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Drive to rehome forgotten felines
Lily
Have a heart for a black cat this Halloween

GIVE black cats a chance is the message from Cats Protection in its third annual drive to encourage more people to adopt monochrome felines.

National Black Cat Day is being held on October 31 to encourage people to offer a home to an unwanted black or black-and-white moggy.

Around half of the 6,200 cats in Cats Protection’s care are black or black and white and, on average, each of these cats waits around a week longer to find a new home.

Jackie May, Cats Protection’s information and education manager, said: "It’s sad black and black-and-white moggies are homeless for longer so we wanted to give them a chance to shine and show that fur colour is only skin deep. At Cats Protection we are standing up for the ‘under-cat’ and asking people to consider taking a black or black-and-white cat into their home.

“Once favoured by storytellers in tales of magic and witchcraft, black cats have developed an undeserved bad reputation that is still bubbling away."

This National Black Cat Day, Cats Protection is inviting people to share their black and black-and-white cat stories, photos and videos on its Facebook page.
 
Over 250 of the photos that have already been submitted have been used to create a new poster which will be used by the charity to promote adopting a black or black-and-white cat.

For more information visit www.facebook.com/catsprotection

Image shows Lilly, who is at Cats Protection’s Dereham Adoption Centre in East Anglia. She is 11 years old and came to the centre as her owner was emigrating.

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Equine Disease Surveillance report released for Q4 2025

News Story 1
 The latest Equine Disease Surveillance report has been released, with details on equine disease from Q4 of 2025.

The report, produced by Equine Infectious Disease Surveillance, includes advice on rule changes for equine influenza vaccination.

Statistics and maps detail recent outbreaks of equine herpes virus, equine influenza, equine strangles and equine grass sickness. A series of laboratory reports provides data on virology, bacteriology, parasitology and toxicosis.

This issue also features a case study of orthoflavivus-associated neurological disease in a horse in the UK. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
NSA webinar explores sheep tailing and castration

The National Sheep Association (NSA) is to host a free webinar on the castration and tail docking of lambs.

The webinar, 'Understanding the tailing and castration consultation: A guide for sheep farmers', will be hosted online on Monday, 2 March 2026 at 7.30pm.

It comes during a government consultation into the methods used for these procedures. Farmers are encouraged to engage before the consultation period closes on Monday, 9 March 2026.

The webinar offers clear and actionable guidance to support farmers to contribute meaningfully to the consultation and prepare for potential changes.

On the panel will be former SVS president Kate Hovers, farmer and vet Ann Van Eetvelt and SRUC professor in Animal Health and Veterinary Sciences Cathy Dwyer. Each panel member will utilise their own specialism and expertise to evaluate risks and outcomes to sheep farming.

Find out more about the webinar on the NSA website.