SIR – I’m sure an overwhelming number of Worcester News readers will be horrified at the actions of Craig Nunn, the Stourport man who blinded Misty the cat in one eye with a catapult ‘Cat left with only one eye after cruel attack’ (Worcester News, August 2).

Many will be justified in feeling the eight-week jail sentence Nunn received wasn’t nearly enough and that he should have been made to pay the £500 vet bill incurred by the Ruff family for treatment to their cat’s injury.

However, what is even more horrifying than such occasional acts of cruelty by the likes of Nunn, is the fact that tens of thousands of unwanted healthy cats are being put down every year in this country, because deliberate and negligent breeding has produced far more of these animals than homes that are available for them.

It’s been estimated that one unspayed female cat and one unneutered male and their offspring can produce 420,000 kittens in seven years.

For this reason, it is vital that members of the public should get their cats neutered and spayed at the earliest opportunity.

Kittens can breed while still quite young, so many cat welfare organisations recommended they be neutered/spayed as early as four months of age.

And please don’t encourage breeding by buying a cat or kitten from a breeder or pet shop. Go to a rescue shelter instead.

JANE HARGREAVES

Stourport