We recently took in four abandoned kittens who were dumped in a field and left for dead in the middle of the heatwave. The tiny, 8 day old kittens were discovered frightened, severely dehydrated and covered in fly eggs.

Local residents were horrified to discover the owners had chucked them out and driven off with the kittens traumatised mother. The kittens were difficult to locate at first and they nearly gave up hope of finding them until a local dog owner came to help with his exceptionally well trained Sprockers, who located the kittens after only a few minutes of searching.

Although we rushed to collect the little kittens and give them lifesaving care, we were very concerned that they would not survive as they were so dehydrated, floppy, covered in fly eggs and fleas and struggling to breathe in the heat. They were taken to the vets for emergency fluids and the first 24 hours were touch and go.

Deputy Manager, Ruth Rickard said: As soon as we heard about these four little kittens we knew we had to help them. Our General Manager, Claire Sparkes, is very experienced in hand rearing kittens. She immediately syringe fed them and started removing all the fly eggs to ensure they didnt get fly strike. Flystrike is a painful condition caused by flies laying their eggs on vulnerable animals. These hatch into maggots, which eat the flesh of their 'hosts. We are so grateful to the people and wonderful dogs who made such an effort to find these vulnerable kittens. If these kittens had not been found they would have died a very horrible and painful death. They still have a long road ahead of them but now that they are in the experienced hands of Claire we know they have the best chance of surviving this horrendous and cruel ordeal.

It is estimated it will cost us an additional £800 for the specialist care these tiny kittens need to help them survive and find new loving homes.

We do not receive any government funding and have felt the financial strain from the Coronavirus pandemic, but we are determined to help these poor Heatwave Kittens.

If we are lucky enough to raise more money than is needed for these kittens the funds will go towards helping the other animals in our care.