A traumatised tabby kitten narrowly avoided being thrown away in the recycling, after it was left abandoned in a Henry Hoover box.
The frightened feline, nicknamed Hetty after another type of Numatic vacuum, risked ending up in a bin lorry when it’s previous owners discarded the pet in a cardboard box next to a wheelie bin on the drive of an animal sanctuary.
Sheila Steere of Paws Animal Sanctuary, near Worthing, West Sussex, rescued the female cat after discovering she was stuffed in the vacuum cleaner box, without any bedding or a note last Monday morning.
She said: “Just as I was about to flatten the box and put it in the recycling bin, I realised that it contained a very frightened little cat.
“The poor kitten had probably been outside all night. She was utterly traumatised, shaking and was hiding her face in the corner.
“With our care and kindness she will eventually recover and we will then try to find her a kind and permanent home.”