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Black Cricket Animal Services

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Wilstead
Black Cricket Animal Services

Professional pet care, rescue, animal education and awareness, livestock care, and support for pet professionals. We love all creatures great and small!

MSc, BSc, BA (Hons), QTS. Enhanced DBS, Insured, Animal First Aid, NSA member.

29/08/2026

🐾 Caturday Saturday... an exhausting day in the life of a cat…

Wake up.
Demand breakfast.
Ignore breakfast.
Ask to go out.
Immediately ask to come back in.
Sleep somewhere inconvenient.
Investigate a cardboard box.
Demand second breakfast.

And all before lunchtime 😹

What important business is your cat attending to today?

📸 Cat photographs are not only permitted in the comments, they are positively encouraged 😻

28/08/2026

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Human arrived as promised. Walk satisfactory. Treat allocation could be improved.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️
“They fed me, changed my water and cleaned my litter tray. However, I specifically requested THREE dinners.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Excellent service. Allowed me to sniff the same hedge for an unreasonable amount of time.”

If your pet could leave a review of you, what do you think it would say? 😂

We have a feeling quite a few of us would lose stars over inadequate snack provision…

27/08/2026

🌧 It may be raining cats and dogs outside… but these two bunnies aren’t complaining 🐰🐰

They’re spending today tucked up nice and dry in their rather luxurious hutch and run while we’re bunny sitting ❤️

And when I say luxurious… their home is so big, I’m fairly sure I could move a desk in and use it as a garden office 😂

Not a bad place to spend a rainy Thursday at all!

One of the lovely things about Black Cricket Animal Services is getting to care for animals of all shapes, sizes and species, and these two are definitely making the most of their cosy accommodation today 🐾

If you are looking for a rabbit sitter in Wilstead, Wixams, Bedford or the surrounding areas, feel free to contact us.

26/08/2026

Happy International Dog Day 🐶❤️

Tried to put a few of our dog walking dogs into one picture with a local field backdrop... but it didn't go quite to plan 😂

Do you have a better photo of your dog? Please show us in the comments, would love to see 👇

25/08/2026

Baloo went out on police duty with four legs but returned home with three 💔🐾

In October 2018, Police Dog Baloo was helping Essex Police catch a suspected criminal when she was struck by a car fleeing the scene.

Her pelvis was shattered. Metal plates had to be fitted to both sides. Her front right leg was amputated.

Baloo was only two years old. Her police career was over.

But the injuries she received while serving didn't disappear when the word retired was placed beside her name.

Baloo was adopted by former police dog handler Mandy Chapman. She still needed specialist veterinary care, but she couldn't be insured. A retired police dog charity stepped in to help with the costs.

And then Baloo did something extraordinary.

She started helping people all over again 💙

Baloo became a wellbeing and trauma support dog, comforting police officers and others affected by traumatic events. Her impact helped inspire a national network that now includes more than 250 wellbeing dogs.

In 2025, Baloo was crowned Crufts Hero Dog🏆🐾

Just think about that.

A dog can lose a leg serving us... and still spend her retirement serving others.

Yet the cost of caring for retired service animals can still fall on handlers, adopters and charities.

🐾 This is why there is an independent petition calling on the Government to "provide lifelong vet care and financial support for retired service animals"

✍️ Please sign:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/769616

🔁 Already signed? Please SHARE Baloo's story. 100,000 signatures are required for the petition to be considered for debate in Parliament.

They served us. We should stand by them when their service ends 💙

23/08/2026

😂 Would the examiner award her GOLD for this down position?! 🥇🐾

We’ve been having lots of fun with our dog walks and training walks lately… although somebody has apparently developed her own interpretation of “down” 🤣

For the Royal Kennel Club Good Citizen Gold Award, dogs have to stay in a down position, off lead, while their handler walks ten paces away... and remain there for two whole minutes.

Technically, she is down. Very, very down... face plant down 😂

So… if she managed to stay exactly like this for the full two minutes, do we think the examiner would pass her? 😂

Got to love a Dobermann 🐶

🐾🐾🐾
At Black Cricket Animal Services, our dog walking and training walks in Bedfordshire aren't just about getting from A to B. We love giving dogs the chance to practise skills, use their brains, sniff, explore and enjoy their walks too 💚

📍 Dog walking and pet care around Wilstead, Wixams, Shortstown, Cardington, Cotton End, Houghton Conquest, Haynes, Cople, Elstow and surrounding Bedford areas.

21/08/2026

🐾 Yesterday’s office wasn’t too bad… 😍🌾

And while we’re here, we’ve noticed quite a few new faces joining us recently... so hello and welcome to Black Cricket Animal Services 👋❤️

Some of you may have found us through Bruce’s heartbreaking story, our posts about service animals, rescues or other animals who simply needed people to care about what happened to them.

And that’s an important part of who we are.

❤️ Animal welfare will always be at the heart of Black Cricket.

We’ll continue to share stories and information about animals who need help, animals who have suffered, the wonderful ones who have been rescued, and the people and organisations working hard to make their lives better.

But there’s another side to Black Cricket Animal Services too! 🐾

We provide professional animal care including pet sitting, dog walking, and smallholding help here in Bedfordshire, UK. We’re also involved in animal rescue and welfare, and we’re always happy to support, share knowledge and work alongside others in the animal care industry.

So whether you’re local and need someone you can trust with your animals, work with animals yourself, support rescue and welfare… or you simply followed because you love animals, you’re very welcome here ❤️

Now we’d love to meet some of you!

👇 What animal (or animals!) shares your life?

📸 Photos in the comments are VERY welcome 🐶🐱🐰🦎🐔🐴🐑🦨

18/08/2026

💔 Bruce went into his own back garden for a wee. Then he was murdered.

Bruce was a much-loved Rottweiler. A family pet. Someone’s companion.

On 10 July, Bruce was let into his garden at his home in Chelmsley Wood. When his owner went to bring him back inside, he managed to slip away and ran towards the area around Kingshurst Brook, near Bosworth Drive.

His family never got to bring him home alive.

Bruce was later found beneath a bridge with devastating stab injuries 💔

A nurse walking her own dog spotted blood beneath the bridge, and her dog led her to where Bruce was lying.

We cannot begin to imagine what Bruce’s family are going through.

But somebody, somewhere, knows something.

The RSPCA believes Bruce may have been killed somewhere else before his body was left beneath the bridge. West Midlands Police are supporting the investigation.

And this is why we are sharing his story.

⚠️ Did you see Bruce?
⚠️ Did you see anyone acting suspiciously around Chelmsley Wood, Kingshurst Brook or Bosworth Drive?
⚠️ Did someone you know suddenly say something strange about a Rottweiler?
⚠️ Have you heard something since that didn't seem important at the time?

Please don't assume somebody else will come forward.

Bruce cannot tell us what happened to him. We have to be his voice now.

PETA has offered a £5,000 reward for information leading to the person responsible.

📞 RSPCA: 0300 123 8018
Reference: 01852950

📞 West Midlands Police: 101
Quote log: 4043 of 13 July

Please SHARE Bruce's face and his story far and wide. Someone knows what happened.

For Bruce 💔🐾

17/08/2026

💙 He was stabbed twice in the head.

Then he went back to his unpaid work and his attacker was the first person to be jailed under Finn's Law.

Police Dog Audi served with Staffordshire Police for six years. In 2019, while defending his handler, he was stabbed twice in the head*

He recovered, and returned to duty 🐾

Audi continued doing the job we ask police dogs to do: facing danger, searching for people and protecting the public.

Then came retirement.

At the end of 2025, Audi suddenly lost the use of his legs.

Specialist investigations found arthritis in his elbows and hips, and spondylosis in his spine. His tests and treatment cost more than £2,200, with the Thin Blue Paw stepping in to help.

And that raises a question we really need to ask:

We asked Audi to put his body on the line for us.
Now that body is paying the price.

Why should the care of retired service animals depend on whether their handler, adopter or a charity can afford the bill?

They served us.

Surely we should support them when their service is over ❤️

🇬🇧 There is an independent UK Parliament petition calling for lifelong veterinary care and financial support for retired service animals:

👉 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/769616

Please share Audi’s story so more people understand why this matters.

💬 What do you think we owe an animal after it has spent its life protecting us?

* Daniel O'Sullivan, Police Dog Audi's attacker, became the very first person in the UK to be prosecuted and jailed under the Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Act 2019 (known as Finn's Law), which ensures service animals are recognised as public servants rather than mere property.

15/08/2026

🐭❤️ Sometimes, in the middle of something frightening, the tiniest life can remind us why every bit of wildlife matters.

While Towcester firefighters were dealing with trees and hedgerows on fire, one member of the crew spotted this tiny field mouse desperately scurrying through the smouldering undergrowth.

They stopped. They searched. And they found that he wasn’t alone 🥹

A little family of mice was hiding in the hedgerow.

The firefighters managed to carefully move them all to a safer place and, after being checked over and treated, this little chap was given a drink of water before rejoining his family💧🐭

Just look at him, sitting in that huge firefighter’s glove ❤️

It would have been so easy for such a tiny animal to go unnoticed amongst the smoke, flames and debris, but somebody noticed him, and because they did, several little lives were given another chance.

A huge thank you to the Towcester crew for not only tackling the fire, but for taking the time to look after the wildlife caught up in it too 🚒❤️

And there is an important message behind this lovely rescue.

🔥 Please do not light fires in the open during these extremely dry conditions. Grass, hedgerows and vegetation can ignite incredibly quickly, and what begins as a small fire can spread before you realise what is happening.

The damage isn’t only to land and property. Hedgerows, fields and verges are homes filled with animals that may have nowhere to escape.

Sometimes they are as tiny as this little mouse 🐭🌿

Please share his story as a reminder to protect our precious wildlife during this dry weather ❤️

📞 Always call 999 in an emergency.

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