A PENSIONER whose elderly cat was seized and then destroyed by the RSPCA has warned she may take legal action against the charity.

The Press reported last month how Ann Baker’s tabby cat Nightshift was taken from Church Avenue in Selby, where he lived, by an RSPCA inspector who felt the cat was suffering.

Nightshift was then put down, even though he had been taken to a vet only a few days previously by Mrs Baker and given medication for a respiratory problem.

Mrs Baker, a 79-year-old widow, said today she was still waiting for answers to certain questions, including why she was unable to contact the RSPCA until the morning after Nightshift had gone missing and who had reported the animal as a stray in the first place.

Mrs Baker said her cat went missing at about 6pm and she had been told he was put down at 7.30pm at a nearby vet’s. But she asked why, if Nightshift was in so much pain, did it take an hour and a half to get him to the vet? She claimed he must have spent the last 90 minutes in the RSPCA van.

Depending on the answers she gets, she says she might take legal action.

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: “An RSPCA inspector has met with Mrs Baker as part of our investigation into what happened here. Mrs Baker has now given us the name of the vet where her cat was taken on Bank Holiday Monday and we are entirely satisfied that he had been seen that day.

“Unfortunately, when he was picked up by an RSPCA inspector on 31 August her cat wasn’t wearing a tag or micro-chipped so the inspector had no way of knowing whether he was owned or a stray.

“Because of his very poor condition he was taken to a vets where he was examined and put to sleep immediately to end his suffering.

“The RSPCA has put Mrs Baker in touch with the vet, who has explained the reasons why this decision was taken.

“We are very sorry that Mrs Baker has been caused upset and distress and have again conveyed our sympathies to her.”