News PDSA Offers Free Canine Health Checks

Pets charity launches special campaign for Leeds hounds

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If you’ve got a pup at home, you can’t afford to pass up a People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) health check – literally, as it won’t cost you a penny! The PDSA will park their PetCheck vehicle in Leeds from Friday 30th July to Sunday 1st August and offer free health checks for dogs as part of their UK-wide tour lasting until October.

PDSA Senior Veterinary Surgeon Sean Wensley cites the tour as being “a vital part of our ongoing work to ensure the health and welfare needs of the nation’s pets are being met”. Wensley and his crew found that one in every four dogs examined during the PetCheck tour was found to have dental disease, and over one in three were overweight. Through its annual UK tours, PDSA hopes to catch these problems early before they become too advanced and thus beyond effective treatment.

A veterinary nurse will be on hand to properly examine your dog’s weight, body figure, teeth, eyes, coat and fitness and will also be available to offer advice concerning any other household pet you might have. Bear in mind, however, it’s dogs only at this event, and all your canine comrades must be accompanied and kept on a lead at all times.

PDSA’s PetCheck tours have served more than 200,000 visitors and 30,000 dogs since their humble beginnings in 1921. The tours first launched when Maria Dickin CBE converted an old gypsy caravan into a horse-drawn clinic, equipped it with a veterinarian and dubbed it a certified PetCheck vehicle. Today (thankfully) the vehicles are much better equipped and tour the country to supplement PDSA’s extensive pet care services offered at 43 established hospitals, five PetAid branches and 350 PetAid practices.

Everyone can benefit from the PDSA’s Leeds visit, but to keep the dispensary on the road and available to other pet owners, public support is needed. The PDSA and its PetCheck services receive absolutely no government or lottery funding and rely completely on donations. So to help fund this important charity, visit www.pdsa.org.uk

30-31 July, 10am-5pm, Pets at Home, Unit 5b Northside Retail Park, Stonegate Road, Meanwood, Leeds, LS7 2TT, 0113 275 9728

1 August, 10am-4pm, Dogs Trust, Woodlands Farm, York Road, Leeds, LS15 4NL?, 0113 281 4920

Posted on Monday 12th July 2010
Rebecca Shoemaker

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