A young dog has been found dumped at the side of the road with a heartbreaking note attached to his broken cage.
Spaniel Rudy, who suffers with a leg deformity, was left in Oxfordshire on May 4 along with another dog.
A worried local found the dog and a black terrier and they alerted the RSPCA.
Taped to the cage, a hand-written message read: "My owner is unable to look after me."
But when one the passer-by opened the cage to try and pick up the terrier, it escaped and fled before animal welfare officers got to the scene.
RSPCA Inspector Stephanie Law from the animal welfare charity said: “We were contacted by a member of the public who had found two dogs in a cage beside a road located between Northmoor and Stanford Harcourt.
“Alongside this dog, who has been named Rudy by the team caring for him, was a second dog, a black terrier, who escaped out of the ramshackle cage when the member of the public who found them tried to pick it up.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to locate the second dog and have notified the dog warden in the hope the dog is brought in as a stray.
"If anyone knows where this dog is, or has any information on who abandoned these poor dogs, we’d encourage them to contact us.”
The incident comes as alarming new figures released by the RSPCA reveal that its officers dealt with 1,508 reports to our emergency line about an animal being abandoned in April 2023 alone.
That compares with 1,370 abandonments for the same month last year - marking a rise of 9.6 per cent - linked to the cost of living crisis.
Steph added: “It is really upsetting that these dogs have been abandoned alongside this note.
“We know times are really tough right now. We’re doing everything we can to help keep pets in loving homes wherever possible.
“We're pleading with people not to abandon animals and encourage anyone who is struggling to seek help.”
