Zazu the kitten inspires Tameside Vets' new charity fund

An abandoned kitten, whose life was saved by a Droylsden veterinary team, has inspired a new charity fund to help animals in need of urgent care.

The tiny two-week old kitten was brought into the Tameside Veterinary Clinic on Greenside Lane by a member of the public.

He was desperately ill with cat flu, which had left his eyes sealed shut, and it was touch and go whether he actually survived.

The kitten, who has now been named Zazu by practice staff, was cared for and bottle-fed around the clock by veterinary nurse Becki Weekes. Zazu has now completely recovered, doubled in weight and is looking for his forever home.

Zazu is one of an increasing number of sick, injured and abandoned pets an d wildlife handed in at branches of Tameside Vets that have been given a second chance of a happy life, thanks to the care and skills of team members who give up their time for free.

Now, Tameside Vets, which also has branches in Ashton, Hyde and Stalybridge, has set up a fund to help meet the cost of treating stray pets and wildlife brought into surgeries.

Collecting tins for the charity fund will be placed in each of Tameside Vets’ four branches and members of the public are invited to make donations.

Senior vet Loren Shearing said: “We decided it would be a good idea to set up the stray fund to help our work in treating sick or injured stray animals and wildlife that are brought in by caring members of the public. It is an important part of our job and we are dedicated to helping anything handed into the practice.

“We have a lot of stray pets and wildlife handed in and it does cost to look after them. We give them emergency treatment, which is ethically what vets are required to do. But at Tameside Vets, we try to do as much as we can until we can trace their owners or hand them over to a rescue centre.

“A large number of lost or abandoned cats are handed into us, but we also get a lot of hedgehogs, birds, rabbits and other wildlife brought in by members of the public. We work closely with a number of local rescue centres, including Dogs Trust, Millstream, Pennine Pen and Bleakholt.”

Any animal receives the best possible veterinary treatment and care until they are reunited with owners, handed over the rescue centres or can be returned to the wild.

In the last three weeks alone, Tameside Vets has treated and cared for:

• A cat called Jeff who was dumped in a pet carrier on the steps outside their Ashton surgery;
• An elderly female cat thought to have been hit by a care that required intensive nursing, but sadly had to be put to sleep;
• A baby hedgehog found wandering in daylight hours, who was cold and hungry, and was taken to a local wildlife rehabilitation centre after treatment;
• A baby finch brought in after crashing into someone’s window that was released after being nursed back to health;
• A racing pigeon that collapsed after flying all the way from Stoke and has now been reunited with his owners.