Interview with our Animal Welfare Officer – Part Two – RSPCA South London

What does a typical day look like in your role?

Every day is completely different in my role, as sometimes I get up early to take a cat to the vets for 8.30am for a neutering appointment, and other times I have the mornings free to catch up on the bits I need to do at home on the computer. A good example however looks like the following from last month:

Took a cat of ours to the vet for dental for 8.30am, picked up a faecal sample from a fosterer, dropped it off to the vets, book some appointments for other cats while I was there, had lunch, picked up the cat that had dental and took her back to the private boarding facility, picked up medication from the vets while I was there, drove the medication to a fosterers house, drove nearby to an anxious cat that needed feeding while the fosterer was away and set up extra hides for her to try to make her more comfortable, drove home!

We have two private boarding facilities, six active fosterers, and three main vet practices we use, so I must be careful with how I plan my day.

RSPCA South London kittens — **Some kittens that Cheska recently looked after**

If I do it incorrectly then I could spend hours in the van driving from one end of our branch area to the other! On the days where I have more time I will catch up on my computer bits at home, and this could be recording the outcomes of vet appointments, creating social media posts, emailing back fosterers etc. (see OUR AREA to view the postcode areas that make up our branch area).

What elements of your job if any do you dislike?

It’s hard to think of something I dislike about this job because I really am over the moon with it! I guess the hardest part for me has been discovering that legally there isn’t a lot that can be done to get animals out of unhygienic or potentially unsafe environments.

Although investigating homes isn’t within my job role, I do sometimes visit people’s houses and see subpar living conditions that the law currently views as acceptable. Hopefully over time the laws can be stricter so we can continue to improve the minimum standard that animals are kept at!

Do you have a message for our followers/supporters/volunteers?

It’s been a real pleasure interacting with all our supporters and volunteers. It’s so much fun being able to share our work on social media and to see everyone interact with the content because it really highlights the community we are a part of. It means the world to us when we can see our messages being shared and appreciated, and we hope that our supporters will help us to keep on growing!

I am also very grateful for those who volunteer for us, whether that’s fosterers or those willing to lend a hand with driving and visiting foster cats.

We have some fantastic fosterers volunteering for us at the moment who take on board everything we suggest, including turning someone’s living room into a pillow fort for an anxious cat! We wouldn’t be able to provide our cats with such tailored care if it weren’t for the trust the fosterers have in us.

We also have a small number of volunteers who were generous enough to offer transport and assistance in visiting foster cats over the Christmas period, which is particularly important for those anxious cats that would have taken a step back in their progress by being moved again to a different environment.

If anyone has been thinking about volunteering for us but hasn’t been sure how they could help or how much time they could offer us, please don’t worry about getting in touch! There are tonnes of small ways you might be able to help us without having to dedicate lots of time! See our contact page to get in touch.

What is your favourite domestic and favourite British wild animal, and why?

My favourite domestic animal has to be the cat! I grew up loving all domestic animals; being that annoying child who kept bugging my parents for a cat or dog or any kind of mammal.

However I finally settled on cats because I really enjoy the idea that what you get from them is what you put in. I find it rewarding when a cat has decided to trust you or sits on you warily for the first time, because it’s a result of your hard work nurturing the relationship.

Obviously some cats are easier to win over, but my eventual first cat really took a while to win over and it made our relationship so much more special.

RSPCA South London cat — **Cheska’s cat Arya who she took in as a stray**

My favourite British wild animal is the roe deer, because the house I grew up in had a garden that backed onto a small woodland and as a child I had the weirdest experience of going into that woodland and swearing blind I saw a deer running away from me.

I was small so wasn’t sure whether or not to believe it, especially seeing as the woodland was sandwiched between everyone’s gardens and we lived in Croydon!

Twenty years later and we’ve since seen these deer running around the front gardens and breaking into our own garden to eat and sunbathe. It was a childhood mystery that has only recently been solved so roe deer have always tickled me!