When AJ Ford, our Deputy Head of Animal Welfare, arrived at work last month, she was concerned to find a young male cat had been dumped on our doorstep overnight.

One-year-old Luka was shaking and shivering inside his carrier, and had been left with no food or blankets in the freezing cold January weather.

The white and black shorthair was incredibly scared during his intake examination, but we quickly settled him in a warm and cosy cabin in our Cattery to recover.

Sadly, AJ discovered that Luka had no microchip, so we had no way of knowing if this cat had once belonged to someone.

Luckily, aside from the shock of being abandoned, Luka was found to be in full health and had suffered no lasting effects from his ordeal.

It took Luka a few days before he felt safe and confident enough to come out from behind his bed, where he had been hiding ever since we admitted him.

AJ Ford said “When an animal is abandoned on the street, it makes it difficult for rescue organisations such as ourselves to provide the best care, as we have no way of finding out the animals history – including their behaviour, likes and dislikes, any known medical conditions, or other useful information which would help us to help and rehome them.”

Our Animal Welfare Officers support hundreds of people and animals every year. They can help guide you through the process of signing over your pet officially, which allows us to get a proper picture of the animal and enables us to treat and rehome them much more easily.

We only want to help, and we guarantee we will not judge you or your circumstances.

Bringing your animal in to us also prevents any further harm to the animal itself – being abandoned on the street is an extremely scary situation for an animal to be in, and can also put them at serious risk of further harm.

Thankfully, Luka’s story has a happy ending – after spending some time getting his confidence back, Luka was adopted by a loving new owner, and is now blissfully settled in a brand new home.