When Tiger’s loving owner Vanessa needed to go in to hospital, she arranged for a friend to visit her house and look after the eight year-old brindle Staffy whilst she was away.

However, on the very same day Vanessa started her treatment, tragedy struck again – her friend suffered a severe stroke and was immediately rushed to a different hospital.

The stroke sadly left Vanessa’s friend seriously unwell and unable to communicate. Nobody knew to tell Vanessa what had happened; nobody knew that Tiger was in her friends care. Tiger was now left all alone.

Unlucky Tiger was trapped on his own for four days before the alarm was raised. Vanessa grew increasingly worried as time went on and she hadn’t heard anything from her friend, and had asked her social worker to go to her house and check everything was OK.

Finding Tiger alone and distressed, Vanessa’s social worker contacted Mayhew. When our Animal Welfare Officers arrived to rescue him, he was starving and severely dehydrated.

The stress and confusion had also led him to chew the furniture and search extensively through the kitchen cupboards, in an effort to find something to eat and drink.

Our Animal Welfare Officers brought Tiger straight into Mayhew for a full health check, and our Kennels team immediately arranged for him to have food, water, regular walks and a warm place to relax and recover.

Later that day, we were able to get in touch with Vanessa through her social worker to inform her that Tiger was safe and being well looked after. Vanessa was shocked and upset to hear that Tiger had been through such a stressful experience, and was incredibly concerned about his welfare and whereabouts of her friend.

We reassured Vanessa that Tiger could stay with us until she was well enough to return home, and that we would take care of him as part of Mayhew’s Pet Refuge programme. Pet Refuge is there to provide shelter and care for the pet of a person in crisis, and is a lifeline for owners in desperate situations.

When Vanessa was fully recovered from her treatment and had been discharged from hospital, we reunited dog and owner and helped them settle back in to their home together.

Vanessa said “I’ve got a long term illness, and it just keeps coming back. I cry every night when I have to go to hospital because I miss Tiger. I always arrange for someone to care for him whenever I’m gone, so finding out he was left alone this time broke my heart.”

Vanessa and Tiger’s story goes to show that you never can predict when, where and why you might require a helping hand. Our Animal Welfare Officers are now staying in touch with Vanessa, and will be able to offer Tiger further support through Pet Refuge whenever it is needed.

We work incredibly hard to keep people and their beloved pets together, no matter what.