I always knew I’d work with animals

“I ALWAYS knew that I wanted to work with animals,” said Lucy Carter.
“I’ve always had cats, so I’ve always been the one that was chasing a mouse around the kitchen at three in the morning. 
“I was always the one who wanted to go with the cats when they had to go to the vet, and I’m the one who looks after other family members’ pets and neighbours’ pets when they go on holiday.
“The way I went about my education – I went to college to study animal management rather than going the standard A-level route – I only had one path to go down.”
That was at Wiltshire College Lackham, and Lucy then studied animal science at the University of Reading.
She’s been with Blue Cross for 18 months, spending her first year or so at the charity’s rehoming centre in Burford.
As of last Friday, the centre’s rehoming tally for 2016 was 102 cats, 67 dogs, 69 rabbits, 65 guinea pigs, 33 rats, 13 hamsters, four chinchillas, four gerbils and four degus – a Chilean creature sometimes called the brush-tailed rat. 
Lucy is a staunch advocate of the charity’s microchipping programme; the next free session will be at the Pinehurst Fun Day on July 9 in conjunction with the RSPCA. There will be an amnesty for dog owners who have yet to comply with the new law obliging them to have their animals chipped, and cat owners will also be welcomed.
Cat owners have no obligation to have their pets chipped, but Lucy would like that to change. On her desk is a sad little stack of papers. Each one has the details of a missing cat passed on by some heartbroken owner in the hope of being reunited.
“We see a lot of stray animals at the Blue Cross. I believe a third of the animals that we had in our centres last year were strays. 
“It’s quite obvious a lot of the time that quite a lot of these animals that come in as strays are owned by people, but if the dogs don’t have a collar or a tag, or the cats and dogs don’t have a microchip it’s very hard to trace that owner back.
“We’ll put things on social media and we’ll let local places know that we’ve had an animal in. We do make an effort to find the previous owners, but it’s very, very difficult.
“We get people coming in here, we get people coming to our rehoming centres. If they’re microchipped we scan the animal as soon as they come into the centre and ring the owners immediately.
“The microchip is about the size of a grain of rice, so there is a needle that’s big enough to fit that in. As with any injection there’s a small amount of discomfort, but it literally lasts about two seconds. Most of the time they don’t even notice that it’s happening.”
Blue Cross is mainly focused on rehoming. In addition to strays, it takes in animals whose owners have died or are no longer able to care for them, and also animals recovered by welfare charities.
Sometimes owners resort to desperate measures.
“We have had animals dumped outside the shelter, but we don’t judge people for doing things like that. The fact that they have left it outside a Blue Cross rehoming centre shows that they do want some help for that animal.”
Potential rehomers are asked to fill in a detailed form and go through an interview process aimed at matching them with animals suitable for their home life and schedules. They are introduced to their possible future pets at the shelter – and in some cases at the home of the current owner.
The people who work for the charity are exposed to the best and worst aspects of human behaviour toward animals.
“The nature of the job means you see some horrible things, and sometimes you can’t believe that someone would do that. But the other side of the job is that the majority of the animals that come through are from happy homes and it’s just a change of circumstances.
“Rehoming them gives you so much joy. At the end of the day that’s what you’re here for – to rehome them or to educate them so they can keep their pets better.
“When you have a bad day, that’s what you’ve got to think about.”
“When I worked at Burford, if you had a bad day there was no better therapy than going on a long dog walk or going into a cat pen and socialising with one of the cats.”
Finding homes for difficult cases is especially satisfying. Lucy’s favourite examples include a small cat who was at the Burford shelter for nine months. Called Nick as he arrived just before Christmas, he had neurological problems which meant he enjoyed being with people but didn’t like being stroked. He was eventually taken on by an elderly man who lived alone, and the last Lucy heard of them the two were the best of friends.
Some of the dogs who arrive at the charity’s shelters are victims of fashion, prejudice or both.
There are pugs, for example, brought in by owners who bought them in the midst of the celebrity lapdog trend but weren’t prepared for the expensive medical issues to which the breed is sometimes prone, such as breathing problems. 
The Twilight saga helped to make huskies popular, but some owners came to realise they couldn’t handle the exercise needs of a dog bred to haul sleds in some of the toughest conditions the world has to offer.
Black cats are notoriously difficult to rehome, possibly because of residual superstition or their lack of ‘interesting’ marking. ‘Bull breeds’ of dog can also be difficult to rehome because of an image problem whose cause is poor ownership rather than the dogs themselves.
Lucy’s advice to would-be pet owners?
“We always say to people, ‘Before you think about getting an animal, make sure you’ve thought it through properly. Make sure you realise what sort of work it involves. Consider the financial side of things, make sure everybody in the home wants a pet.’”
Visit bluecross.org.uk.