Pet owner’s horror at toy made with cat fur

An animal rights campaigner has reacted with horror after she was sold a toy for her cat made of real cat hair, which is illegal in this country.

Pauline Burgess, aged 53, of Cotswold Road, Malvern, was disgusted to discover that toy mice she bought for her pet cat were made of real cat hair.

Miss Burgess bought the toy – three spring-mounted mice attached to a board – from PetMad in Bridge Street, Evesham, for her 15-year-old rescue cat Mimi.



But the texture of the fur on the product made her suspect that it was real cat hair and she sent it to Worcestershire County Council trading standards and then to campaigning organisation Respect for Animals, which analysed it.

She said: “I am horrified. Some of these cats and dogs are skinned alive in countries like China. I would never knowingly buy any sort of real fur. I was assured when I bought it that it was fake fur and I am concerned other people may be buying items like this for Christmas.”

Jill Strickland, manager at PetMad, said: “The product was bought in good faith from one of our suppliers. We were obviously horrified to find out that real animal fur had been used in the toy and we will not be ordering anything else from that supplier again.”