Celebrity vet backs campaign for abandoned dogs

Nov 6 2011 by Ian Robson, Sunday Sun

CELEBRITY vet Steve Leonard has put his name to a fundraising campaign for abandoned dogs. He explains to Ian Robson why he refuses to have a man’s best friend of his own.

STEVE Leonard would love to have a dog but, he says, it would not be right for the animal.

The vet, who became a star on series such as Vets in Practice, said his busy lifestyle would not suit a dog.

Steve is backing the Pedigree Adoption Drive to raise money for shelters.

The annual campaign awarded Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter £25,000 for desperately needed building costs last year.

Matching dogs to suitable owners is a passion for the vet whose TV career was launched when the BBC filmed vets in their final year of training in Vets School.

It was soon followed by Vets in Practice and made household names of Steve and co-star Trude Mostue.

He said: “I would love to own a dog but have chosen not to because my lifestyle does not suit one.

“I’m out all day, I travel a lot, and dogs need attention. They need someone with them at least every couple of hours to take them out and give them some social activity.

“Dogs are very social and don’t like being on their own very much at all so I have a cat.

“My cat is Bruce, he’s a bit of a bruiser, he was picked up by the RSPCA as a wild stray.”

He said the Adoption Drive, backed by the Pedigree dog food company, was a campaign close to his heart.

He said: “It’s the fourth year they have done this and, to date, they have raised over £1m to help support rescue centres around the UK.

“Dog abandonment is at an 11-year high with over 120,000 dogs nationally being picked up as strays and that’s terrible numbers.

“The rescue centres are overwhelmed. Most of them are completely full which means if the local authorities do pick up dogs they find wandering around and cannot find them a space within seven days into a rescue centre or new home many perfectly healthy dogs are being put to sleep.

“Why are we in this situation? People take puppies on without really understanding the size the animal will get, the amount of exercise it is going to need, the financial implications of owning a dog, feeding it, vaccinating it, all of these things, whereas when you take on a rescue dog normally all of that has been done.

“You get to see how big it is, you get to see what its temperament is going to be like, and in many ways it’s a safer bet than taking on a puppy.”

Steve said the current economic climate may have contributed to the increased numbers of abandoned dogs.