A SADISTIC cat hater is feared to be loose after two pets living next door to each other were mutilated with knives within days.

Jack was nearly cut in half - then someone apparently tried to cut the tail off neighbour Franky.

Brenda Mitchell from Cats Protection said someone was "certainly" targeting the area's cats and she wants people to keep them inside.

Police are appealing for information after the attacks in Millfield, on the Creekmoor estate in Poole.

Franky's disabled owner Angela Jennings, 55, found seven-year-old Franky with a one-inch would above his tail on Wednesday.

"He needed four stitches. It looked like it was a really sharp knife. What is wrong with these people? Are they on drugs or something? It's just despicable," she said.

"It's terrifying. Are they going to go after children next?

"Franky is my only companion. I am absolutely gutted. He is in terrible distress. He is a nervous wreck. He is just shaking.

"He was a rescue cat and he loves everybody - it's awful to see him like this. I think these people are absolutely sick."

His neighbour Jack was found on his owner's doorstep with a knife wound running round his body on October 11.

Despite a punctured lung, he made it through a life-saving operation, as previously reported in the Daily Echo.

Owner Louise Dyke said he was making excellent progress but added: "It's happened again and we are trying to think who it might be."

Brenda Mitchell, from Cats Protection, said it also looked as though a knife had been used on Franky. She said: "Whether they tried to cut his tail off I don't know."

She added: "We drove round in the evening to see if we could see anything, and all these gangs were jeering at us.

"Fireworks night is coming and God knows what they will do.

PC Nick Henstridge, from Gravel Hill Police Station, said: "It's quite possible that those who did this maybe in need of help themselves."

Anyone with information can contact Dorset Police on 01202 222222 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.