made pay-

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able to CRRC, or visit our website www.crrc.co.uk to donate via our 'make a donation' buttton, putting ref: BUMP in the comments

underfloor heating £5,000

air source heat pump £6,000

better equipped kitchen to in-clude weighing facilities for health checking, animal wash-ing facilities

£3,000 Capita & Off-plan kitchens helping

update electricity & drainage £2,000

dividers to prevent infection spread

£1,000

walls/floor painting £1,000

refurbishment of outside pens £1,000

safety area for pens 14-17 £800

opening & meshed windows £1,500

better storage areas £1,000

eventually replacement roof £8,000

So we want to raise £30,000 for this Project, as we know in time the roof will need some work, and of course continued maintenance

Summer Fayre & Open Day – Sunday 14th August 11-4pm

Admission is £1 or cat/rabbit food This is our biggest fund raising event of the year, and we need your support. Firstly tell all your friends and relatives to attend, and ask them to bring their friends as well! Secondly make sure they have lots of money to spend, and tell them how many lovely things we have here!

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There will be something for everyone, tombola, new goods, games, toys, Valerie & Alex’s famous jewellery stall, and Mick and Diana, well known for their Silver Mine, have come up with another idea, but it is still under wraps, so you will have to come to the Summer Fayre to see it, and I'm promised it has even better prizes. The fabulous refreshments will be served by our lovely ladies. See the animals, talk to our rehoming people about adopting, and thor-oughly enjoy the day. Margaret and Zena with their friends and rela-tives are going to try to beat their record of the highest earning stall at 2015’s Fayre with their amazing Clothes Boutique.

£300 cash for the first prize in our Grand Raffle, and lots of other prizes. Enclosed is £5 worth of raffle tickets, if you would like to buy them or sell them to your friends, then please send a cheque to The Centre, made payable to CRRC with the ticket stubs.

You can also purchase raffle tickets online via our website on the 'make a donation' button, putting 'raffle tickets' in the comments box, then email admin@crrc.co.uk to get your ticket num-bers

Juliette Just so you can see how well our beautiful Juliette is settling in. She’s an absolute joy, so loving and enjoying life in Chichester. Regards Hazel and Alan

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EVENT VOLUNTEER NEEDED FOR JEWELLERY STALL

Is jewellery your passion?

After 16 yr of sorting, boxing, pricing and selling the wonderful do-nations of jewellery I have decided to retire from the job. Hard to believe I started with a 4 ft trestle table, a few ice cream boxes of bangles, beads and assorted bits and now have enough to rival any High Street shop. Last year, on the half a dozen stalls we did, we raised £2,700. We are looking for one or two people to take it over.

Please do not let this great fund raising activity die a death. If you and your partner or a friend want to find out more please give me a call, come along to one of our stalls and work with us.

Valerie Deacon – 01903 719459

Oh What a Lovely View From being such a nervous cat when we got her from you three years ago, she is quite the hunter! She loves to chase the birds, but usually only catches a mouthful of feathers. She was called Princess with you. We love her to bits! Cheers Sheila

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CRRC AUCTION

Because this is our 30th Anniver-

sary, we want the Summer Fayre to be bigger and better this year, and we have some amazing auc-tion prizes

Two admission tickets to The Gordon Enclosure at the Goodwood Racecourse for Sunday 28th August 2016

Two admission tickets for Goodwood Revival for Friday 9/9/16

3 course dinner for 2 at Cassons Restaurant & Bar, Tangmere Paintball Ticket rrp £59.99 – visit www.charitypaintball.org.uk Bed, breakfast and Dinner for two at Pagham’s Inglenook Hotel 3 day all inclusive break at Longcroft Luxury Cat Hotel, Fontwell Beautiful 20″ Figaro chain is 14ct gold and weighs 10g

Harbour Hotels Gift Voucher (The Ship) 3 Course Meal for Two Chichester Festival Theatre Tickets Experience the all new Jaguar XF for a weekend 2 course dinner for 2 Crouchers Hotel and Restaurant, Birdham Milwaukee Jigsaw

Milwaukee Hacksaw White gold and diamond pendant and white gold fine 18″ chain

Chichester Golf Club – 4 Ball on the Cathedral Course for 4 Convertible mini for the weekend

For further details please check www.crrc.co.uk/category/summer-auction-2016 and to place your bids on any item please email admin@crrc.co.uk stating:

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1) title of the auction item & your bid 2) your name, address and contact number

Auction finishes at 3.30pm on 14/8/16

FOR THE SUMMER FAYRE WE NEED:

VOLUNTEERS - HELP BEFORE, AFTER AND ON THE DAY FULL BOTTLES & IN DATE (ALCOHOL GOES WELL) GOOD ITEMS TO SELL OR USE AS PRIZES

ADVERTISING AND OUR MAIN RAFFLE PRIZE IS OUR BIGGEST EXPENSE, CAN YOU HELP TOWARDS THESE?

Please telephone asap or email info@crrc.co.uk to let us know. Thank you.

This is Donny, 23 years and still going strong. He is one of our Foster Care cats, cared for by Paul, we cannot thank you enough for taking on a puss-cat in his twi-light years (although the way he looks, he will outlive us all!)

Fundraising Event Results 26/3/16 - Easter Fair, Festival Hall, Petersfield, - Raised £130 3/4/16 - Sainsbury Chichester Store Collection - Raised £126.01 9/4/16 - Spring Fayre, URC, Hayling Island - Raised £330.69 10-13 June - The Garden Show, Stansted - Raised £1200.19 11/6/16 - Bognor Carnival, Westfield Park - Raised £287.90

Thank you so much to all our lovely volunteers who work tirelessly at these events to help raise much needed funds. Also a big thank you to our lovely supporters who come and spend money with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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Rabbit Awareness Week

On Friday 24th June, Helen, one of our staff organized an event giv-ing information on rabbit care, including feed advice, children activi-ties and a tour of The Centre, some very keen people attended and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, thank you to Helen, and your happy band of rabbit lovers. Car Treasure Hunt - Sunday 26th June 2016 Thank you to the crews who turned up for our Car Treasure Hunt on a warm and sunny afternoon. Time was given to plot the route, or most of it, at the start. Off they went and we prepared to meet them with tea and biscuits at the Centre two hours later. One crew is probably still driving around West Sussex as we did not see them again! Nigel Oddy was the winner, only dropping 3 points and he did not have a navigator. The Edwards family had one more point but had a high number of time and mileage penalties. They agreed to share the honours! Well done.

As our nutmeg lost her sister a few weeks ago we thought about getting her a friend because even though she was a happy bunny who loved all of our attention and love she still needed a friend to cuddle and play with. So we have brought her home after a week of bonding with rocky (granola) at the centre and they are both nicely settled in at home with each other. The centre have been amazing to my bunnies from day

one of us getting the 2 girls to getting them ready to come home as a pair and just want to say a huge thank you for all of help and support. You do a great job with all of the animals at the centre and I know the bunnies are very thankful too. Ben Howard & Sarah Owen

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STOP PRESS - WE NEED TO GET SOME PAID ADVERTISERS FOR OUR NEXT PAWS FOR THOUGHT, PLEASE ASK ANY BUSINESSES TO GET IN TOUCH

Mark Elliott and Associates Veterinary Surgeons providing a new vision of Animal Care

Madam Green Business Centre, Oving, Chichester, W. Sussex.

For more information, look around our website,

(www.markelliott.co.uk) or call us on: 01243 779111

KEYDELL NURSERIES, HAVANT ROAD, HORNDEAN,

WATERLOOVILLE, HANTS PO8 0UU Tel: 023 9259 3839

Email: info@keydellnurseries.co.uk

Namgrass UK - A perfect lawn - all year round

A Namgrass artificial grass lawn means that no matter what the

seasons bring, you can enjoy a beautiful, pristine lawn at any

time of year no matter what happens with the weather. Made for

four legged friends, we love our pets, but no one likes muddy paw

prints in the house. �A Namgrass artificial grass lawn means

that you can let your furry friends free in the garden without

needing to scrub the floors afterwards www.namgrass.co.uk

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Helping the Environment As well as raising money we are always looking at ways of saving money, and although a long term project we have decided get some solar panels on Viv Eadon Lodge, the picture shows just some of the panels. Viv Eadon Lodge is heated by a ground source heat pump, and the only thing we have to pay for is the electricity to pump the water round, so this should cut down the costs considerably if not completely.

Some stats

So far this year we have taken in 476 animals (38 guinea pigs, 57 rabbits,

96 kittens and 285 cats). Rehoming figures (352 cat & kittens, 45 guinea

pigs, 48 rabbits). A new slogan we are using to encourage people to adopt

from rescues is ’Why Breed or Buy, while Others Die’

Don't forget to tell your friends and family about all the animals waiting here for their forever home, with your help we can rehome more. We have some new A5 posters made up so if you can post them around your area this will help to spread the word. Get in touch with Emma if you would like to help around your area. The more awareness we can get the more we can rehome. We hate them sat here in a pen, do you? Make a difference, please get in touch to admin@crrc.co.uk or phone 07776 204320.

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CATS and RABBIT ENCLOSURE FOR SPONSORSHIP

Bonny-Boots - BLACK FEMALE WHO PREVIOUSLY SHARED A HOME WIH 90 CATS Buzz - A REAL CUTE TABBY & WHITE LAD

Calista - BRIGHTLY COLOURED TORTY AND WHITE FEMALE

Carlos - MAGNIFICENT BLACK CAT WHO LOVES BEING ON HIS OWN Francesca - MAINLY BLACK WHO LOVES HER LIFE IN THE BARN Michael - BLACK AND WHITE FRIENDLY CAT WHO TURNED UP IN THE BARN

Tails - A BLACK & WHITE GIRL WHO LOVES A STROKE IN THE STABLE Mabel – A BEAUTIFUL BLACK & WHITE FERAL WHO WILL TOLERATE A STROKE

Hulk – GORGEOUS 3 LEGGED TABBY WHO LOVES A CUDDLE Pebbles - PARTIALLY SIGHTED SLEEK BLACK FEMALE WITH WOBBLY BITS

Also THE RABBIT ENCLOSURE – a 2,500 square feet area with 30 hutches & runs which are moved daily onto fresh grass

The Cat & Rabbit Rescue Centre Sponsorship Scheme

I would like to sponsor ……………………………….(name of Cat/Rabbit Enclosure)

I enclose:- First Year’s Sponsorship Fee:- ………… £ 15-00

Donation:- ……………………………… £

Total:- ………………………….. £

Name :- …………………………………....... Telephone No. ……………….................

Address :- ……………………………………………………………………………...…............

…………………………………………………………………………………………....................

……………..……………………………............. Post Code …………………………….....

Signed :- ………………………...........…… Date :- …………………………….........

Email:......................................................................................................... If you would like The CRRC to make more of your sponsorship and you are a tax payer, please request and sign our separate Gift Aid declaration form and return it with this form. Please send the completed form(s) to CRRC, Holborow

Lodge, Chalder Lane, Sidlesham, West Sussex, PO20 7RJ.