Meet rescuer Jackie Arnold from Australia.
1. Introduce yourself and where do you hail from?
My name is Jackie Arnold, I was born in Sandy, Bedfordshire , England. My family emigrated to Australia in 1971. I love living in Australia, so much beautiful open land and such a lovely relaxed lifestyle. I have always loved animals, we have always had pets. In 2002 just out of the blue, I had an idea to open a cattery, this was in April, by June it was built, and The Lucky Lodge & Scraps Garden Boarding Cattery was born, yay. We have a magnificent clientele, we are recommended by all the local vets, I absolutely love it, I just walk out my laundry door, I am at work. Surrounded by so many gorgeous cats/kittens.
2. What is your favorite animal?
That is hard to answer I adore all creatures, but I understand cats the best.
3. Do you have any pets?
Oh yes we have pets, 9 cats, 2 dogs, a turtle, goldfish, birds and 2 ducks and of course a husband.
4. What rescue group, shelter, or sanctuary do you own, work for, or volunteer at?
I own Jackie’s 2nd Chance Adoption Shelter
5. How did your adventure in animal rescue begin?
I became involved into animal rescue through customers of the cattery, people’s circumstances changed, moving into rental properties, partners with cat allergies, etc so they asked if I would help to find them a new home, of course after I had been looking after them as customers, I loved the cats, so felt it was a pleasure to help out.
6. What rescue experience moved or inspired you the most?
I think the most inspiring is when people come to re-home and they want to take an older cat, one girl wanted to re-home the oldest one I had, at that stage it was Minky a 14 year old Siamese, we also re-homed a 16 year old Tortie, a 15 year old Ragdoll.
7. Do you have a favorite adoption story?
I have so many, one in particular was an older couple that had lost their last cat on the road, hit by a car, they had come to choose a new furkid, they ended up taking 3, they always come for a visit at least each month. This particular month I had a mother cat with her 2 kittens, the moment the wife saw the mother, she said we will re-home her when she is ready, so 5 months later Kiara, had a new home. These cats have their own bedroom with a cat flap in the window, with the biggest cat run, they are so lucky to be safe and loved.
I am lucky too, because as I am writing this, they have come in boarding for 5 days holiday, so lucky me gets to see them again, like many of my re-homed rescues, they come back in as customers.
8. What is most frustrating about rescue work?
The lack of education is the most frustrating. People purchase a pet from a pet shop or free from the papers, not realising , they need vaccinations against cat flu each year, they need to be de-sexed BEFORE they get pregnant, or un-de-sexed males run away looking for a mate. Or when people live on a busy road and let them out, saying they never leave their property, or live near open land , let them out, they bitten by a snake, it’s only a cat????????
9. If you could give pet owners one piece of advice what would it be?
Number 1, your pet must be de-sexed, micro-chipped and kept inside or build a cat run, the outside world is too dangerous for a cat to be left outside, cars, snakes, dogs, fox’s ,cat haters, feline aids, cat fights, and of course the wild life. There is nothing wrong with having cats as 100% inside pets, they sleep 16-20 hours a day.
10. What advice can you give to someone who might be wanting to get involved with or start an animal rescue group, shelter, or sanctuary?
I would first advice they volunteer for a shelter, to get an idea of what is involved. They must realize this is a massive responsibility. There are no holidays, no days off, you will need to work with nasty cats at times, vet bills, cat food, cleaning products, litter etc etc, are huge expenses, so obviously money is a big issue. You would need to have a sensible limit too, it is so easy to keep saying yes, then you suddenly realise you have so many. It takes time to find homes too. Sometimes you may re-home about 15 in a month, but the next few months nothing. But it isn’t all bad, it is so lovely to save a mother and her gorgeous babies, watch them grow and change, develop their beautiful personalities. I only re-home to 100% inside homes or cat runs, they are all de-sexed, micro-chipped, vaccinated, have name tags and collars before they are ready for re-homing, I also have a disc on their collars saying they are micro-chipped, as so many people do not know about micro-chip tattoos in their ears, they also wear a guardian angel on their collar for extra safe keeping. To see them go to a loving family knowing you have been a huge part of their lives and gave them your best. That is also the hardest part, the goodbyes, it is bitter sweet, a great home, but they are leaving. I have a procedure I go through to make it easier for myself. There is also the worst side of rescue, the illness, the deaths, you feel guilty you didn’t do enough, you have to make that awful decision, many times over, not ever easy.
11. When you are not saving animals what do you like to do?
I am always doing something to do with animals. I walk my 2 dogs Becks(American Staffy) and Sunny( Bull-terrier) they just adore our cats. I also have volunteers that come to work at the shelter from the local schools and colleges, or people that just want to work with animals. I am also a founder of CAWS- Companion Animal Welfare Society Inc. We started the society officially in October this year, we are hoping to make changes to legislation regarding the care, welfare and de-sexing of companion animals, reducing the 40000 cats put to sleep each year in SA at the AWL/RSPCA Shelters, we aim to educate adults and children about animal care and requirements, we would like to shut down the puppy farms. So at the moment we are doing lost of fundraising, which really enjoy doing, we are raising money, so we can eventually subsidise de-sexing of companion animals. I am so excited about this new venture, we are having a great response from the community, we are continually receiving new members, there are a lot of very passionate animal lovers out there, that just want to make a difference, as do I.
Thank you Jackie for sharing your story with us. We are very grateful for all you do to help so many cats. You are the cat's meow!
