A cat has been found strangled to death with a shoelace in a garden.

The discovery has sickened the owners of Thomas, left, a ginger tabby, who had been missing from his home in Mayfield Close, Carterton, for 12 days.

The RSPCA is appealing for information to track down the killers. It is the second vicious attack on a cat in the district in the past month. As reported in the Oxford Mail last week, family pet Oscar had to have a leg amputated after being blasted by a shotgun near in Aston, near Bampton.

The body of eight-year-old Thomas was found in the garden of a house in Corbett Road, just 50 yards from his own home.

His owners, who want to remain anonymous, said: "Thomas usually came in every evening during the winter, so we started to worry as soon as he failed to come home. We were worried that he had got lost or been in an accident, but to think that he was killed deliberately is unbearable."

A flat black shoelace had been tied round its neck and an examining vet concluded Thomas had died from malicious asphyxiation. RSPCA inspector for the area, Tracey Davenport, said: "To kill an animal spitefully and deliberately is abhorrent. If anyone has any information on the incident we urge them to come forward."

There is a maximum six month prison sentence and/or a £20,000 fine for anyone found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Call the RSPCA in confidence on 0300 1234 999.

The family of Oscar, at Back Lane, Aston, who had to pay more than £1,000 in vet's fees to save his life, say he is doing well. The attack was reported to the police and RSPCA, but no one has so far been caught.