A tiny puppy has died after being abandoned by her owners.
Barely three-months-old, little Lulu was dumped in a cat carrier by her previous owners and left for dead.
She was found by a member of the public, who immediately alerted local animal charity The Mayhew Animal Home.
The Pomeranian cross was extremely thin, covered in faeces and was struggling to breathe.
Animal Welfare Officers at the Mayhew rushed her back to the home to try and nurse her back to health - but unfortunately, she was too poorly to regain her health.
The vet who saw to Lulu, Dr Emily Richardson BSC MRCVS, said: "When Lulu was brought into us, she had difficulty breathing, and was emaciated and hypothermic.
"We began her care straight away and gave her intravenous fluids, warmed her up with a heated blanket and hand fed her food to help her get her strength back. We also provided her with oxygen therapy, pain relief and antibiotics to help her feel more relaxed and comfortable."
Heart-breakingly, her condition was just too poor and the vets had to make the awful decision to put her down.
Dr Richardson said: "Lulu's condition deteriorated during the day. We carried out chest X-rays and they showed that she had severe pneumonia, which is a very poor prognosis in puppies. Unfortunately, we had to make the difficult decision to put Lulu to sleep due to the severity of her condition and the fact that she was suffering so much.
"Our number one priority is to do the absolute best for every animal that comes into our Community Vet Clinic at The Mayhew, and sadly the kindest thing for Lulu was to end her suffering, and put her to sleep."
The workers at the charity have said that they think Lulu was abandoned because her owners couldn't afford vet treatment for her.
Animal Welfare Manager Zoe Edwards said: "Unfortunately every year we see lots of sick pets being abandoned because their owner cannot afford treatment, and it is very likely that this was the case for Lulu.
"To let an animal get to such a neglected state like Lulu and not do anything before it's too late is cruel and completely irresponsible. We cannot imagine the level of pain that poor Lulu must have been in and only wish that her owner had come to us or another animal welfare organisation first, before abandoning her in a carrier.
"We are devastated that Lulu got to such a bad state at such a young age, but hope that by sharing her story we can spread awareness to prevent this happening to more pets."
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