A young male cat was left scared and shaken after being dumped on London-based animal welfare charity Mayhew’s doorstep.
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.
Deputy Head of Animal Welfare at Mayhew, AJ Ford discovered Luka when he arrived for work last month. Despite being incredibly scared, Luka was in good health and had suffered no lasting effects from his ordeal.
Sadly, AJ discovered that the cat had no microchip, so the team at Mayhew had no way of knowing if he once belonged to someone. 
It did however, take Luka a few days before he felt safe and confident enough to come out from behind his bed, where he had been hiding sine he was admitted to the cattery.
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 is to help and rehome them.
“We understand that people may choose to give up their pets for a variety of reasons, and we are here to support both owners and animals through this difficult decision – we listen, we don’t judge and we want to encourage anyone who is struggling with a pet to come in and speak to us, so we can provide the right help for everybody involved.”
Mayhew’s animal welfare officers support hundreds of people and animals every year, and can help guide anyone through the process of signing over a pet officially, which allows the team to get a proper picture of the animal to treat and rehome them much more easily.
Thankfully Luka’s story has a happy ending – after spending some time getting his confidence back, he was adopted by a loving new owner and is now blissfully settled in a brand new home.
If you need to speak to the Animal Welfare team at Mayhew, you can get in touch with them on 020 8962 8000 or by emailing [email protected].
