This is what it's all about: Dobby & Harry update

I'm writing this blog post on a Monday morning. The office is always the busiest today with staff playing catch up from over the weekend which includes the usual office calls, emails and queries, liaising with National RSPCA staff about which new animals are coming into our care, dealing with animals currently in our care (vet trips, delivering supplies, organising pictures and write ups for ones ready for adoption) not including all the admin involved with running our branch and its 5 shops, phew! But today we got an extra special reminder as to why it's all worth it when we received an amazing update.

Our regular social media followers will recognise Dobby's name instantly. Dobby came into our care as a tiny, terrified and broken little boy. An extremely distressing video of a black and white kitten was given to the National RSPCA who sent an inspector out straight away. The video shows a kitten being repeatedly thrown from a trampoline by young children and eventually hitting the ground. You can read the news story here but be aware of distressing footage and images.  Thankfully the amazing inspector located the kitten from the video and took him straight into a vet for emergency treatment. Please note that the cruelty investigation is now closed but for legal reasons we cannot provide further details.

Despite his happy little face, on examination he was found to have a broken collar bone, swollen head and other soft tissue injuries. 

Bottom right: Dobby when he first arrived at the vet. Top and bottom left: First day in his foster home. Top right: Meeting a kitten friend in foster a few days later!

Thanks to the amazing vet treatment he received and lots of TLC by the vets and nurses, the little kitten, now named Dobby pulled through. Once stable he moved into our branch's care and into a foster home. After a few weeks his foster parents helped him to literally bounce back into a lively, playful kitten.

Whilst in his foster home Dobby met his foster parents resident cats but also other foster kittens. He made a special bond with Harry. Harry is another kitten who had a terrible start and had to be rescued. He was found scared and alone in a member of the public's garden. Thankfully he was also collected by a National RSPCA inspector and came into our care where he met Dobby. They were best buddies from the start and we truly believe they helped each other get better and focus on being kittens again! 

So back to today, Monday morning and we received this picture....

Dobby & Harry settled into their forever home after being adopted last week. So there you go - this is what it's all about. All the hard work from the people who reported both kittens as needing help, the National RSPCA who went out to assist, the vets & nurses who treated them to the foster home who got them 'right' again to the amazing people who decided to adopt and not shop and take our boys into their family. Go team RSPCA!

Of course our work never stops and as I write this the National RSPCA will be taking hundreds of calls of animals in need, vets & nurses will be treating abused and injured animals and our foster homes will be working hard caring for their charges. If you'd like to help there's lots of ways you can!

- Donate unwanted items: our Withington charity shop is desperate for your donations! We then sell them to raise the money we need to run the branch. We take clothing, bags, books, belts, small electricals, bric a brac and jewellery. If you have a carboots worth, we'll even collect if you are local! 

- Donate cat food: with so many cats and kittens in our care we get through lots of food! If you'd like to donate some grubs to our moggies you can via our Amazon wish list here or donations can be left at any of our charity shop locations listed here!

- Make a one-off or regular donation: on average it costs £30,000 a month to run our branch alone. You can set up a direct debit or just make a one-off donation via Just Giving. Click here for more information.

- Adopt, don't shop! we always have lots of animal waiting for new homes, all neutered, chipped and vaccinated (where applicable). So if you or someone you know is looking for a new addition to their family tell them to check out our website or Facebook page which are both updated daily!