MEMBERS of local cat rescue organisation Help for Cats have expressed their disgust at a case of animal cruelty uncovered just before Easter.

Help for Cats was alerted by staff of a Ross-based estate agents of the presence of a weak and sick cat found at a rental property in central Ross.

Dr Audrey Matheson, of Help for Cats, said:?"They found a sick, old cat confined on a stone patio, which was part of the exterior of the property. The animal had been left in a restricted corner, obviously deliberately left there to die in continuing sub-zero temperatures.

"She was too weak to have placed herself therein and equally too weakened by obvious starvation, cold and illness to escape from the area."Help for Cats sought the help of Chris Lloyd, of Archenfield Veterinary Service, but by the time the cat was brought to the surgery on Sunday, March 24th, she had died.

Chris told the Gazette: "Unfortunately by the time the cat had reached us she had already died but from the condition she was in there might not have been anything we could have done for her.

"She was about half the weight she should have been – about 1.6 kilos, and from that we can estimate that she had been left for several weeks.

"It's difficult to accurately estimate her age, but she was greying and not a young cat, probably 12 years or older.

"We discovered she had tumours on her spleen and small shrunken kidneys. Kidney failure could have been partly due to her age but certainly the starvation and the fact that she had had no water, along with the extreme weather, contributed to her death."

Both Dr Matheson and Mr Lloyd suggested to the Gazette that an owner's concern at potential veterinary bills could have led to the neglect of the cat.

For the full story please see this week's Ross Gazette.