THE RSPCA confirmed its role in helping injured animals this week, after a March woman complained that the animal charity had left her to deal with an emaciated stray cat alone.

Linda Dowson dubbed the RSPCA “all fur coat and no knickers,” after she called their help line, and thought a recorded message said only cruelty cases could be dealt with.

But now the RSPCA has explained that all their recorded messages invite members of the public to report either cruelty or a trapped, injured or suffering animal.

A spokesman for the charity said: “Sadly for some reason the caller did not follow this procedure so she never spoke to a call-handler who would have been able to offer some help. This was not a case of the RSPCA not being able to help, we were sadly not given the option to do so.”

Linda, who lives in Creek Road at March, took the cat to the vet, where it needed �74 worth of treatment, and it has since been taken in by Kay Mitchell at Tara’s Refuge in Manea.

“I found the cat on my doorstep, it was so emaciated it could not even stand. It was pitiful, it had an injured leg and was dehydrated,” explained Linda.

Tara’s Refuge have paid �40 of the vet’s bill so far, and Linda and Kay are planning to apply to the RSPCA for funding, to cover the remainder of the bill.

Linda added: “The cat has no chip and no collar, it is quite elderly.”

An RSPCA spokesman added: “We are sorry that this lady feels that the RSPCA was not able to help in this instance, but we feel that had she have used the cruelty line and opted to speak to a call-taker we would have been able to help.”

Anyone who knows anything about the stray cat is asked to contact Linda on 01354 660062.