A pet owner fears her cat may have been attacked and doused in motor oil.

Alexandra Leonard, 28, says her seven-year-old daughter found Merlin in the garden covered in the thick black liquid.

He was visibly hurt from his ordeal and had to undergo emergency treatment at the nearby Animed Vets.

Mum-of-three Ms Leonard, of Churchill Avenue, Beltinge, said: “My little girl spotted him and she started crying.

“If someone is doing it out of spite, then obviously there are other pet owners out there who need to be aware, as we don’t want this to happen to someone else’s cat” - Alexandra Leonard

“When I came to the door he was completely drenched in oil, like someone had submerged him. It was everywhere, in his eyes and fur. It was terrible.

“He didn’t look like our cat. He was skinny and seemed frail, which really upset my children.

“The vets don’t know if he has eaten any of it, so he has had to be sedated.”

Ms Leonard says Merlin has also sustained mystery injuries to the side of his face and fears someone may have deliberately hurt him.

She added: “In the past he has come home with scratches from other cats, but this is completely different.

“It looked like the oil had been chucked over him. You couldn’t recognise him. Sometimes you hear that people throw water over cats if they don’t want them in their garden, but to throw oil is just crazy.

“If someone is doing it out of spite, then obviously there are other pet owners out there who need to be aware, as we don’t want this to happen to someone else’s cat.”

Ms Leonard said vets have tried unsuccessfully to remove the oil from Merlin’s mostly-white fur, leaving him looking grey and dirty.

Animed vet Dr Pascal Horberg said: “The whole cat was covered from head to toe. It could have happened in many ways. Sometimes a cat could spend time under the bonnet of a car and could get quite covered.

“Sometimes if people are changing oil they might leave oil lying around, so it could have been an accident.”

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