Kittens abandoned in McDonald’s now lovin’ it in new home

Found dumped in a cardboard box in a McDonald’s car park, two tiny black kittens snuggled together for comfort. Just a few weeks old they were starving and riddled with fleas. It was a terrible start in life – but they had each other. 

And they had Blue Cross. A kind animal lover took them to our Bromsgrove rehoming centre knowing we would nurse them back to health and find them a loving family together.

At first the kittens, named Ronald and Rosie, were withdrawn, hiding when a member of our team approached. Then we noticed they loved batting a ball around and joined in their games to build their confidence around people.

 

After being treated for fleas, vaccinated, microchipped and neutered, Ronald and Rosie were photographed to appear on the rehoming section of our website. That’s where Lydia Blundell from Cheltenham spotted them.

“I’d been keeping an eye out for kittens available for adoption on the Blue Cross website when Ronald and Rosie popped up,” Lydia, 26, who works in marketing, says. 

“My partner Sha, who’d never owned a pet in his life, had taken some convincing we needed a cat in our lives – now I was suggesting two! But when he saw the kittens’ photographs he came round. Now he is the most committed cat dad in the world.”

Lydia and Sha collected Ronald and Rosie, who they renamed Merry and Pippin after the hobbits in Lord of the Rings, from Blue Cross Bromsgrove in late September 2024. The plucky pair had been in Blue Cross care for 24 days.

“Back home we had a cat emporium awaiting them,” Lydia says. 

“We’d bought tunnels and climbing frames and all sorts of toys. I expected them to be nervous and hide but the Blue Cross team did a great job socialising them as Merry especially was super-curious and into everything. They are so close, playing football and hide and seek all day and spooning together at night. 

"They love tuna and chicken and when they eat something new, they make this appreciative growl that’s as loud as a foghorn. I look at Pippin and think: how can such a tiny little girl produce this big booming noise?”

And Pippin has Sha wound around her little paw.

“Pippin gazes at Sha adoringly and he jumps up to fetch a ball or treat or hops in the car to the pet shop to buy her another toy,” Lydia laughs.

“He says he doesn’t know how he ever lived in a house without pets as they are little rays of sunshine waiting for him at home after a long day at work.”