Starved dog given a Dickens name because he loved food glorious food

A starving dog dubbed Oliver Twist because he yowled for more food is looking for a new home.

The emaciated boxer cross was rescued by the RSPCA after he was tied to tree in a graveyard in Leyton, East London.

He was taken to the charity’s Harmsworth Animal Hospital, where staff discovered he weighed 17.8kg about half the ideal weight of a dog his size.

Vicky Coleman, dispensary supervisor at Harmsworth, said: “I have never seen a dog so skinny, it was absolutely horrendous.”

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is seeing more and more family pets coming through its gates because their owners cannot afford to pay their vet bills. In the first half of 2015, 74 dogs arrived at the charity with serious medical conditions that needed immediate treatment.

From Dartford to Doncaster, canines from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in Brands Hatch have proved there is no distance too far for a Battersea dog, as they travelled across the country to their loving new homes in 2015.

The Dartford areas came out on top as the most likely place in Kent to have a Battersea dog, with the Rochester and Medway postcodes inching close as runners-up. Doncaster and Peterborough also made an appearance, but it was the south-east London and north-west Kent postcodes bordering the countryside rescue centre that proved to be the most popular.

Tens of thousands of people have signed RSPCA petition calling on Westminster government to introduce mandatory licensing for anyone selling puppies

Just three months ago, the RSPCA launched a national campaign to tackle the puppy trade in England.

The main aim of the Scrap the Puppy Trade campaign is to encourage the government to introduce laws in England to combat puppy dealers selling sick and dying puppies.

The RSPCA launched its campaign in October along with a petition which has since been signed by 50,000 people.

From Battersea to Bugnaux, canines from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home have proved there is no distance too far, as they travelled across the entire UK and even abroad to their loving homes in 2015.

Ink the Staffordshire Bull Terrier was rehomed just metres from the south London rescue centre in Battersea, but some went further than others, with Codi the Bull Mastiff making a remarkable 570 mile journey to his new home in Switzerland last year.

As we move from 2015 towards 2016, I am very sad to tell you that we are moving forward without one of our family, because we lost Star earlier this month. I haven’t felt able to share anything about it as to do so would have made it really real, and I just wasn’t ready for that. Losing her was a shock, and left a raw wound in our lives, which will take a long time to ease.

And millions of pets could be ‘giving’ presents too

Pet owners could splurge up to a whooping £250 million* on Christmas presents for their pets this year…...and millions of pets may be ‘buying’ gifts for other people too, an RSPCA survey has revealed.

Almost nine out of ten (90%) of pet owners polled by the RSPCA will be treating their pet to a pressie and 43 per cent admitted that they will be buying gifts for other people from their pets.

The festive survey of more than 200 pet owners discovered:

Animals and vulnerable residents rescued after being trapped by flood waters

The RSPCA has released footage taken by some of the charity’s flood rescue teams which have rescued animals and people across Cumbria and Northumberland in the aftermath of Storm Desmond.

The footage includes the rescue of a dog called Ronnie who was trapped in the upstairs of a flooded school in Carlisle, before he and his owners were evacuated through a window after RSPCA officers had waded through the building’s dark and flooded corridors to reach them.