How we find your perfect match

Can you give an animal a loving home and a new start in life?

HERE at RSPCA Hillingdon, as with all RSPCA branches, we are acutely aware of the importance of finding the right owner for each and every animal we rehome.

When an animal is left in our care, for whatever reason, we take on responsibility for that animal’s future life and comfort – it is a truly huge responsibility.

So how does the process work, and what journey does the animal go on once he or she comes to us?

Each animal will receive an immediate veterinary consultation and will then be found accommodation and will receive hands-on care from our trained and dedicated animal welfare staff.

Then there’s flea and worming treatments and microchipping if the animal hasn’t already been microchipped.

There are a series of assessments and discussions about rehoming, and then we will need to sort out photographs and a fair and accurate write-up so that we can ‘advertise’ the animal on our website.

Interested parties must fill in an adoption application form and we then go through the forms to check that everything is in order.

If the details supplied suggest a good match with a particular animal, we’ll make a phone call and arrange an initial interview, so that we can find out more about what you’re looking for and what type of pet would suit your household.

Then follows a period of viewing and time for bonding.

If you already have a dog, you may need to bring your dog along to meet his or her potential playmate. All being well, we will arrange a home visit, where one of our volunteers will travel to your home to make sure it’s a safe and appropriate environment for the pet you are looking to adopt. All animals adopted from our branch must have been sterilised prior to rehoming, so that may need to be arranged.

The final rehoming process with all the paperwork takes around an hour, including advice about diet and information about pet insurance.

New owners receive an adoption pack and, of course, we record everything diligently.

We’ll then make a follow up call after the adoption to check that the new family member has settled in, and to answer any questions.

This all takes a huge amount of work from our team.

In December 2016 we rehomed an astonishing 51 animals – a record month. We are always keen to hear from anyone who is able to volunteer some time to help. If you have a few spare hours each week and are able to commit, you could help us a great deal by co-ordinating home visits or helping with administrative work, for example.

Send an email to volunteers@ rspcahillingdonclinic.org. uk to register your interest and we’ll send you a form to fill in.

Autumn the white kitten was found in October all alone and looking very sorry for herself.

A kind member of the public alerted us and after assessing the situation we brought her into our cattery, where an initial veterinary examination revealed that she was deaf – an issue that is not uncommon among white cats.

Unable to hear anything, and having been abandoned, it is unlikely that she would have survived if she had not been rescued.

After a few weeks of TLC in our cattery, Autumn found her forever home over the Christmas period. We wish her every success and happiness in her new home.

We have several gorgeous felines in the cattery at the moment.

Beautiful tortoiseshell Moggy is a kind and laid-back lady whose favourite pastime is cuddling up in her comfy bed while watching the world go by.

She is around eight years old and would prefer to be the only cat in the household.

Moggy has come to us through no fault of her own and would really love to find her forever home soon, so that she can get all the love and fuss she deserves. Could you open up your home to Moggy?

Visit www. rspcahillingdonclinic.org. uk to view all of our animals and download an adoption application form.

In this cold weather, we are grateful for any donations of old sheets and blankets to use for bedding for the animals.

These can be brought into our clinic at 16 Crescent Parade, Hillingdon UB10 0LG.

We are also urgently in need of kitten food, as we have a lot of young feline mouths to feed.

Thank you very much for your support.