'Scared' Pair of Bonded Rescue Cats Returned to Shelter Get Forever Home

A pair of bonded cats have been given another chance after a challenging journey.

"A bonded pair means a pair of cats who like to groom each other, eat together, sleep together," Hayley from Yorkshire Cat Rescue in the U.K. told Newsweek. "They get upset if they are apart and it means they need to stay together."

The feline duo found themselves at the shelter after being handed over to a vet, and following months in foster care, they were adopted into what was hoped to be their forever home. But things didn't work out as expected, and before long Sparkle and Dora, aged nine and 12, found themselves back in the care of Yorkshire Cat Rescue.

"Sadly, the home wasn't the right match for the cats or the owner in the end," said Hayley. "A decision was made to bring them back into our care."

The pair are actually related, with Dora being the mother of Sparkle. They have an incredibly nervous disposition and can't stand to be apart.

Despite being well cared for, the cats struggled with shelter life, and the team at Yorkshire Cat Rescue utilized their social media presence to draw attention to Dora and Sparkle.

Sharing their story on TikTok, they explained that the cats were "so scared" after returning to the shelter "through no fault of their own."

The shelter soon got the news it was hoping for—someone wanted to help the bonded cats.

"Someone saw our TikTok who never followed us before and knew immediately they were the cats she wanted," said Hayley. "She drove over 3 hours to come and collect them and picked them up on Monday."

Staff at the shelter were thrilled as the excited new owner came to collect the cats and take them to their new home, where they can settle in together and rebuild their confidence.

With thousands of followers on its TikTok page, @yorkshirecatrescue1992, the team often shares the ins and outs of shelter life on social media.

"We use social media to share what we do as it engages our followers and helps massively with donations, food donations and overall support," explained Hayley. "We are a charity that receives no government funding so rely solely on the generosity of the general public to help us to keep saving the lives of more cats and kittens."

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