THE OWNER of a ‘doggy day care’ centre in Royal Wootton Bassett hopes the money raised at their Christmas open day can make an important difference to animal rehoming in the area.

Lucy Candy, 34, from Royal Wootton Bassett, has owned Lucy Pet Carer day care centre and kennels for 14 years.

Each year they open their doors to the public to raise money for pet related causes, at their most recent open day in December they managed to raise £300.

On Tuesday, Lucy presented a cheque to Tina Burdett, community fundraising officer from the Blue Cross animal charity.

Blue Cross run a rehoming and advice unit inside Pets at Home at St Margaret’s Retail Park in Swindon and a larger rehoming centre in Burford.

Lucy said: “Each year we choose a different charity, last year we raised money for Wootton Bassett Cats Protection who do a lot of fostering.

“This year we chose Blue Cross - I’m quite interested in rehoming and they do some great work in that area.

“We had a cake sale, a raffle and a dog show. We weren’t just relying on our clients, we had people from the local area come along and others from further away. It was a great day.”

Jenna Martyn, centre manager at Blue Cross in Burford, said: “Blue Cross helps over 40,000 sick, injured and homeless pets every year and we are totally reliant on public support.

“We are extremely grateful for this generous donation towards the rebuild of our rehoming centre in Burford.

“The new centre will make such a difference to the pets that come through our doors and means we can double the number of animals we are able to help each year.”

After starting out as just one person doing dog walking and pet sitting, Lucy’s business has now grown significantly.

The day care centre, located at Red Lodge just off Lyme Kiln in Royal Wootton Bassett, can accommodate 30 dogs and the short and long stay boarding kennels can accommodate a further 25.

As well as residential services, they also provide grooming, dog training classes, microchipping and even pet taxis to transport animals to their vet appointments.

Lucy said: “It was originally just me, but then people started asking me if I would have their dogs all day.

“Doggy day care wasn’t really done much back then but as the idea came over from America it got more popular.

“We got busier and busier and now we have ten members of staff and a two and a half acre site.

“We look after all types of dogs from puppies right through to caring for older dogs.”

While the focus of the centre is on dogs, they also provide a home for cats as well as a selection of more unusual animals.

Rabbits, mice, rats, hamsters, budgies, ferrets and even reptiles can all be found alongside the larger four legged residents.