A cat has been found in Orpington skinned alive and had to have its leg amputated to survive the ordeal.

Tania Hurrell, of Vinson Close, was woken early in the morning by her brother last Saturday.

Ms Hurrell’s cat Ori had come back to the house with a horrific injury - the fur on one of Ori’s legs had been peeled off.

Ms Hurrell said: “My brother was crashing in the living room, he opened the garden door around 5am or 6am because he was feeling hot, when he awoke again a few hours later, she was on the floor beside him.

“He has no idea how long she was there for but woke me up right away.

“It took a while for it to sink in, what I was seeing and what had happened, before I started to get ready to get her to the vets.

“At this point a cab and the vets had already been called by my brother.”

How Ori received the horrible injury isn’t clear.

Ms Hurrell said: “There are various guesses for what could have happened to her.

“The vet suspects a car, but nothing else was broken, just the skin cut clearly off from around the leg, which has now been amputated.

“And even if it was a car, she was still hit by a human, who would have noticed, and they didn’t bother to take her to a vet or knock on any surrounding doors to see if she belonged to anyone.

“She could have been caught on something but again, the skin was neatly gone. I feel like it would be messier than what it was.

“The whole experience was completely horrible, I have four more cats at home, two of which are her kittens and it's sad knowing that I need to try start keeping them in.”

Ms Hurrell reached out to members of the community for help with the large vet bill that came from saving Ori’s life.

She started a Just Giving page to raise the £700 needed for the vet bill. So far, she has raised all the money, even though there is still 27 days to go with the campaign.

She said: “I have had such positive help from a lot of people, friends, family and even members of the public who I have never met. They all helped me get through this tough time.

“I knew the vet bills were going to be costly and well out of my budget. I had been given a chance to pay it off monthly, but I'd be doing that for the next 10 months.

“I put together a just giving page and within 48 hours I had reached around 80 percent of my target. I cannot thank everyone who donated enough.”

Ori is due home today.