About The Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
Battersea Dogs Home was founded in 1860 by Mrs Mary Tealby. Her aim - to rescue, re-unite, rehabilitate and re-home London's lost and unwanted dogs and cats - remains that of the charity today.
Battersea Dogs Home has taken in nearly 2,750,000 canine and feline waifs and strays in its history, and the number is rising steadily each year. It cared for more than 13,700 animals in 2001.
Dogs and cats come in from a variety of places, but most are either strays, picked up by the home's fleet of animal ambulances from police stations and dog wardens on a daily basis, and "gifts to the Home", brought in by owners who are unable - or unwilling - to care for them anymore.
The dogs and cats are cared for by the Battersea's team of kennel hands. Its full-service veterinary clinic with a team of full time vets and vet nurses look after medical needs.
On arrival, every dog has a behavioural and temperament assessment, and our rehabilitation department is on site to provide extra help in overcoming behavioural problems before re-homing.
Battersea also runs the Lost Dogs Line for London, re-uniting lost dogs and cats with their owners.
The charity has three centres - the main Home in Battersea with facilities for 600 dogs and 150 cats, as well as two country annexes. Battersea at Old Windsor in Berkshire and Battersea at Brands Hatch in Kent operate the same facilities as the London Home, on a smaller scale.
There is no time limit on how long a dog or cat can stay, but it costs an average of £530 for each animal's stay, no matter how long or short it is.
Battersea Dogs Home is a registered charity that receives no government funding and depends totally on the financial generosity of its supporters.
Our history
Battersea Dogs Home started its life in 1860, north of the river in Holloway, when concern at the number of animals roaming the streets of London prompted Mrs Mary Tealby to open "The Temporary Home for Lost and Starving Dogs" in a stable yard.
The Home received lots of bad press when it first opened. Victorian London deemed it immoral that any time or money was spent on helping "dumb" animals while there were human beings living in appalling conditions, such as starving women and children living on the streets.
Help came from Charles Dickens who published an article in 1862 in support of the Home called Two Dog-Shows, comparing the forerunner of Crufts dog show to what he had seen at The Temporary Home for Lost and Starving Dogs. Attitudes slowly began to change.
Mary Tealby died of cancer in 1865, aged 64, but not before she had seen the fruits of her labours and the beginnings of one of London's most famous institutions.
In 1871 the Home moved to its present site in Battersea. It was renamed The Dogs' Home Battersea and in 1883 started taking in cats. Queen Victoria became the Home's first Royal patron in 1885.