VET’S VIEW: An important week for cats and dogs - so please help me by joining campaign

Some of you know I campaign for animal welfare, especially against puppy (and kitten) farming – mass production of puppies and kittens born into horrific conditions then sold for huge profits to poor unsuspecting pet owners.

These young animals, often diseased and requiring costly vet treatments to fix, suffer shorter life spans and lifelong serious behavioural issues, such as nervous aggression.

The animal welfare issues are numerous, from intensive inbreeding to mating every bitch on every heat (twice yearly), puppies and kittens removed from their mothers too early, all unsocialised and lacking effective immune systems.

Sadly, our Government seems blind to these problems.

While campaigning, I’ve met MPs, charities, pet industry experts, even heads of DEFRA – part of the Government responsible for animals.

While everyone “seems” bothered, few really do anything about a worsening situation.

After all, puppy farms are often licenced by local councils, ineffectively policed so almost impossible to ban, and pet shops/garden centres/private dealers often have legitimate licences to sell pups and kittens to the public.

So, a few years ago, I created “PupAid”, a campaign to raise awareness of puppy farming and how to choose a new pet, i.e. always ask “Where’s Mum?” and see pup/kitten interacting with mother, or rescue a pet from your local rescue centre, thus hopefully ending the demand and supply of farmed puppies and kittens.

This week sees the launch of my e-petition – http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49528 – calling for a ban on the sale of puppies and kittens without their mothers being present, which I ask you all to please sign, share on your Facebook, etc., so we can reach 100,000 signatures – when the Government must react.

By everyone signing and sharing this e-petition, hopefully, it’ll be the beginning of the end of puppy and kitten farming in the UK.

Thank you.