The owner of a cat believed to have been snared in a trap in Barrow has given an update on its condition.

The RSPCA Furness branch reported on its Facebook page that a cat called Pepper had suffered leg injuries consistent with being caught in a trap.

The pet went missing from a house on School Street on May 15.

READ MORE: Second Furness cat snared in trap and may lose a leg

He returned to his old home around 12 days later on Bank Holiday Monday.

He was in quite a lot of distress and couldn't put his paw down.

His owner Jennifer said: "We moved from our old home last year which isn't far from where we live now.

"He must have recognised the roads and made his way back there. 

"Luckily, we're in touch with the woman who currently lives there. 

"He has been back to the old house before however when he returned he was very withdrawn and was hiding in an outhouse.

"He usually knocks on the window or shouts when he wants something but you could see he was in a lot of pain.

"People say it's just a cat however this was awful I was so upset."

When Jennifer took Pepper to the vet, further inspection revealed that he had dislocated his ankle with a further two dislocations on his foot.

All the soft tissue had been torn and he'd lost his 25% of his body weight and was dehydrated.

He then underwent two surgeries to put his ankle back together with three screws.

On top of this, there was also a puncture in his skin meaning he is now at risk of gangrene and losing his foot.

"We believe he must have got caught not long after he went missing," Jennifer said, "due to the amount of weight he'd lost.

"The vet suspects that it may have been a trap due to the puncture wound however it's not 100% confirmed yet as we don't know exactly where he's been.

"I'm taking him back to the vet on Wednesday to find out if he's going to keep his leg due to the gangrene and to see if the screws have worked -  so we will know more then.

"He's doing a lot better than he was and he's so happy to be at home back on the window sill.

"I'm leaving his food on there so he doesn't have to jump down and I'm just trying to fatten him up at the moment.

"Once he's better, I'm going to fit him with a GPS tracker so we can exactly see where he's going."