RSPCA

With temperatures set to soar to 20C this week, the RSPCA is issuing advice to pet owners to ensure their animals are comfortable and happy in the heat.

The Met Office has predicted highs of 20C on Saturday and Sunday, prompting the RSPCA to remind pet owners to consider their animals over the summer weather.

Just as cold, wintry weather can pose a risk to animals, hot temperatures in the summer months can also be hazardous to our furry friends.

Every year we receive thousands of reports of animals suffering from heat exposure. The most common calls the RSPCA’s...

Support Adoption For Pets manager Amy Wilson has underlined the importance of making sure your dog is microchipped.

New legislation is set to commence from the 6th April 2016 making it a legal requirement for all dog owners to ensure their pets are microchipped, or could face a £500 fine and a criminal conviction.

Statistics show that around 1.8 million of our furry friends are still without a microchip making them untraceable if they are to go missing, and Amy has advised the public to take responsibility and adhere to the new law.

She said: “We cannot express the...

Figures released today (23 March) by the RSPCA reveal that people being convicted for cruelty in many areas of the South West is on the rise, whilst the number of animals being rescued is also increasing across the region.

Courts in the South West have seen an increase in the number of people convicted for crimes relating to animal welfare, particularly in some of the larger counties. In seven out of 13 counties in the RSPCA’s South West region there was an increase in the number of people being convicted in prosecutions taken by the RSPCA. In both Hampshire and Somerset, there was...

The RSPCA is appealing for information after a cat was found with broken bones, skinned and bound by twine lying dead behind a multi-storey car park on Brook Street in Tavistock, Devon.

A member of the public was horrified to find the mutilated body outside the Cooperative car park in the Devon town at 8.30am on Saturday 27 February and immediately called the RSPCA for help.

RSPCA inspector Lewis Taylor, who attended the grim scene, said: “This was a very strange and disturbing incident and we would really like to get to the bottom of what happened to this poor cat....

The RSPCA is appealing for information after 14 hamsters found themselves left in the cold outside a block of flats in Exeter at Christmas.

A member of the public was going out shopping on the afternoon of 21 December when they spotted four cages filled with Syrian hamsters on King Street, next to a block of flats.

At first they thought someone must have been moving out and had perched the cages there as a temporary measure, but when they returned several hours later and saw that the cages were still there they realised nobody was coming back for them.

Concerned for...

The RSPCA is appealing for information after a young, female Staffordshire Bull Terrier type dog was left tied to a gate in a secluded spot on Old Tiverton Road in Bampton, Devon, last Thursday (10 December).

The small, mostly black and white dog, who is thought to be around two to three years old, was initially discovered by a member of the public at around 6am on the morning of 10 December.

Thinking the dog must belong to someone the person left the spot but when they returned later on at 11am, they were shocked to find her still sitting there tied to the gate and...