The RSPCA is calling for donations as it runs short of the bedding essential for the care of animals in shelters across Victoria.
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Animal care manager Liz Walker said RSPCA Victoria needed to stock up on newspapers, blankets and towels for furry critters in care centres in Bendigo and Castlemaine.
“It’s a very busy time of year for us and our supplies are running low,” she said.
At the Bendigo care centre supervisor Rhonda George said shelter personnel were flat out caring for animals, with the phone ringing off the hook.
“We’ve been getting a lot of strays in here. They are often returned home, which is good,” she said.
“But over the past 12 months we have also been getting more surrenders than in the past and adoption has been a little slower.”
Ms George said newspapers would be used for kitty litter trays.
“Blankets and towels are really useful for bedding, but we can’t accept doonas or pillows,” Ms Walker said.
Ms George said this was because dogs could tear up anything containing feathers.
From shelter to home
Not every dog in the shelter yesterday would need any more bedding.
Roxy the 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier was about to leave the centre and begin a new life with Margaret Scott-Allen and Graham Allen.
Roxy would join another dog who the couple had adopted from the same shelter.
“We just wish we could give them all a home. They are all in need,” Mrs Scott-Allen said.
She said the couple donated to the RSPCA all the time.
Those donations came both in the form of money and in gifts of blankets, towels and coats the RSPCA was currently hoping to stock up on.
Mrs Scott-Allen said at the time she adopted several dogs the RSPCA had waived adoption fees for older canines, so she had been sure to donate money.
She found the RSPCA to be a good service to adopt through because of the care animals received and the work personnel did to prepare each dog for adoption.
“I had three from here at one stage,” Mrs Scott-Allen said.
She said the couple could have gone to a breeder for their dogs.
However she felt those at the RSPCA needed to find homes more.
Anyone who would like to donate supplies can leave them at an RSPCA animal care centre.
The Bendigo RSPCA centre is located at 20 Pipers Lane, Bendigo East. The Castlemaine centre is located at 24 Langslow Street, Castlemaine.
Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
