A STRAY kitten had its life saved after being hit by a car in North Yorkshire.

The kitten was found injured by a roadside in Hensall, close to Eggborough, and taken to Holmefield Vets out of hours for treatment.

While treating the kitten for a broken jaw, the vets discovered he had an extra blood vessel next to his heart that would cause heart failure, and when no owner came forward, the vets decided to carry out open heart surgery at their own expense.

Vet Leanne Hall said: "The surgery he needed was specialist, and not something normally attempted in general practice, but given that he had no other choice we decided to go ahead.

"The extra vessel was shunting blood from his aorta into his pulmonary artery, meaning the left side of his heart was having to work really hard. He would only have had a life expectancy of about six months before going into heart failure. The shunting blood vessel causes the heart to sound like a washing machine, so our little kitten became affectionately known as 'Bosch'– as 'Hotpoint' didn’t really seem to suit him."

Leanne also helped find Bosch a new home - when she was telling friends Alex and Jody Fenn about him, they volunteered to adopt Bosch.

Alex, who lives in Eggborough, said: "Bosch is very affectionate and energetic and is getting on well with our other cat. We can’t believe how quickly he has bounced back after such a major operation."