Why We Loved Getting To Know The Mayhew Animal Home

We’ve been hoping to visit London’s The Mayhew Animal Home for some time now so when we heard about the open day to celebrate the Mayhew’s 130th birthday, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to get to know the Mayhew and we’re very glad we did.

The Mayhew Animal Home is one of London’s Rescue & Rehoming Charities for Dogs & Cats and rehomes hundreds of animals per year.  But that’s not all they do, read on to see behind the scenes of what goes on at Trenmar Gardens, NW10…

The Mayhew Has A (New) Vet Clinic…

Each year the Mayhew Veterinary Clinic performs thousands of operations and surgeries and as well as hosts International Vet Training programmes for vets from overseas animal charities. Up until recently this had all been performed in one tiny operating theatre which meant that the number of surgeries performed had to decrease when the training programmes were taking place. Now that has all changed.

Thanks to a project that has been 3 years in the making and the support of the public and institutional donors The Marchig Animal Welfare Trust, The Shuman Animal Welfare Trust and Support Adoption for Pets to raise the £600,000 needed, the Mayhew now have a brand new clinic expansion with two well-equipped operating theatres. The new wing will mean the ability to provide more training for UK and overseas vets, more capacity for free & low-cost vaccinations, microchipping and surgeries.

Head Vet Dr. Ursula Goetz showed us around the clinic and her passion for the project shone through; it was clear that she had overseen every tiny detail to ensure the new clinic’s facilities were just perfect.

The Mayhew TheraPaws Dogs Are An Absolute Inspiration

The Mayhew TheraPaws programme is a pet therapy programme where volunteers and their dogs regularly visit care homes, day centres, hospices and hospitals across North and West London, bringing a ray of sunshine into the lives of the elderly residents there.

We met Chino, Ella, Dudley, Charlie and Noodle  (clockwise from top left), all who were incredibly calm and seemed to know that they had a job to do when wearing their blue TheraPaws vests.

See the TheraPaws programme brought to life….

Caring for the Community

By this point we were ever so slightly smitten with the Mayhew and then we heard about the work they do to help the Homeless with dogs and the Pet Refuge scheme which helps temporarily rehome dogs for people at times of crisis.

It was truly inspirational to learn about all the amazing work that the Mayhew do and to be able be part of the occasion that marked the 130 years made it even more special.

The Mayhew Animal Home Open Day – Celebrating 130 Years!

There was Doga (Yoga with dogs to you and me), a cake competition (with some very impressive entries), the now famous DogBuddy Ball Pool and a brass band to keep the humans entertained.

Happliy Rehomed

But the highlight for us was the Happily Rehomed Parade when we got to hear the stories of many of the wooferful ex-residents of the Mayhew who have been rehomed with their new forever families…

#AdoptDon’tShop

Sadly some of the dogs we met haven’t yet been quite so lucky and are still looking for their forever homes. Meet (clockwise from far left):  Emily, and her close friend Buddy from The Mayhew (who need to be rehomed together) and  Zeva a Bulgarian rescue dog from Dickie Doolittle’s Animal Rescue.

A Dog (Or Two) Called Charlie…

Not all the pooches in attendance were ex-Mayhew residents but that didn’t mean they were any less endearing. Springer Charlie caught our attention with his ‘playing dead’ move before leaping up to wow passers-by with his begging poses. Who could resist that face (or those moves)?

And he wasn’t the only Charlie showing of their canine moves, 13-year-old TheraPaws dog Charlie showed us that it’s definitely not too late to teach an old dog new tricks….

If you haven’t had a chance to go and meet the Mayhew Team (two-legged and four-legged) we can highly recommend it!

There are guided tours of The Mayhew at 2pm every Saturday and Sunday (it’s recommended to call the Mayhew Reception on 0208 962 8000 before visiting for the tour to check it is on).

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