CAT owners are being warned of the dangers of anti-freeze following a spate of poisonings in the area.

At least four family pets have died so far after displaying symptoms associated with ingesting chemicals found in the common car product.

Ellie Wilson-Webb, from Upper Howsell Road, Malvern Link, found two-year-old Maggie seriously ill after returning from work earlier this month.

She said: “She was not one to wander that far so it was a bit of a shock. She was fine in the morning so I went out to work, but when I came back a couple of hours later she was very poorly.

“I took her to Avenue Road vets. They did not think it was rat poison because that affects the system very differently. The kids were obviously devastated.”

Maggie, which the family had owned since she was a kitten, did not last the night.

Mrs Wilson-Webb returned home and visited a fellow cat-owning neighbour to warn her of a possible danger in the area. Just two days later her neighbour called to say her own cat had died after suffering very similar symptoms.

Mrs Wilson-Webb began putting up posters warning other residents of the risk and was soon contacted by another resident whose cat had died, seemingly from ingesting poison.

Peter Creber, owner and vet at Avenue Veterinary Centre, in Avenue Road, said the practice had personally dealt with four cat-poisoning cases in the past couple of months, but knew of more at other vets. He said: “We have no reason to think that this is in any way malicious. We do know, for some reason, anti-freeze is quite palatable for cats so where we see clusters of poisonings we presume it has been spilled somewhere.

“If you do spill it, treat that seriously and mop it up. When symptoms start showing there’s little we can do.

“It’s really not a pleasant way for them to die.”