The Battersea Dogs and Cats Home

The Battersea Power Station and its new Underground station are the talk of town, but in the shadow of Scott’s monolithic Art Deco masterpiece, another Battersea institution is having its premises revamped: The Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

In 2016, a new state of the art Veterinary Hospital was unveiled and recently its ‘Keens Yard’ development has been completed, offering a range of cutting edge premises for the care and welfare of its animal population, including a hydrotherapy centre. The Kent Building, where animals are re-homed is next in line to be refurbished.

The Home is one of the oldest animal welfare charities in the UK. Its roots date from 1860 when Mary Tealby founded the Temporary Home for Lost or Starving Dogs, in Holloway. An early champion was Charles Dickens, claiming that in that year the home had save over a thousand dogs. In 1864 the Metropolitan Police Act dictated that all dogs taken by the police should be consigned to the home.

After many complaints from neighbours about foul smells, noise and ‘disgraceful sight’, when the dogs were let loose in the yard (those prudish Victorians!), it finally moved to Battersea in 1871.

In 1884, 14,772 stray dogs were taken in. The following year the number rose to over 25,000. It is estimated that in its first 100 years, 2 Million dogs passed through the home’s doors, and to date over 3.1 million. Inevitably in those early years, many dogs had to be put down in a lethal chamber, put to sleep with narcotic vapours. Until the creation of a crematorium in 1886 carcasses were sent to suburban farms and used as fertiliser.

Since 1883 the home has also welcomed cats. In 2001 about 10,000 dogs were received and just over 3,000 cats. Nowadays animals are collected from police stations within the M25, and are kept for 7 days, before being offered for adoption. They claim that since 1954 they have managed to find a home for almost every fit dog.