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This furry feline is thought to be the UK's OLDEST rescue cat - and could well boast the most rejections, having been turned down for rehoming an incredible 30,000 times.

Tilly has spent 21 years in a rescue shelter, and is now 24-years-old.

But despite her advancing years, she's still searching for her forever home.

The tortoiseshell puss was found after she gave birth to kittens in 1995 and was taken to a sanctuary.

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But because she was less than interested in prospective owners - instead happier to curl up and ignore the attention - she has never been claimed.

(Image: Caters)

Joyce Clarke, owner of the West Midlands Animal Welfare sanctuary where Tilly has spent more than two decades, says the now elderly cat has a gentle nature and regularly cares for the centre's other felines.

While she has been unable to attract any potential owners, Tilly has taken care of both blind and paralysed cats that have come into the sanctuary over the years and sees her as a cat carer for her other charges.

Joyce, 62, said: "Nobody has wanted to go for Tilly and she is now getting to the point where re-homing her could even be bad for her health.

"Over the years that we have had Tilly at the sanctuary, she has been passed over by more than 30,000 different people looking for a cat - they want a cat that will come over for a cuddle and she didn't fit the bill.

"She was about three years old when she was brought to the sanctuary, having had a litter of kittens but we never managed to find her a home.

(Image: Caters)

"At 24 years old now, she's definitely Britain's oldest rescue cat - I certainly have never heard of one that is older in all the years that I have been running an animal sanctuary.

"Tilly's personality could be a bit difficult, so I can see why she didn't get rehomed, but she is so good with the other cats in the shelter and has looked after a few of them herself.

"There have been times when we've had paralysed and blind cats come into our rescue centre and Tilly has really taken them under her wing - we kept finding them asleep with Tilly looking after them.

"When Tilly was found, she had given birth to kittens in a coal bunker in somebody's garden. She had probably been abandoned.

"It was probably her personality that meant nobody ever wanted to adopt her - she can be a bit stroppy and would occasionally snap at people, but not anymore.

(Image: Caters)

"Despite her age, Tilly is in good health, so we've kept hold of her over all these years.

"She can be a bit grumpy but she is in good health. She has only really had minor things wrong."

"The sanctuary has a policy that healthy animals are never put down, so if nobody else wants to look after the cats, they will.

"We have got a lot of old cats but Tilly is the oldest of all of them.

"We knew that cats can live for a long time and once had a cat that lived to 23, but never as old as Tilly."