Ensure your pets’ safety when going on holiday

Here are a few tips compiled by Benoni SPCA inspector Renee Rossolimos:

Ensure you have a reliable pet-sitter.

• Do not leave your animals with self-feeders; make sure family or friends give them the right quantity of food daily.
• Leave your and your vet’s contact details available in case of an emergency.
• Buy extra food, so that there will be enough to last your pets for the whole period you will be away.
• If your animals sleep in back rooms or toilets, make sure the doors cannot close and trap them inside.
• Make sure the gate to your property is closed properly, so that pets do not get out.
• Double check that there are no exposed live electrical wires lying around before you leave.
• If you have exotic pets, make sure someone checks on them regularly in case of a power failure that may cause tanks to switch off.

Pets can be micro-chipped at the vet so that they can be returned to you if they escape your property.

Members of the public who find strays can hand them in at the SPCA.

Those looking for their missing pets should visit the society’s kennels.

The SPCA takes in more animals than usual over the festive season and will need the community’s cooperation to ensure the safety of all animals.

The Benoni SPCA is situated at 3 Klein Street, Lakefield, and can be contacted on 011 894 2814/5.