Pet Wellbeing and Care

Pet health & wellbeing

Worrying about your pet’s health or behaviour can be stressful. Woodgreen organises pet wellbeing events in Cambourne and via Zoom online. If you have questions about how to care for your pet, concerns about their health or if you’re not sure if you need to visit a vet, these events will give you the information you need to keep your pet healthy and happy. These events are free but you do need to book your place in advance. Find out more &  book here.

Woodgreen also offers a free pet behaviour helpline – by filling out an online form, you can request a telephone call-back from a pet specialist to talk about behavioural issues or concerns. Find out more & book here.

The Blue Cross website has a free & comprehensive information and advice that covers common pet ailments, issues and concerns. Find out more here.

If you are unsure if your pet needs to see a vet, the RSPCA recommends this online pet symptom checker.

The Cinnamon Trust is a national charity which seeks to relieve the anxieties, problems and sometimes injustices, faced by elderly and terminally ill people and their pets. Volunteers can provide:

• practical help when any aspect of day-to-day care poses a problem – for example, walking the dog for a housebound owner
• national fostering service for pets whose owners face a spell in hospital
• help to find pet-friendly care home – click here
• long term care for pets whose owners have died or moved to residential accommodation which will not accept pets.

Find out more here or call 01736 757 900.

Financial assistance

Local organisation, Boomerang, offers low cost pet mobile micro-chipping at your home as well as a pet foodbank if you are struggling to feed your pet. Boomerang will help anyone who genuinely needs assistance – take a look at the area they cover here. If you can’t get to a pet food collection point (contact Boomerang for details), then a volunteer can deliver pet food to you. Boomerang can also be found on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Boomerangspetfoodbank

https://www.facebook.com/Boomerangmicrochipping

For medicines and veterinary assistance, if you are facing financial difficulties or if you are homeless, there is financial support available – take a look at the RSPCA’s website for more information.

Rehoming your pet

There are lots of reasons why people can’t keep their pets and the decision to rehome them is never easy. If you think you need to rehome a dog, cat or small animal/domestic fowl (hamsters, gerbils, mice, rats, chinchilla, degu, rabbits, ferrets, chicken, geese or ducks), then you can contact Woodgreen who will discuss your situation with you confidentially and sensitively, helping you make the right decision for you and your pet. They even offer a pet collection service. You can find out more about this process and book an appointment for a chat here.

If you don’t need to rehome your pet immediately, then the Blue Cross Cambridge Rehoming Centre offers a Home Direct Scheme for dogs, cats, rabbits and other small pets whose owners can no longer keep them. Pets stay in their current home until a new owner is found for them. All pets go through an assessment and matching process, and not all animals can be accepted on to the scheme.  To discuss your circumstances, call 0300 777 1470, email or find out more here.

The Dogs Trust provide a range of advice and practical support to care for your dog. They also offer non-judgmental advice and support if you make the difficult decision to give up your dog. You can call them on 0300 303 2188 or contact them online by clicking here.

End of life decisions

Sometimes the kindest way to end a pet’s suffering is to ask a vet to end their life – but it isn’t easy to make this decision. If you would like to talk to someone, free help is available from:

• Cats Protection Paws to Listen
• Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Support Service

Pet bereavement

The death or loss of a pet can be devastating. If you need to talk to someone free and confidentially there are helplines & bereavement services – more information here.

Animal welfare & lost/stray dogs

If you are worried about the welfare of an animal – if you think it is in imminent danger, being treated cruelly or seriously neglected – you can contact the RSPCA cruelty line on 0300 1234 999 between the hours of 8am to 8pm. The call costs the same as any call to a UK landline number.

If you have a problem with a barking dog in your area, call 01954 713 000 for South Cambridgeshire District Council’s (SCDC) Environmental Health section.

Stray dogs are also the responsibility SCDC – find out more here. You can also call SCDC if you have lost your dog to see if it has been reported or handed in between 8am and 5:30pm (Monday to Friday) on 01954 713 000. You can also contact Wood Green to check if your dog has been handed in there.

All of the support mentioned here is free, though standard charges may apply for telephone calls.