On 14 May, as part of Mayhew’s 140th anniversary, Mayhew's lovely CEO and I will be spending the night in Mayhew's kennels and cattery for a special fundraising Sleep In.

By the end of this year there are projected to be more dogs in the country than children under 16.  More dogs than children!   Sadly may of those dogs live in households where their owners struggle to care for them adequately. However there is none of the government infrastructure for dogs: no NHS, no schools, no social services.  For dogs, the safety net is the charity sector, with no government support. 

I have the huge honour or being the Chair of the Mayhew Animal Home which is based in London right at the coalface of the crisis.  Mayhew is flooded with requests for help every single day, 365 days a year.  But we don't have the funding to keep up, we need to raise more funds and I need to do all I can to shine a spotlight on the issue and bring cash in the door.  

So I'm being locked in a dog kennel for a sponsored sleep in with one of our canine residents!  I will be sleeping on the kennel floor and eating only cereal from a dog bowl.  The CCTV is staying on!  

This may seem like a gimmick but kennels and cat-cabins are temporary places.  All Mayhew's residents, both dogs and cats, need to be adopted into their forever homes but sadly adoptions are slowing down.  Just in Q1 2026, sign-over requests are up; strays are up; surprise abandonments at/outside Mayhew's site are up.  More pregnant cats were given to Mayhew in Q1 than the prior quarter, meaning more kittens were born in our care.  Very sadly the average length of a dog's stay in our kennels was up.  

So in Mayhew's 140th Year please support in whatever way you can.  Please adopt a shelter pet or become a foster carer if you can.  Please share my page and help me shine the spotlight.  PLEASE SPONSOR MY CRAZY KENNEL SLEEP IN!  I hugely appreciate every penny you can spare.  Thank you.