The Disabled Animals' Club

  This is Mackesson who was born with brain damage and became the inspiration for The Disabled Animals' Club, started in 1994 by Suzanne Conboy-Hill, a consultant psychologist for people with learning disabilities and ex-nurse, along with Jan McIvor-Tope, also a psychologist and breeder of Persian cats. The aim of the Club was to bring owners of animals with disabilities together, share information about treatment and care, and encourage disability-friendly approaches in veterinary services. A secondary aim was to promote the development of nursing, physiotherapy and other disciplines critical to modern medical practice and patient survival within a veterinary context.

The Club is now entirely internet-based and offers fast routes to specialist information via links to academic papers, referral centres, support groups and individuals willing to provide contact support.

Links: All links are checked before being listed but their content may change. We are not responsible for the content of third party sites but if you are concerned or offended by any content, please let us know as soon as possible.

Rescue Organisations: We list rescue organisations in good faith. We are not responsible for standards and cannot check them.

Shops and Services: We list shops and services on recommendation from people who have used them or from their owners or representatives and include these in good faith. These are checked before listing and are not included if items are offered for sale that are not acceptable in the UK. Training collars that deliver electric shock to dogs are unacceptable items.

Photographs of pets: Our photo album, where available, is offered in good faith so that owners can see how pets have coped with disability. We discourage misuse of these photos but once placed in the public arena, they can be searched and downloaded by anyone for any purpose.

Forum messages: The Forum is intended to provide a 'conversational' link for people seeking advice from other visitors. That advice may or may not be expert or even competent. We are not responsible for the quality of advice given in this context. The Forum is also monitored and offensive material either intercepted or removed as soon as it comes to our attention. The inclusion of advertising, non-disability issues or personal vendettas may also lead to removal of an item and/or thread. Repeat offenders can be blocked.

Personal information: The nature of the site is self help and group support so people can and do leave contact details. we advise taking care when doing this, for instance by using a 'sacrificial' email address such as Hotmail or Yahoo to avoid unwanted mail to your home inbox. You are responsible for any information you leave at the site and for dealing with responses appropriately.

Email support: You can contact the web owner by email on disabledanimalsclub@yahoo.co.uk for support. Every effort is made to reply to urgent enquiries the same day but, as an unfunded part-time organisation, this cannot be guaranteed. The web owner is not a vet and does not give veterinary advice but can often give support in thinking through issues and dilemmas, seeking further treatment, with home management, and with behavioural issues based on qualifications in nursing and psychology. There is no telephone or paper-based contact facility.

And Mackesson? He lived a good old life, succumbing finally to renal failure at age 12.  The only indication of his early brain damage being an attempt to bring down a helicopter before his appreciation of perspective took hold! Either that or it was the thought of cooking it that caused him to reconsider.

Web owner: Dr Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Country: UK