Cats Protection is celebrating the first anniversary of its online adoption process that was launched in response to the lockdown and has rehomed more than 20,000 cats around the UK cats to date.

Susie Pritchard, Cats Protection head of operations, said: “We worked incredibly hard to get Hands-Free Homing off the ground when our centres closed so that we could continue to rehome the cats in our care, but it’s been more successful than we ever imagined.

“Not only have 20,000 cats found their forever homes, but we’ve been able to provide thousands of people with some much-needed companionship during lockdown.”

With Hands-Free Homing, prospective owners browse the available cats via the charity’s website and, once their application has been received, they are matched with the best cat for them and their home. The cats are then delivered to their new homes by a team of Cats Protection volunteers.