'Animal crackers' as SSPCA probes cat's attack on dog

AN ANGRY pet owner yesterday condemned Scotland's leading animal welfare charity for sending an inspector to investigate reports that her cat had attacked a dog.

Angela Blanchard, a housewife from Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire, said she had been left completely stunned when an officer from the Scottish SPCA visited her home to follow up allegations that Rosie, her family's four-year-old moggie, had attacked a Yorkshire terrier in the village.

Mrs Blanchard, 33, a mother of three, said: "It's absolutely ridiculous. She's a cat and she doesn't like dogs. And I don't see that as a problem."

She explained that Rosie was normally a laid back feline and a perfectly lovely family pet.

"Like most cats, she is fat and lazy," she insisted. "She is the most laid-back, placid cat you could get."

But the cat was "territorial" over the playground at the local primary school, 100 yards from their home, where her children, Zack, five, Zander, seven, and Logan, nine, are pupils.

She said the officer from SSPCA had called at her home to question her about allegations that Rosie had attacked a Yorkshire terrier in the playground of Port Errol primary.

Scott Elphinstone, a senior inspector with the SSPCA, said: "We received a call to our animal helpline and went to speak to the owner of the cat concerned, who has been advised to monitor the situation."