Krazy Kevin's Kids Klub

This week I would like to welcome you to the newest member of the “Krazy” household. 

Our new budgie who my daughter Hannah has named ‘Messy’; on account that he is, well, messy, and also that if “he was a person he wouldn’t colour in the lines”.  That’s a three-year-olds logic I say! 
Now, another important member of our family ‘Fifi’ (our fat cat) isn’t too enamoured with Messy as yet. 
But it seems that if we keep her food bowl full up, she’s not interested enough to bother getting up to mischief.
Our new addition is settling in nicely and as I was clearing out his cage I got to thinking about how over the years I’ve always been around animals. 
One of my earliest recollections was as a baby when my mum rescued a puppy (who was a cross between a Labrador and a collie dog). We named her ‘Tracey’ and she was with us until she got cancer at a ripe old 16.  My family and I was, of course, very upset at losing her, and something that has followed me throughout life is that whenever I met a girl called Tracey, the first words to escape my mouth is always “we used to have a dog called Tracey”!
Not surprisingly this has lead to me receiving a few black looks and plenty of arguments over the years. Ha!
I’ve always loved animals and was brought up in a family with dogs, cats and even the odd bird. 
We had one bird (an Indian Myna bird) that was called Peter. He was amazing and could mimic just about anything; whistles, telephones and human voices were chief among his wide repertoire.
My dad would come down in the morning and say “Good morning Peter” and Peter would reply with: “Good morning Eddie, how are you?”
Once we went on a holiday and left Peter with my Grandad and Grandma. When we returned, we picked him up and brought him home. But Peter was coughing terribly and we wondered “What’s happened?  Has he caught a cold?”  The next weekend we visited my grandparents. Grandad opened the door and immediately started up with his smoker’s cough. 
We fell about laughing, because we realised that Peter wasn’t sick, he’d just learnt to copy Granddad’s cough!
When I was 18 my folks owned a fish’n’chip shop in the Las Vegas of Europe; Blackpool! 
They already had one dog called ‘Chips’ and decided to get him a companion. You’ve guessed it; they called him ‘Fishen’.
You should have seen the looks people gave us when we took them for walkies. Folks thought we where mad (or very hungry) as we were often heard shouting out “Fishen Chips”.
I miss having dogs in the family, but our house and garden is simply not big enough for Fifi and a dog too. But if we ever did decide to get a dog I know I’d adopt from the BSPCA. (And if you want adopt a dog or a cat, you too can pop down and have a look round).  Also tune in every Thursday morning at 8.15am when I do the BSPCA Pet Report and you can find out what else’s been happening at the shelter.
We went down on Friday to say “Hi” to Superman, the (now not so little) dog that I found abandoned on the side of the road after he’d been hit by a car. 
Sadly he had to have his leg amputated, but he’s getting about very happily now.  Chatting to the new sanctuary manager Sandy Carter she said that she wanted to change his name to ‘Krazy Kevin’ ‘cos he’s always up to mischief! 
Whilst there, we also met ‘Scruffy’ the sheep who was brought into the sanctuary after he escaped (fell off) a truck bound for the abattoir! 
He’s from Australia so if any of our friends from Down Under would like to adopt or sponsor him, please give the BSPCA a call. 
There’s also a beautiful six-week-old donkey to admire and, of course, lots of lovely dogs, cats, puppies and kittens just waiting to be adopted. 
There is always much work to be done, and volunteers are always welcome. If you would like to help but can’t spare the time you can donate items from the ‘BSPCA Wish List’, which includes everything from bleach and disinfectant, cat litter, buckets and cement, up to air-conditioners, porta-cabins and generators, among many others. 
Remember, any donation, however small or large, will make a difference to our less fortunate furry friends.