Castration nation

What other job means you get to watch several castrations, meet a cat with thumbs and eat cake all in the same morning...well, mine.

It’s sunrise, or maybe just after. I arrive in a car park next to an RSPCA branch in Brighton East Sussex. My breath comes out in vapour despite winter finally giving way to spring.

A queue of people is already forming. They stand in a straggly line in front of a large white RSPCA van with plastic cat cases in their hands.

The air is punctuated with plaintive cries from the felines within...these clever cats know something is going on...they just don’t know what.

The door to the van swings open and down steps a small woman with short hair and a business-like expression on her face. She starts taking the cats from owners.

I introduce myself nervously. She looks me up and down – from my crumpled RSPCA polo shirt to my pale face - and says: “I do hope you aren’t too squeamish. We’ve had three people faint on this bus I don’t want you to be the fourth.”

This is Nicky Honey, the RSPCA’s one-woman cat neutering dynamo!

Nicky Honey, with vet Alan. Two animal welfare heroes!

For the last 11 years her mobile clinic has become a familiar sight in car parks, outside supermarkets, pubs and community halls in south-east England. The mobile clinic provides low cost cat neutering operations to pet owners in the region's communities who are on low incomes and benefits.

Inside the mobile neutering van

Alongside her partner in crime (vet Alan), Nicky works anything up to 60 hour weeks because she is so passionate about the value of neutering – which is not only important to protect cats' health, but also in reducing the numbers of unwanted kittens.

A cat with thumbs!

Nicky tells me that one cat was brought in to be neutered after apparently having had 17 litters- which equates to around 150 kittens born to owners that did not want them and left to animal charities such as RSPCA and Cats Protection to pick up the pieces.

But the mobile clinic goes far beyond simple neutering. Nicky says sadly that one cat was brought in for neutering which was actually in labour, and the owner hadn’t realised. Nicky and the vet managed to save three of the kittens after doing an emergency caesarean.

Often the cats have other health problems when they are examined by the vet. One was brought in with a ruptured diaphragm and ear problems, mouth abscesses, fractures and gynaecological problems are all too common.

Nicky says the nature of the job involves many skills from nursing to plumbing. It can be quite intense and she has learned to expect the unexpected.


Today there are 14 cats; nine female and seven male. Apparently the procedure is more complicated for the gals than the guys.

I see a female spay first. Now please bear in mind that I am a bit on the softy side when it comes to animals – I was once almost hit by a car rushing to the centre of a duel carriage way to rescue a pigeon (it died in my arms)...

That rather emotional response to animals – and my dislike of blood –is why I highly suspected that I might just keel over at the first sight of blood.


However - all's well that ends well - I didn’t faint... and I got to meet a cat that had thumbs! Now that’s not the sort of thing you get to do every day. Afterwards, as reward for all my hard work (ie: not passing out), Nicky gave me a slice of cake. Nice.

Nicky Honey is an amazing woman, who really does dedicate her life to animals. I feel very privaliged to have spent the day seeing her work, and to have the opportunity to learn why neutering plays such an important part in the on-going fight to improve animal welfare.

By Calie Rydings, snr RSPCA press officer

Nine hundred million reasons to support farm animal welfare

The alleys near the docks were dark, dank, and foul. Robbers lay in wait for sailors stepping ashore from their ships after months, even years, at sea.

Stray cats slithered and mangy dogs prowled. On the wet slippery roads wretched, beaten horses strained and slipped as they tried to pull their loads up the steep hills. Cattle were beaten in the street. This was London, 1824.

In St. Martin's Lane (not far from Piccadilly Circus) stood Old Slaughter's Coffee House. On the evening of June 16 1824, it was busier than usual - because a meeting had been called to discuss ways of protecting animals from cruelty.

Two years previously an Irish member of Parliament, Richard (Humanity Dick) Martin, piloted a Bill through the House of Commons called An Act to prevent the cruel and improper Treatment of Cattle, which made it an offence, punishable by fines up to five pounds or two months imprisonment, to "beat, abuse, or ill-treat any mule, ass, ox, cow, heifer, steer, sheep or other cattle."

But the Act (known as Martin's Act) needed men of vision and courage to ensure the clauses of the bill were put into effect. And one man determined to see that happen - the Reverend Arthur Broome had decided that if he could persuade a few prominent people to support him, he could found a society and employ an inspector to see that Martin's Act was properly enforced.

Humanity Dick himself was at the meeting, as well as a quiet man with a great social conscience called William Wilberforce - the politician who in the 1820’s led the movement to abolish the slave trade.

So, out of this historic assembly the SPCA was born – the world’s first animal welfare charity (The "Royal" was added later). On that night the SPCA declared they would send men to inspect Smithfield Market, where livestock had been sold since the 10th century, as well as slaughterhouses, in order to try and prevent the suffering of farm animals.

What I am trying to demonstrate is that while many people think of the RSPCA as a 'cats and dogs' charity, in fact the Society was founded in 1824 in direct response to witnessing cruelty towards livestock.

Now, nearly 190 years later – through the work of our farm animal science department and the higher welfare food and farming campaigns team - the RSPCA is very much honouring its roots; carrying out this vital work and striving for better welfare standards for all farm animals.

How do we do this? Well, by demonstrating, just as Martin and Wilberforce demonstrated, that improving farm animal welfare begins with the greatest ideas and the smallest actions.

I have worked as the RSPCA press officer for farm animals for three years and am proud of the work these guys do – largely behind the scenes. These are knowledgeable, passionate but pragmatic people, who care very deeply.

That said, it is a huge challenge to try to improve the welfare of such a large number of animals, from chickens kept as pets to pigs and cows on large-scale farms. That’s why we work in a number of different ways to encourage improvements, and always use all available science and practical evidence.

And how can you help? Well it’s easy really...buying just one item of higher welfare food a week, telling just one friend why supporting Freedom Food or Free range can help animals live better lives; or writing just one letter to a supermarket or an MP can help us improve the lives of the 900 million animals farmed in the UK each year.

To find out more about our work and what you can do help improve the lives of farm animals, go to: http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/farm

Calie Rydings, RSPCA press officer