Cinnamon Trust: every
region needs one!
THE Cinnamon Trust is the only specialist national charity that assists people and their much loved, much needed companion animals, in their final years.
A network of 8000 volunteers helps owners to provide vital loving care for their pets. The organisation concentrates on keep owners and pets together - for example, volunteers will walk a dog every day for a housebound owner, foster pets when owners need hospital care, shop for the cat food, or even clean out the bird cage, etc.
When staying at home is no longer an option, the Pet-friendly Care Homes register lists residential/nursing homes that are happy to accept residents with pets. And when a pet becomes bereaved the organisation takes on full-time, lifetime care.
The Cinnamon Trust provides peace of mind for owners along with love, care and safety for beloved pets. But helping 10,000 people a year with 12,000 animals and running two home-from-home sanctuaries costs a lot of money. The organisation is always in need of help to make sure it is always there. Contact: www.cinnamon.org.uk.
Cinnamon also helps the many elderly folk whose pet has sadly died and they are bereft and very lonely. It is often possible to place with them a bereaved pet and somehow, there is always an immediate understanding between the two. The Trust also has a number of volunteers willing to take on a foster pet for life, but they are limited! The Trust retains ultimate responsibility for all pets in lifelong foster homes and pays all the vet bills. The Cinnamon Trust has established unique sanctuaries. There are no kennels, no cages, for these would only bewilder an old and much loved pet. There are settees and armchairs, large warm rooms to share, rugs on the floor - all familiar, comforting and comfortable.
The routine mimics that of the average household and experienced, loving care ensures that even a very old animal soon feels at home and settles happily. All manner of wildlife finds sanctuary in the fields owned by the Trust and this adds to the peaceful and gentle atmosphere. It also makes for exciting sniffs!
Where are the Trust’s sanctuaries?
Poldarves Farm near Penzance, Cornwall, was purchased in 1988 and became the blueprint sanctuary. In 1999, Hillside Farm at Lewdown, Devon, was purchased and converted to the same high standard for the second home-from-home sanctuary.
In cases where there is need for help or reassurance, pet owners themselves, or their relatives, neighbours, or professional carers (doctors, nurses, social workers etc.) should contact headquarters direct and explain the problem. The Trust, if it can, will do whatever is possible to help, either by providing voluntary assistance locally or by taking a pet into care.
The Cinnamon Trust believes strongly that more residential homes should be encouraged to accept old people with their pets and campaigns for this provision to be more widely available. If you, or someone you know, is considering entering a home send for a copy of the Trust’s Pet Friendly Care Homes register for your county. This lists all types of accommodation for the elderly which are happy to accept pets with residents.
The Trust does not make a charge for its services, but it naturally hopes that pet owners who benefit from its work will make a contribution towards the cost. It is hoped, for example, that an owner would remember the Trust in a will when a bereaved pet would be coming into it’s care. The Cinnamon Trust is dependent entirely on voluntary contributions. It receives no state or local authority aid.
