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RSPCA offers advice on helping hedgehogs
The RSPCA is sharing advice in a bid to keep its national helpline free for emergencies.
The charity is providing online tips ahead of busiest season.

The RSPCA is preparing for its annual summer peak in hedgehog calls, with the upcoming heatwave expected to affect hedgehogs' food and water sources.

With August being the busiest month for hedgehog calls, the charity is advising the public to read its online advice on hedgehog care, with tips on keeping hedgehogs safe in the garden and feeding them, in order to take the pressure off of the RSPCA helpline. 

Evie Button, scientific officer at the RSPCA, said: “Calls to the RSPCA about sick and injured hedgehogs always peak during August, but this summer’s heatwave could sadly make things even worse, as the little animals’ food and water sources are likely to have been affected in many areas.

“People can help hedgehogs during the heatwave by supplementing their natural diet, leaving out fresh water and foods like tinned dog or cat food and crushed cat or dog biscuits.

“If the hedgehog is very young - roughly apple-sized - you'll need to soak the biscuits in water first. You can also get good quality, meaty hedgehog food from wildlife food suppliers. Check the food and water bowls each day and top them up with fresh water and food and remove any food that hasn't been eaten.

“Never feed hedgehogs milk or bread - milk can cause diarrhoea and bread isn't very nutritious.”

In August 2021, the RSPCA received 1,018 calls about sick, injured or orphaned hedgehogs, and the charity is concerned that the helpline will be too busy to help animals in immediate danger. Because of this, the RSPCA is offering tips on how to help prevent hedgehog injuries. 

“We receive more calls about hedgehogs than about almost any other wild mammal. With a total of 6,120 calls taken last year, averaged out, we get about 17 calls a day relating to these iconic and beautiful animals.

“Because we get many calls about injured or trapped animals we have some useful tips to help keep hedgehogs safe in the garden. 

“Please remember to remove sports and fruit netting, cover drains and holes, check before using a strimmer or mower, look in compost heaps before forking over and avoid using slug pellets as these are poisonous to hedgehogs.”

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RCVS Knowledge appoints Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence.

A world-renowned expert in evidence-based veterinary medicine, Prof Cockcroft will lead the strategic development and editorial quality of the open-access journal. He was previously in the role from 2017-2020.

Katie Mantell, CEO of RCVS Knowledge, said: "We are excited about the extensive knowledge of evidence-based veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary research that Peter brings, and we look forward to working with him over this next phase of the journal's development." 

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News Shorts
CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.