A RISCA woman raising awareness about the increasing issue of animals being poisoned across the Caerphilly county borough after a recent spike in cases.

The number of animals reported to the RSPCA after being ill-treated has risen this year and cat owner Hannah Debnam is setting up an appeal for people to be more considerate about other people’s pets after one of hers was poisoned, describing the ordeal as ‘harrowing’.

In the last couple of months, the animal charity has received calls of seven cats that have been poisoned in the area whilst elsewhere in Gwent a litter of bulldogs have been found abandoned in a park and a monkey, which had been disowned and found malnourished was put to sleep.

Miss Debnam, 29, said: “Poppy went missing at the end of July for nearly two days, when she came back she was initially fine but after a while she started being sick, wasn’t eating and was walking around with her tongue hanging out.

“When I first took her to the vets they didn’t think she was too bad and we didn’t do a blood test, which I regret, but then she got so bad. At first I thought it must have been an accident but with the numbers of cases going on its worrying that this could be deliberate.”

The cat, which had digested anti-freeze, was put to sleep on Miss Debnam’s birthday of Saturday August 6 after being on a drip at Newport’s Summerhill Veterinary Centre for a couple of days.

Miss Debnam, of Mountside, said: “I took the week off work to celebrate my birthday and I spent all of it looking after Poppy. She was such a lively and character filled cat yet by the end she was so lifeless, thin and helpless it just didn’t feel like her.

“Once a cat takes anti-freeze, there is little they can do. Speaking to other animal owners, I have heard things like people putting it in puddles in parks and some don’t realise the harm it causes.”

An RSPCA Cymru spokesman said: “We are very concerned that some cats are suspected of having been poisoned in Caerphilly and Blackwood with seven cats now having died. Poisoning a cat deliberately is a criminal offence. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, the maximum penalty for those found guilty is six months imprisonment and/or a fine of up to £20,000.

““It is not known if the cats were deliberate or whether these incidents were a tragic accident, but given the number of recent incidents locally, it is vital cat owners are vigilant. Anyone who suspects their cat may have been poisoned should stay calm, remove their pet from the source, contact their vet immediately, and follow their advice.”

For more information visit http://bit.ly/2gCoeOI or call 0300 123 8018.