‘Oldest rescue cat’ in UK may be most rejected after being rejected 30,000 times by potential owners
Tilly is 24 years old and has been in the Wednesbury Cat Sanctuary for almost her whole life
This adorable, furry feline is believed to be the UK’s OLDEST rescue cat – and could well boast the most rejections, having been turned down for rehoming a whopping 30,000 times.
Tilly has been in a rescue shelter for 21, and is now 24-years-old.
However, despite her advancing years, she’s still searching for her forever home.
The tortoiseshell puss was rescued after she gave birth to kittens in 1995 and was taken into a sanctuary.
However, because she was less than interested in prospective owners – instead happier to curl up and ignore all the attention – she has never been claimed.
Joyce Clarke and Tilly have a close relationship after the moggy has been unable to find a forever home
Joyce Clarke, the owner of the West Midlands Animal Welfare sanctuary where Tilly has lived more than two decades, says the now elderly cat has a gentle nature and regularly takes care of the centre’s other felines.
While she has been unable to attract any real potential owners, Tilly has taken care of both blind and paralyzed cats that have come into the sanctuary over the years and considers her as a cat carer for her other charges.
Joyce, now 62, said: “Nobody has wanted to go for Tilly and she is now getting to the point where re-homing her could even be bad for her health.
“Over the years that we have had Tilly at the sanctuary, she has been passed over by more than 30,000 different people looking for a cat – they want a cat that will come over for a cuddle and she didn’t fit the bill.
“She was about three years old when she was brought to the sanctuary, having had a litter of kittens but we never managed to find her a home.
The puss hasn’t given her attentions to those who come looking for a new pet
“At 24 years old now, she’s definitely Britain’s oldest rescue cat – I certainly have never heard of one that is older in all the years that I have been running an animal sanctuary.
“Tilly’s personality could be a bit difficult, so I can see why she didn’t get rehomed, but she is so good with the other cats in the shelter and has looked after a few of them herself.
“There have been times when we’ve had paralysed and blind cats come into our rescue centre and Tilly has really taken them under her wing – we kept finding them asleep with Tilly looking after them.
“When Tilly was found, she had given birth to kittens in a coal bunker in somebody’s garden. She had probably been abandoned.
“It was probably her personality that meant nobody ever wanted to adopt her – she can be a bit stroppy and would occasionally snap at people, but not anymore.
“Despite her age, Tilly is in good health, so we’ve kept hold of her over all these years.
According to those who take care of her, Tilly ‘can be stroppy’
“She can be a bit grumpy but she is in good health. She has only really had minor things wrong.”
“The sanctuary has a policy that healthy animals are never put down, so if nobody else wants to look after the cats, they will.
“We have got a lot of old cats but Tilly is the oldest of all of them.
“We knew that cats can live for a long time and once had a cat that lived to 23, but never as old as Tilly.”
