A SAUCHIE woman was left “in shock” after discovering a cat had been cruelly dumped in her wheelie bin.

Emma McCafferty, 25, was taking rubbish out at her flat in Craigview on Wednesday, August 29, when she made the shocking discovery.

She told the Advertiser: “I went to take the bin out and didn’t hear anything, but as soon as I opened the bin I found a ginger cat in it.

“I don’t know how long it had been in there, but it had a food pail in with it."

Emma believes the animal had been deliberately shut inside by someone.

She said: “I can’t see any way the cat got in the bin itself.

"I had my mum's dog with me at the time, so I put the dog back in the flat and went back to get the cat out.

"It had sat there for a few minutes, probably to catch its breath, but then it jumped out and ran away."

Emma claims the cat, which she believes was male, must have been abandoned hours earlier, as it was so hot the day before it would have died if left overnight.

When asked about how it felt to find the poor animal, she said: “I was definitely left in shock because it’s one of these things, you take your bins out and don’t expect that. It was horrifying.

"My neighbour has CCTV and he's going to review it and see if it caught whoever did this on camera."

Emma reported the incident to the Forth Valley Cats Protection Adoption Centre.

She now hopes whoever dumped the animal in her bin can be found.

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals added: “Thankfully the majority of Scots regard cruelty towards animals as unacceptable and unthinkable, but there is a minority of people out there who think it's acceptable to treat cats in particular very maliciously.

"Because of their free roaming nature, cats are often subjected to cruelty and ill-treatment at the hands of complete strangers.

"We always encourage anyone who witnesses an animal suffering or in distress to call our Animal Helpline on 03000 999 999 and we invite anyone thinking about getting a cat or kitten to consider rehoming one from one of our ten Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centres across Scotland."