*Alex and *Miso

After years of emotional abuse, *Alex got the courage to leave her husband, taking her beloved cat *Miso and very young family of five with her.

There have been patterns of verbal, psychological, and emotional abuse throughout the relationship, but it hadn't been too bad until the last baby was born and then it was like a fuse was lit - something ignited, and everything imploded.

Alex took her time to plan her escape, but she was struggling to find safety for Miso. "The only things I hadn’t sorted was a place for Miso to go, and I didn’t know what we were going to do.

In the few weeks between first reaching out to Women’s Refuge and leaving I did some financial planning, as I didn’t have any financial independence. I tried to store things at friends’ houses – things I might need, that were a piece of home if I couldn’t get back into the house.

And then there was a lot of mental planning, because there's a huge raft of emotions you go through once you've left and just kind of being prepared for that.

But I couldn’t leave Miso, so I was thinking we were going to have to sneak her into the refuge with us. That was when my advocate suggested Pet Refuge, and once I knew she had a place to go, we left."

Alex is currently in emergency accommodation with her children, a temporary measure while she continues to search for a place that her 'whole' family - fur-baby included - can call home.

Like it was for Miso and Alex, leaving an abusive relationship is difficult and can be almost impossible without having a place for your beloved pet to stay. With your support, we remove this major barrier and enable the ‘whole’ family to escape together. Thank you! <3