A LEADING pet food manufacturer is set to close its pet food evaluation centre
later this year, leading to over 200 dogs and 331 cats resident at the site
in need of rehoming.
Friskies have decided to close down the pet food evaluation centre in Kennett,
Suffolk by the end of 2001, as part of a streamlining exercise. The Kennett
site was, for many years, an integral part of Spiller’s pet food operations.
In 1998, Spillers were acquired by Friskies, who already had their own pet
food evaluation centre. Since then, the need for Kennett has progressively
reduced to the point where its continued use is no longer financially viable.
The Friskies Consumer Careline Service will be relocated from Kennett to the
company’s headquarters in New Malden, Surrey, although none of the dogs
or cats currently used for pet food evaluation will be relocated.
However, Friskies have planned the closure well in advance and are liaising
with the National Canine Defence League and Cats Protection to undertake the
rehoming of all the animals concerned.
The dogs cover a wide diversity of breeds, including Labradors, West Highland
Terriers, Beagles, Border terriers, Corgis, Springer Spaniels and at least
one Miniature Schnauzer and one Bernese Mountain Dog.
The cats are understood to be all non-pedigrees.
A spokesperson for Friskies commented: “During the course of 2001, all
the dogs and cats in the centre will be re-homed. Friskies intend to continue
to provide them with a good quality of life, so they have enlisted the services
of the acknowledged experts in these fields in the form of the NCDL and CP.”
David Rigg, Communications Director of the NCDL told OUR DOGS: “We will
be rehoming over 200 dogs from the Friskies Kennett site over the next few
months. We have already been contacted by a number of specialist Breed Rescues
who have kindly offered their help in rehoming dogs of particular breeds.
We are happy to accept any such offers of help and discuss the situation with
breed rescues.”
Emma Osbourne of Cats Protection said that news of the cats’ imminent
need for rehoming had prompted dozens of calls to the charity. “We will
be taking on all of the cats from Friskies’ Kennett centre,” said
Ms Osbourne. “Initially these will be housed at our East Anglia shelter
for assessment, then they will be placed in several of our other shelters
around the country. We are delighted that so many people have come forward
to take on a ‘Friskies Cat’, and when they are due for rehoming,
we will consider every application we receive. Obviously, every applicant
is subject to our usual homecheck before we release a cat into their care.
“As it is my understanding that all the cats are non-pedigree, it is
unlikely that we would be liaising with any cat breed rescue at this stage.
We are obviously pleased at all offers of rehoming that we receive.”
