June 2012
SUMMER NEWSLETTER No 4
Veterinary Assist Group
Veterinary Assist Charitable Trust No: 1104309 - TEL: 07961 952379
23 Newhouse Walk, Morden, Surrey SM4 6BS – 24 HOUR SERVICES – www.veterinaryassist.co.uk
Contents
24
Greek Trip 2012
“Socks”
“Ollie”
Strays
th
5 Emergency Service
New Ambulance
Wildlife Assistance
Donate make E-mail
As well as our own website
www.veterinaryassist.co.uk we
also have 3 Facebook pages.
1.
2.
Veterinary Assist Group
Veterinary Assist
Rehoming Page
3. Veterinary Assist
Charitable Trust Wildlife
and Stray Work
Please do check these pages as we
update them regularly with our
latest news.
GREEK TRIP 2012 – London to Greece – 14 dogs,1cat!
May 2012 we set off on a 3500 mile
round trip to the Greek Island of
Skiathos to pick up 8 dogs, and then
back to mainland Greece to pick up
another 6 dogs and 1 cat. The trip
took 2 weeks to do, 6 ferries and
lots of waggy tails. All the dogs and
Mimi the cat had homes lined up in
the UK which were organised by
Greek Animal Rescue and we
provided the transport to bring
these former strays to their forever
homes. Mimi, Elvis, Delta, Riley,
Trickster, Mirka, Zephyr, Elpida,
Winnie, Ollie, Molly, Charlie, Betty
and Roula were so good. Despite
being on our van for many hours we
had hardly any little accidents. Five
of the dogs were English setters, a
breed that is not often seen in the
UK now, but used regularly in
Greece as hunting dogs. One of the
setters, Elpida had recently had her
hip pinned in Greece after it was
broken and was abandoned by her
Greek owner as he was not willing to
pay the vet fees. She now has a
loving home here in the UK.
“Socks”
Strays
Socks is a 13 a year old black and white
cat who was handed into a vets as her
owner no longer wanted her and had
asked for her to be euthanased on those
grounds.
On 07961 952379
Apart from being a little overweight and
slightly arthritic this little girl was in fine
health and certainly did not deserve to
be put to sleep just because she was no
longer wanted.
23 Newhouse Walk
Morden
Surrey
SM4 6BS
We took her over and after being in a
foster home for 3 months, Socks has now
found her a forever home.
CONTACT US
ac.veterinaryassist@yahoo.co.uk
We would like to thank Goddards
Veterinary Group and everyone else
who sent us donations and food to take
to the shelters in Greece, not
forgetting all the good wishes.
We have assisted many stray animals
lately mainly cats and dogs, but also a
ferret, tortoise and rabbits to name a
few.
We have been able to find homes for
some of these through our Facebook
rehoming page as well as by word of
mouth. 4 kittens rehomed in SW
London, Charlie (cat) rehomed in the
West Country, a guinea pig rehomed in
Wallington and a rabbit in Sutton to
mention just a few of our successful
rehomes. Thank you to all those who
offered homes to these animals………
Veterinary Assist Group
Page 2 of 2
We are the 5th Emergency Service
We like to think of ourselves as the 5th
Emergency Service. We are on call 24
hours a day, 7 days a week for pet
owners, vets, strays and wildlife.
pa
With my small but great team of Jurgen
and Sarah, we try to attend all the calls
of help we can within the realms of
. picking up a
possibilities ranging from
collapsed dog at 4am to helping an
injured bird over the far side of London.
If an animal is in distress then we will
try and help.
We also have to try and remain
professional at all times though with
varying degrees of sympathy/empathy.
It can be hard – seeing an animal in pain
and an owner equally distressed. It’s
not easy and we often have to contain
our own personal feelings to give the
distressed owner a sense of calm and
order when they are at their lowest ebb
in their time of grief.
At the end of the day, the last act of
love an owner can give to their pet is a
dignified and peaceful end and we can
be there to be that shoulder to cry on or
just somebody to talk to.
So when we appear to be in control
(which we are!) we still go home at the
end of the day sometimes feeling sad.
New Ambulance
DONATIONS
Veterinary Assist Charitable
Trust receives no government
funding or lottery grants for
their subsidised, stray or
Wildlife work so if you would
like to donate to the
charitable part of our work
than you can by either
cheque, credit card (please
telephone your card details)
or if you wish to make a
direct payment please call us.
Please remember to tell us
that you have made a
donation if doing directly into
our account so that can thank
you individually.
THANK YOU!!
In January 2012, we attended the
funeral of Tamara Neubauer, one of our
faithful supporters who sadly lost her
battle with cancer at the young age of
40. We were overwhelmed to find that
we were the recipients of donations
made in Tamara’s memory instead of
flowers at her funeral. We used the
funds raised to purchase a new
ambulance with a dedication to Tamara
and her beloved dog Stax. This
ambulance is now in use daily for our
routine ambulance work and wildlife
rescue. We think Tamara would approve
as she loved all animals. Thank you Tam
– we will never forget you for your
support, your generosity and this
ambulance is a legacy to your memory.
Wildlife Assistance
In the past 3 months, our wildlife work
has really increased. This is something
that we do as part of our charity work
and of which we receive no funding.
Jurgen has done the majority of rescues
of foxes, badgers, deer, geese, swans
and ducks with myself and Sarah
transferring various smaller mammals
and birds to local wildlife hospitals.
We have also treated a few birds
ourselves (mainly pigeons),as Tania,
who does the accounts for the business
has a certain affection for these birds
and has taken them home to look after
before releasing them back into the
wild.
About Veterinary Assist Group
Veterinary Assist was founded 9 years ago by
myself, Steve Kemp as I wanted to help animals
and people with a service of transporting their
pets to vets. My company offers a 24 hour, 7 days
a week, 365 days of the year service to the
general public, veterinary clinics and other
authoritive bodies. I also work with the larger
animal charities such as the Blue Cross, PDSA, and
RSPCA offering subsidised fares to the elderly,
disabled and disadvantaged.