A mother cat and her kittens are now receiving the care they need after being found abandoned in a cat carrier beside a road in Ashcott.

The RSPCA has launched an investigation after the grey and white female cat was found with her seven grey and white kittens beside an open cat carrier which had been left at the side of a road in the village.

RSPCA animal rescue officer Ali Sparkes said: "A member of the public found these beauties in a hedge near a farm in Ashcott.

"An open cat carrier was found nearby. The mother was young and very thin, and the kittens were just a few weeks old.

"Sadly one of the kittens passed away but thankfully six have survived. The team at RSPCA Brent Knoll Animal Centre are now taking good care of them and, once the kittens are old enough, they'll all be found loving new homes."

The cats were discovered by a member of the public on June 24 before being taken to a vet. Ali is appealing to anyone who recognises the cat to contact the RSPCA's appeal line on 0300 123 8018.

Andy Cook, behaviour and welfare advisor at the RSPCA North Somerset Branch's Brent Knoll Animal Centre, said: "Sadly the smallest kitten didn't make it.

"We're giving extra support to the others and keeping everything crossed for them. Mum cat's bodily condition is incredibly poor and so she is receiving significant nutritional support, as are the remaining six kittens.

"We've named mum Clementine and named her kittens Marzipan, Crumble, Gingerbread, Eccle, Fairy, and Genoise after our love of cake."

The animal welfare charity has recently released intentional cruelty figures - which can be viewed on an interactive Cruelty Map - as part of its Cancel Out Cruelty campaign - to raise funds to keep its rescue teams out on the frontline saving animals in desperate need of help and to raise awareness about how we can all help stamp out cruelty for good.

These show there were 1,731 reports of deliberate cruelty to animals in Somerset in the last five years.

The RSPCA gets around 84,000 calls to its cruelty line every month and around 1,500 of those are about intentional cruelty.

However, the charity sees a rise in the summer by around 400 calls, on average, per month, which equates to 47 calls every day or two every hour.

July is a particularly busy month for investigating cruelty - last year the RSPCA dealt with a spike in intentional cruelty as 1,532 incidents were called through to their emergency helpline and the charity is expecting a similar spike this July.

Ali said: "We're also really worried that more pets who have been bought during lockdown could become neglected or abandoned as people begin to return to normal."

To donate to the Cancel Out Cruelty campaign and help the charity continue to rescue animals in need, visit www.rspca.org.uk/stopcruelty.

You can also help Cancel Out Cruelty by volunteering for the charity, becoming a campaigner to help it change the law for animals for the better, by becoming a fundraiser for the RSPCA, by learning more about animals through its Compassionate Families programme, buying a Cancel Out Cruelty T-shirt and showing it off on social media, or by pledging to help animals in other ways, such as learning more about your pets' needs, or learning how to help wildlife.