We get by with a little help from our friends

By Anita Kelsey

I wanted to share a few feel good posts with you (by god we all need cheering up!) and thought I would start with something amazing that happened a months ago. The amazing event sadly happened after a tragic one but a legacy of hope had been left and many more animals, cats and dogs, benefited from the end result.

I am a huge supporter of Mayhew – an animal rescue centre and animal education based charity. On occasions I start a major campaign to help raise much needed funds for them, especially when I am affected by a case of cruelty. The ones many people dread hearing about.

When the case of Prince came along It was like I had been punched in the guts. It hurt big time. I documented the case of Prince, A beautiful German Shepherd dog, in a video that was then added to You Tube. The video can be seen below:

A Just Giving page was set up whereby people rushed to give support and a figure of £1000 was reached within 24 hours.

I wanted Prince to leave a legacy. Such a gentle beautiful giant. His life would not end tragically without something positive happening in his name, not if I had anything to do with it.

After a while the donations to the Just Giving page became less and less and soon came to a natural halt. Mayhew relies on donations only so I was happy that other animals could be helped and hopefully saved to go on and lead lovely happy lives. But Prince deserved more. He deserved a true legacy short of erecting a statue in his name in the lovely gardens of Mayhew (Still wish this to be!!!)

So, not expecting much, I emailed the CEO of two major pet companies – Zooplus and Purina.

Sending them the footage of Prince and the link to the Just Giving page I asked them if they would care to donate. Both CEO’s replied straight away, which was a surprise in itself. Both stated they do not usually give financial donations but that they would donate food to Mayhew. I was very happy with that and thanked them both for their kindness. Then waited.

A week later I received a text from one of the fundraisers at Mayhew. It just read OMG!!!

Purina had donated 500 bags of dog food and Zooplus had told Mayhew that they could turn up with a large van at one of their Greater London warehouses and fill up with food, bedding, toys etc over two visits!!!! Whatever would fit in their van. It was beyond what I ever imagined would happen.

This was the legacy I wanted for Prince. Hundreds of animals helped with kindness in his name.

Here’s a little video from my visit to see some of the items picked up from the Zooplus warehouse

Zooplus donation to The Mayhew Animal Home in memory of Prince from Feline Behaviour Consultancy on Vimeo.

So much food was sent from Purina that other animal charities benefitted too, including one in Romania.

There are some amazing people out there. If you don’t ask you never know!

Thank you to Zooplus and Purina for giving a helping hand to many more cats and dogs and for turning a tragic event into a positive one for future generations of sentient beings we SHARE the planet with.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anita Kelsey holds a first class honours degree in Feline Behaviour and Psychology (work based BA Hons) and runs a vet referral service dedicated strictly to the diagnosis and treatment of behaviour problems in cats. She is also a qualified cat groomer and specialises in grooming aggressive or phobic cats. Anita writes for Your Cat Magazine and is on their experts panel answering readers questions on cat grooming. She also advises on feline behaviour for the CFBA (Canine and Feline Behaviour) magazine as well as being a full member. Anita, a strong advocate of a vegan lifestyle, is based in Notting Hill, London but consults all over the UK as well as international requests. She lives with her husband, a music producer, and two Norwegian Forest cats, Kiki and Zaza. Her debut booked is published by John Blake and is called Claws, Confessions Of A Cat Groomer.

Please contact info@catbehaviourist.com should you wish to book a home cat behaviour consultation.

To subscribe to Anita’s new monthly newsletter on cat news and mog tips please visit:  http://www.catbehaviourist.com/subscribe/