DEDICATED staff at the animal welfare centre in Milton will be spending Christmas Day caring for animals who do not have a home of their own.

The Scottish SPCA centre currently has 155 residents including dogs, cats, poultry, snakes, birds and even a hedgehog – all of whom are looked after by the 15 members of devoted staff, as well as a team of volunteers.

Ally Bibby, 29, has worked at the centre for six years alongside colleague Tracy Green, 30, who has spent seven and a half years improving the lives of the animals that come through the doors.

Ally told the Reporter: “We’ve had so many good volunteers with us for a long time. Every day, people get stuck in helping us with all sorts of things like walking the dogs. We would be lost without them.

“I love everything about working here, but the best part is the re-homing side of it. You can spend weeks, month and sometimes years with the animals.

Tracy agreed, and added: “Sometimes we get really nervous dogs in and the more time we spend with them we see their personality change. They become confident and turn into family dogs, so to see them get a home is amazing.”

The centre is open to staff 365 days a year meaning some of the employees have to give up special times of the year including Christmas and New Year. And this Christmas, both Ally and Tracy are working.

“To me it’s still like spending the day with family because we see the animals as ours until they get a new home,” said Ally.

“We are really close with them so I don’t get sad that I need to work. I’m excited to be honest. It’s a nice feeling, you can tell it’s a special day. We do secret Santa and have Christmas tunes on.”

Tracy added: “Everyone comes in and has a laugh. We don’t dread coming in. We have a good day. We get donations of Christmas dinner for the dogs so we give them all something nice and we bring in treats for ourselves.”

Over the festive period, the charity see an increase in the number of donations which are vital as no government funding is given at any time.

Tracy said: “We have had a fantastic number of people donating recently. Only this morning we had people bringing money in.

“We also had someone bringing in boxes of toys that had been wrapped in Christmas paper. The public are absolutely brilliant at keeping us going all through the year, but especially at this time.”

From December 19, until January 3, the charity stop re-homing animals to avoid people taking an animal home as a gift when in fact they are a lifetime commitment.

Ally said: “It can get quite busy in January. People get pets and realise how much hard work they are. It’s not a major rise but I think there is a slight increase.

“One time we had someone phone up saying they got a new dog and couldn’t look after two, so wanted to give their old one away.”

Animals that reside at the West Dunbartonshire centre come from all different areas including Helensburgh, Dunoon, Lennoxtown, and even parts of Glasgow.

All donations are welcome, however, the centre is in need of: kitten food – meat and dry, Chappie – meat and dry, hay and green vegetables for rabbits, wooden cat litter and sensitive foods.