Cruel thugs are believed to have mutilated a pet cat by hacking it in half and leaving its carcass in the street.

The gruesome remains were discovered by horrified Becci Duffus who works for Sheerness Town Council.

Warning: distressing image follows

She said: "I was alerted on Facebook that there was a dead cat in St George’s Avenue near our office. The person who found her had moved her from the road and put her on the path."

Becci agreed to take the body to the vets on her way to work and have it scanned for a chip to try to track down its owner. But she was in for another shock.

She said: "When I arrived, I found just the back end of the cat. Her tail had been removed and her body was chopped clean in half with the front legs and head nowhere to be found."

She took the white and black corpse to nearby Wellpets in Sheerness but there was no chip as the front part of the body was missing.

Becci, a financial assistant at the council, said: "The vets thought it had been done deliberately by a person, not an animal, as it was such a clean cut. They told me they were notifying the police."

The cat's body was found on Thursday morning. A police spokeswoman said: "Officers carried out several enquiries including house-to-house enquiries and reviewing CCTV footage of the local area but no suspects have been identified."

In another terrifying attack, a resident reported seeing two teenagers attempting to "kick a cat to death" in Sheerness over the weekend.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said: "I want to warn cat owners that some 'really hard teens' were trying to kick a cat to death in the Winstanley Road and Berridge Road area."

She described one as a "skinny little white boy" with mousy brown hair in braids who was wearing a grey/white hoodie and tracksuit bottoms.

She said the other had dark hair tied in a bun and was wearing an all-black hoodie and tracksuit bottoms.

She added: "I hope their parents are proud of them."

The vile attacks came as Cats Protection Swale issued its own warning to pet owners after reporting that a third cat had been "harmed" in the Juno Road area of Sittingbourne.

It said: "The injuries sustained indicate it was done by a human."

The animal has since been seen by a vet and is expected to make a full recovery. But the charity warned: "Please be vigilant."

Police said they had no record of the other two cat attacks.

A spokeswoman for the animal charity RSPCA said: “This is concerning and must be very worrying for pet owners in the area. Anyone with any information about animal cruelty can contact our cruelty line on 0300 1234 999."