A lonely Greyhound Collie cross at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home has celebrated his two year anniversary in the charity’s care, with potential owners continuing their daily lives without him.

Millions of milestones have occurred while Bud has been in kennels – a national election, water found on Mars and the Sochi Olympics – with around 10,000 Battersea dogs finding loving homes during this time.

NATIONAL SHEEP ASSOCIATION and RSPCA JOINT PRESS RELEASE

Joint plea for dog owners to act responsibly around sheep

With the traditional lambing season approaching and reports of dog attacks on sheep increasing, the National Sheep Association (NSA) and RSPCA have teamed up to urge dog owners to take extra care.

Every year sheep are killed, maimed and miscarry because of being chased and attacked by dogs. This is a serious animal welfare concern and also caused a great deal of emotional stress and financial cost to sheep farmers around the country.

The number of designer crossbreeds coming into RSPCA centres is on the rise.

The RSPCA has had an influx of fashionable dog breeds and ‘designer’ crossbreeds arriving at its national centres.

The worrying trend reflects an increasing demand for specific breeds which the charity is seeing within the puppy market and which is the focus of its latest campaign.

Sadly, these popular breeds and crossbreeds can later be abandoned or are not cared for properly.

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.