UNWANTED pets are having to be sent to Dundee to be rehomed as callous owners in the Capital abandon them to go on holiday, an animal charity warned today.
The Scottish SPCA is struggling to cope with a rise in the number of animals at its Edinburgh shelter after a steep drop in the number of people interested in adopting a rescued pet.
And staff say the problem is being made worse by people who are
simply abandoning their family pet rather than find someone to look after it when they go on holiday.
The Lothian Animal Welfare Centre at Balerno is now at its fullest since Christmas, with some cats having to share cages.
Animals are having to be sent to SSPCA shelters in the Borders or Dundee. There has also been a surge in the number of rabbits, as well as more unusual pets such as ferrets and snakes.
Manager Kenny Sharp said staff were working flat out to care for the animals.
He said: "This has been building up over the last couple of months.
"There has been a steady number of animals coming in, but very few going out.
"We're absolutely heaving with cats now and we've had a lot of escaped and abandoned rabbits coming in as well.
"A lot of people are going away on holiday and abandoning their animals.
"At this time of year a lot of kennels are full and it can be very difficult to find someone to care for them.
"Either that, or they are leaving them with friends or neighbours who find they can't cope."
The centre currently has 31 cats – three more than its maximum capacity. There are 18 dogs, 24 rabbits, ten birds and eight ferrets. There are also nine snakes and seven fish, while the stables are full, with 13 horses.
Staff spend four hours cleaning the cages from 8am to noon, before they can even start walking and grooming the dogs.
Mr Sharp said many of the new admissions were in very poor health and needed a lot of care. He said: "We've had some animals which are underweight or have had injuries.
"Some people have even been evicted from their house and left their pets behind.
"Very few people are coming in at the moment to look at the animals. On Friday we only had two families – normally it is really busy."
Doreen Graham, a spokeswoman for the SSPCA, said the school summer holidays could be the ideal time to give a pet a home.
"A lot of people think it's the wrong time of year and of course it's not a good idea if you're going on holiday," she said.
"But if you have some time off work and aren't going away, it can be a great chance to bond with your new pet."
The full article contains 480 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
