Welfare Assistance

For pet owners on benefits (eg Job-seekers allowance, Income Support, Family Credit, Invalidity/Disability/Sickness Benefit) or state pension we are able to offer some assistance with vets' bills. Please note that as we pay the vet, not you, you must seek our help before paying any money as we cannot reimburse you for money you have already paid out.

To arrange welfare assistance please contact us with details of your pet (eg species [dog, cat etc], pet's name, your name, address and telephone number, illness or injury, vet, and total cost [if known]). Please call 01745 887057 or 01492 543013, between 9.30 am and 6.30 pm.

Please bear in mind that the branch is staffed entirely by volunteers (most of whom are retired and/or disabled) and the above numbers are their home telephone numbers.

The hard truth about pet ownership

It is unfortunate that pets live shorter lives than we do. Plus, there is no NHS for animals. This means that in the absence of pet insurance, which can be very expensive, we tend to be faced with a situation where either the animal is treated at great expense OR it is put down. Whilst it is tempting to spend whatever it takes to treat your pet you need to bear in mind the practicality of the treatment (will the animal be able to cope with any restrictions on it's movements etc), what it's quality of life will be afterwards and for how long.

It is unfortunately the case that it is sometimes kinder to have your much loved companion put to sleep than to put it through an operation that will not necessarily give it any improvement in its quality of life. From our point of view helping an owner with a £100 bill is more likely to produce a successful outcome for the animal than trying to help an owner with a £1000 bill. That doesn't mean we won't try to help an owner with a large bill but you must ask yourself what is in the best interests of the animal.

If the decision you make is that, sadly, it would be best to have your friend's life ended we can help in two ways. Either you can take them to our clinic to have the terrible deed done at very low cost, or we can help with the cost of a vet doing it. However, please note that we WILL NOT assist with putting down a healthy animal. If a vet is prepared to put down a healthy animal we will not bear any of the cost, neither will we do it at our clinic. It is possible that you come under an adjoining area, if so, the relevant telephone contacts are:

• South and east of our area is Wrexham on 0300 123 8092
• Immediately west of our area is Aberconwy on 01492 584 061
• Anglesey (Ynys Mon) is 01407 730 879
• West Gwynedd (to the south west of our area) is 01758 750 356