CATS from a neighbourhood in Cricklade had to be put down after being poisoned - leaving their owners completely devastated.

Pets Rafiki and his daughter Elsa, were found collapsed in the garden of Elsa's Fullers Avenue home at about 4pm on Friday.

Ella Roberts rushed to the scene to try and help and rang her vets practice at Pets at Home in Swindon who agreed to examine the cats.

Before leaving Mrs Roberts, 32, returned to her nearby Cherry Tree Road home to collect her own cat Misty, and found her ‘curled up in a ball in a ball and spaced out’ in one of her dog’s beds.

All the cats were rushed to the vets in Swindon but their injuries were too severe and they had to be put down later that evening.

The cats' death are not being treated as malicious by police but the RSPCA will be conducting a post mortem to establish what the cats ingested to cause their deaths.

A shocked Mrs Roberts, who works as a cleaner in the town, said all three owners knew each other well and seeing the cats suffering had been very traumatising for them and their families.

She said: “I never wanted to see a cat like that again. It was awful. She was always a healthy cat, it was almost as if they were drugged up.”

“It just happened far too quick. I did not have time to think.

“It is a bit of a shock to the system what happened to her. We are not really sure how or why or what they have ingested and whether it was deliberate.

“When I checked Rafiki's heart it was beating ten to a dozen. It was too quick.

“We are not really sure what they have ingested or whether it was deliberate.”

She added that she would like to thank the staff at Pets at Home for trying to save the cats.

Rachel, Rafiki's owner, who lives in the Fullers Road area, said the children in all three families had struggled to come to terms with the deaths of the cats.

She explained that 12 children had been affected.

She said: “The most heartbreaking thing was telling my kids. Having witnessed it, it was not nice.

“I have three children, and Ella and Rafiki's owner has six, and they are all really affected by this. We have had him since he was born”

Police believe the cats were in the same spot when they ingested the hazardous substance which has not yet been confirmed.

Donna West, of the Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade police, said she does not believe the poisoning was a deliberate act, but is urging anyone who can shed light on the incident to contact them.

If you have information call police on 101 and quote reference number 5415/0033794.