Diary of a phoneline volunteer
6.30 am Anxious phone call from a registered client of our clinic. Her 6 month old pup has vomiting and diarrhoea with blood in it but is fairly bright. This is one of our "heart-sink" sets of symptoms as all too often the cause is parvo-virus - a major killer of unvaccinated dogs. However, in this case, the pup is fully vaccinated and there is an excellent chance that he has nothing worse than a severe stomach upset. He does need to be seen today, but there is no need to wake the vet who is on-call overnight. I explain to the owner that I will put a call through to the vets when the day shift come on duty at 9 am and she will get a call shortly after that to make arrangements for the pup to be seen as an urgent case.
9.50 am This caller's cat has probably been hit by a car. He is dragging one hind leg. She says she has no money at all and the cat is not registered with our clinic. As she isn't registered, the terms of our agreement with the University Vet school, who staff the clinic, don't allow me to refer her to them as an emergency case. There is no way we could afford to pay them enough to employ the extra staff who would be needed to provide full emergency cover for everyone who phones us for help. I agree that the branch will cover the cost of initial emergency treatment at the closest private vet. She must then transfer the cat to our clinic on the next day that it is open and in the meantime she must try to raise the money to cover at least part of the cost of treatment.
10.20 Caller says his rabbit isn't eating and "looks uncomfortable". I probe a little and he mentions that he's seen some maggots. This is an emergency: maggot infestation can cause a horrible death within hours. The rabbit must go to a private vet straight away. The owner is on benefits but says he can pay part of the cost, so I agree to fund a third of the total, up to a maximum of £50.
10.45 An odd one. The caller has spotted a group of swans waddling along a busy main road. This happens quite frequently because shimmering hot tarmac looks very much like water from the air. Swans can take off again from the ground, but it's quite an effort, so once landed they often prefer to walk. Because they're so visible they very seldom actually are struck by vehicles and the best thing to do in this situation is to try to entice them off the road with food.
11.20 Caller has found a stray dog wandering on a busy road with a collar but no tag. I give her the number of the local dog warden and fortunately she is happy to take it from there. Quite apart from the fact that uninjured stray dogs must, by law, be reported to the dog warden in the first instance, we do not have enough funds to board stray dogs until they can be rehomed.
1.30 Fortunately not another emergency: this owner simply wants to know whether he can get any help with the cost of getting his new kitten vaccinated and neutered. He is on income support, so I give him details of our clinic's address and opening times. He will be expected to pay £18 for the vaccinations and £20 to have the kitten spayed - not unreasonable amounts considering that these are expenses a new owner ought to have considered budgeting for before getting a pet.
2.27 The animal collection officer has picked up two elderly cats whose owner had to go into residential care. We will board them at a local cattery until they can be rehomed - unfortunately because of their age this may take some time, and at £3.50 per day costs are mounting up.
3.15 Mobile call from someone in a car: he's just seen a cat struck by a car and thinks it is still alive. He can't turn back to pick it up, but gives reasonably clear directions. Really he ought to have phoned the emergency control centre, but he got my mobile number from our clinic answerphone. There is no realistic chance that one of the animal collection officers would be able to get to the spot in time to do anything useful. I realise that the site of the accident is almost outside Cambridge Vet School and phone them. One of the vet nurses goes way beyond the call of duty and runs round to see if she can help. Sadly it turns out that the cat is dead, but at least we know that he was not left to die slowly by the side of the road.
5.10 One of the local vets phones to say they've had a sick stray cat handed in. The national control centre have already authorised £60 for initial emergency treatment, but more will be needed as that won't cover the cost of a drip overnight. I authorise another £100 plus the cost of a test for Feline Leukaemia and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus and notify our rehoming co-ordinator that another cat has come in and will probably need to be transferred to our kennels.
6.00 Caller has spotted a small yellow bird. It's very tame and she thinks it is a canary. She's managed to entice it indoors. She's actually in Northampton! I explain that she will need to phone the national control centre who deal with rescues and cruelty complaints and that it is important that she selects the correct options from the menu system so that she doesn't just get a recorded message saying that healthy wildlife is best left alone! It is virtually impossible to devise an automatic menu system which allows for all possibilities and most of the complaints we get about the control centre stem from people selecting the wrong options.
9.40 The caller's spaniel has got an irritating grass seed in the pad of his foot and keeps worrying at it. They're registered with the clinic, but this isn't really enough of an emergency to justify me phoning through to the vets this late in the evening, so I ask her to take the dog to the normal clinic session in the morning.
Users of the RSPCA animal clinic must bring proof of benefits or paperwork such as a bank-statement which shows that they have a very low income each time they visit the clinic. If you are unable to bring your pet yourself it's fine for a helper to bring them for you, but the helper must show proof that you are in receipt of benefit and needs to have a signed note from you confirming that they are bringing the animal on your behalf.
Branch contact number 07742 658 086 - please wait until the evening/weekend for non-urgent calls and be aware that this number is answered by a volunteer who is also trying to do other tasks.
