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Nini News Newsletter of

RSPCA Llys Nini Animal. www.rspca-llysnini.org.uk

September 2013

Every year we report increasing numbers of unwant-ed kittens needing to come into Llys Nini and other rescue centres but this year has truly been phenomenal! Cattery staff and volunteers have had to deal a huge number of unwanted, dumped and abandoned kittens as well as stray and unwanted pregnant female cats. At one point the cattery was full as were the holding pens in D block; all our fosterers were up to or over-capacity, staff were caring for animals at home and the new meeting room was full of emergency cages for additional kittens. The problem has been horrendous much of it caused by heartless, cruel people; e.g. Lotus and OJ were found taped up in a cardboard box at the height of the heat wave at Gorseinon Sorting Office. Other litters have been found just left out in the garden in the rain, cold, wet and starving. Llys Nini Trustees have prioritised the problem in the 5 year action plan and will be making huge efforts to educate people to get their cats neutered to stop all these unwanted kittens. Currently Llys Nini is work-ing with an MBA student at Cardiff University to ascertain the best way to get the message across, with the hope of preventing another krazy kitten year in 2014.

Duncan a 12st St Bernard dog, who along with a cat and a hamster were found left in a Mountain Ash home and had to be rescued by an RSPCA Inspector and police. The team of rescuers had to climb in through a front window as they could not get in through either of the doors.

As Duncan’s previous owner has not come forward, he is now looking for a new home. He is 4 years old and a really loving dog. He will need to go to somebody with experience of having a large dog. Anyone interested in Duncan should contact Llys Nini

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This is Luna and her 10 kittens - yes that's right 10 kittens. Luna came into Llys Nini as a very pregnant stray and 2 days later gave birth to 12 tiny kittens. Unfortunately 2 were just too small to sur-vive but now 10 days on and after a lot of work and care by the cattery staff Luna's 10 kittens are healthy and stable. They are obviously a long way from being ready to be adopted but Llys Nini staff are delighted with their progress. Luna is proving to be a good mother, even though she is very young. The birth of 12 kittens is something of a record for Llys Nini but is not even close to a world record.

The world's largest litter of domestic cats was born on the

7 August 1970. A Burmese/Siamese in Oxfordshire, gave

birth to 19 kittens, four of which were

stillborn.

Taking the Strain

The large numbers of cats and kittens that have come in this year have not only really stretched our resources but have completely filled the Animal Centre. Staff and volunteers have done a great job trying lots of different ways to find new homes for them. They have organised and run 2 very successful Rehoming Evenings, when we stay open later than normal, provide teas and coffees, cakes etc and encourage potential adopters to meet our cats and small animals needing new homes.

Everyone involved deserves a WELL DONE and THANK YOU.

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Mitzy 2013 Llys Nini’s Dog of the Year

Fastest Recall 2013 Winners

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Class 1 - Dogs under 40cms and 8 years or older Hela Home Scrumpy GiGi Clarke -

Class 2 - Dogs under 40 cms and 7 years or younger Chad Williams Breeze Peek-Hughes Luna Middleton Bella Hogarth

Class 3 - Dogs over 40cms and 8 years or older Joe Jenkins Harvey Fleming Bilbo Jack Beynon

Class 4 - Dogs over 40 cms and 7 years or younger Zip Fawkes- Jake Harrison Dylan Jenkins Oscar Renton

What people thought of the day: Leah Blake it was fantastic! my daugh-ter was thrilled at coming second in the young handlers an my chinese crested had loads of fun mingling. pity we had to leave early but the heat was just too much after a couple of hours x Danielle Roberts Mr universe 1# is cur-rently sprawled across the settee chilling out after spending all day enjoying him-self at the dog show, had a fab time! Allison Vickery thanks for a brill dog my dog loved meeting all the other dogs highlight of my daughters day getting a prize and rosette in the young handlers made her day even though she didn't win what a lovely thought giving them all a prize thanks again for a great day cant wait till next year. Nicola Gore It was a great day, happy to support the good work that you do!

Thank you to everyone who made this year's dog show such a success! It was great to see old friends, 2 and 4 legged. It was very hot but the dogs had their own paddling pool and lots of water and there were cold drinks for the owners too. A special thanks to all our sponsors and all the staff and volunteers who worked so hard and, as always, to Kev Johns for his time. St James vets sponsored the Dog of the Year Trophy.

The day made £6,500 for the care of our animals

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July Mutt Strutt Bryngarw House

Our first Mutt Strutt in Bridgend had limited success but it was pouring down with rain at the time. Many thanks to everyone who turned out to support us. It was a lovely venue; we walked around the garden paths and duck ponds and then had a nice cup of coffee in the café. Our next Mutt Strutt and dog walk will be in Swansea—please see the poster for details.

Staff at Sainsbury’s Gorseinon have chosen Llys Nini as their charity of the year. Many thanks for thinking of us and your on-going support. Staff from the store will be carrying a log all the way from Swansea seafront back to Gorseinon on 6th October and all the sponsor-ship will be coming to Llys Nini.

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Our Next Fund raising Event is:

This year we are setting off from the Civic Centre on Swansea Seafront and go-ing around the Marina and back . We can finish up with a cup of coffee in the sun (!)outside the Civic Centre Café. Sponsor form attached or on www.rspca-llysnini.org.uk Classes: 1. Classic Strutt—you & dog 2. Boss Strutt—you & boss on a lead 3. Team Strutt—go husky! Minimum of 4 (human) walkers in a harness

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For sale on site. Items made at Llys Nini from materials found on site, includ-ing Hedgehog boxes, bird houses and feeders Plus wild bird food for the winter. We can also take orders to make exactly what you want and need.

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Helping Animals and the Environment Llys Nini’s charity shops are doing much more than raising money to support the work of the animal centre, they are making a big impact on reducing landfill. In July alone, the shops saved over 7 tonnes of waste from going to landfill. This is on top of the 100s of kilos of goods we sold in our shops. Having teamed up with a recycling company, Llys Nini’s aim is to try to recycle all our waste and send nothing to land fill. If we can continue as we started in July, we should be able to save a huge 84 tonnes of waste from landfill every year.

New Gift Aid Scheme in all our shops.

We are asking all our supporters to donate their

old clothes, bedding, towels, shoes, etc to our shops but if they are a tax payer to GIFT AID the donation. It is a very simple process, just fill in the form and then we can claim from the Government an extra 25% on the sales value of your donation. It does not cost you anything but Llys Nini will get an extra 25p on every £1s-worth of sales in the shops. We will be running the Gift Aid shop donation Scheme from Llys Nini very soon.

Credit Cards now taken In order to maximise income from our shops we have introduced credit/debit card payment facilities in most of our shops. This has meant that we have had to put a landline into the shops and so their telephone numbers have changed. Please see the contacts page for details

Become a Llys Nini Clothing Collection Champion

Become a Llys Nini Clothing Collection Champion, and arrange a Clothing Collection at Work, at a Coffee Morning, a Parent and Toddler Group or even just with family and friends. If there are 5 bags or more we will collect.

Here's how it works We’ll arrange a date with you for our van to collect from your work/group. When we have set a date for collection, we will help you by sending you leaflets and posters to help with advertisement and hopefully maximise donation. Once this has taken place we will also send you a thank you certificate.

The scheme is currently operating in Llanelli, Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot, Porthcawl and surrounding areas. So if you live and work in or around these areas then we would love to hear from you.

If you would like to learn more about this scheme or sign up contact

Email: fundraising@rspca-llysnini.org.uk

Call: 01792 892293

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Ferret Friends Lilly with her new friends from Llys Ni-ni, Freddie, Nina and Barrie, all getting along wonderfully and very much loved. Thank you Sarah

Micky Micky has settled in very well. It was difficult keeping him in for a few weeks and keeping to the food allowance! After a few scraps he has now cleared the garden of cats and seems to like the garden, especially watching the fish.

Wanda adopted in January

ALFIE

A recent photo that you might like to see of Alfie and Barney looking out the window together. Alfie is doing fine, I will be taking Alfie to agility classes at the end of September, when they start, which he should enjoy very much, and also help his ongoing training. That said, Alfie is very intelligent and de-spite no previous house training or being taken out for walks, he has learnt exceptionally quickly. He is also a very gentle soul, and is a pleasure to have around, and has bonded well with our old boy Bar-ney. Ken and Carole

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You can find out about the dogs needing a new home on our Dogs’ Blog www.rspca-llysnini.org.uk follow the link for animals and click the dog picture

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To go together

You can find out about the cats needing a new home on our Cats’ Blog www.rspca-llysnini.org.uk follow the link for

animals and click the cat picture

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Kittens and Cats—we have nearly 100 cats and kittens needing homes. Please visit us ( or the cats’ blog) to see them, all different colours, shapes, sizes and ages but all needing a loving home.

We have lots more ferrets like Widget needing a home. We currently also have a number of rabbits and birds for adoption.

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