Pet owners have been warned to be on their guard after a cat nearly died in an illegal trap.

Kebab, a six-year-old tom cat, was caught in the cruel snare but managed to drag himself home still entangled in the wire trap which tightened its grip as he struggled to free himself.

Kebab's distraught owner, Grace Gearing, of Millview Meadows, Rochford, found his limp body on her lawn and immediately rushed him to a vet.

She said: "He still had the snare round the lower part of his body. It was a loop of wire attached to a thick wooden stake. He had lost his claws digging at the stake and had managed to somehow get home with it still pulled tight."

She added: "Kebab didn't even have the strength to cry."

An RSPCA spokeswoman said: "Illegal snares can cause horrific injuries.

"The traps are usually set to trap foxes and other creatures, which some consider as vermin, but there are much better ways to deal with them such as proper preventative fencing."

Recovering - Grace Gearing's daughter Sarah holds the wire trap that snared Kebab, who suffered internal injuries

Picture: STEPHEN LLOYD

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