A PET owner is urging motorists to stop if they hit an animal after her beloved cat was left to die alone.

Elysia Kenrick was left ‘heartbroken’ and ‘devastated’ when she discovered her beloved pet Sox underneath a parked car on Prince Street, Dalton.

The 21-year-old discovered her ‘baby’ two weeks after first going missing, suspected of being hit by a car.

“We are absolutely heartbroken and devastated,” she said.

“We can’t say for certain how he died but we suspect that he was hit by a car and crawled his way under a car to die.

“He always loved sleeping under cars so it was like a safe place for him - our baby died alone.”

She first got one-year-old Sox when he was just five weeks old because his mum had rejected her babies. They got him along with his brother Polo.

Miss Kenrick said: “They did everything together and we think Polo might have found Sox and tried to show us where he was.

“We obviously couldn’t understand what he was trying to tell us but Polo came back home smelling like death - the same scent we could smell when we finally found Sox.

“I would just like everyone to know that if they run an animal over or even just clip it, as accidents do happen, to tell someone as there is more chance of saving the animal.

“If we knew about Sox as soon as it happened there is a chance we could have saved him or he would’ve at least not died alone. If you hit a cat, even if it doesn’t look injured, please stop and take it to a vet. If you can’t catch it please tell someone or try to find the owner to tell them.”

Under the Road Traffic Act (1988), you must report to police any collision with certain types of animal. This includes dogs, horses, cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, donkeys and mules.

If you fail to do so you could face a £5,000 fine.

At present you don’t legally have to report accidents involving other animals such as cats, badgers and foxes, however parliament is in the process of considering the ‘Cats Bill’ whereby it would become illegal not to report hitting a cat.