Mittens – and socks – wanted for kittens
If there is one thing cuter than babies wearing socks, it’s animals wearing babies’ socks.
But the ‘‘aww’’ factor isn’t the reason a Taranaki Veterinary Centre is asking the public for baby and toddler sock donations, they’re trying to keep animals as warm and comfortable as possible during surgeries.
St Aubyn Veterinary Clinic put a post on Facebook recently asking the community for spare ‘‘kiddies’ socks’’ for their patients.
‘‘Their temperatures will lower once they have their pre-med and throughout the anesthetic as well,’’ vet nurse Shona Salisbury said.
‘‘So if we keep it up and keep them nice and warm it’s better for them, better recovery.’’
Salisbury said they came across animals wearing socks on another website.
‘‘So we thought ‘let’s get some little baby socks in’,’’ she said. ‘‘We’re always learning. We always have the room nice and warm, the aircon’ going, the heat pumps going, they’re always on a nice cuddly blanket with an electric blanket underneath. So this is just an extra way to help.’’
Earlier that day, Salisbury had performed a surgery on a rabbit that she put socks on.
‘‘One pair and then an odd one,’’ she said. ‘‘They didn’t match, but they worked. They don’t mind.’’
The clinic has been using baby socks for comfort for a while, but need to build their collection.
‘‘We need a good supply of different sizes,’’ Salisbury said. ‘‘From like a little kitten to a great dane.’’
Previously, they’d used bubble wrap ‘‘because we always have lots of it’’.
The vet clinic does around surgeries a week.
When asked if all animals would 20 be treated to the the socks, Salisbury said yes – ‘‘unless they’re having foot surgery, yeah’’.
The clinic’s Facebook post has already sparked a good response from members of the public in that region.