ICAME home from university to find an innocent, abandoned young cat. It was quiet and harmless.

I phoned the RSPCA on numerous occasions over five days, only to receive the same response each time, "Leave it alone," they told me "and it will go away. We don't come out to stray cats unless they are injured."

Well, if it had been left there any longer, it would have been injured -- and then what would they have done?

I thought the RSPCA was to prevent cruelty, not to ignore it.

On Christmas Eve, they chose to ignore a cat which had just given birth with no trace of its kittens, which was hungry and just craved for human attention.

Out of desperation, I phoned a family friend who put me in touch with a cat rescue service which took in this cat which had been hungry for at least five days.

If only it was given half the funding the RSPCA gets, I am sure they would put it to better use.

MISS SHAZIA HUSSAIN, Blackburn. (full address received)

FOOTNOTE: Kevin Hegarty, the RSPCA's North West regional press officer, said: "We are sorry to hear Miss Hussain's criticism. I have been unable to trace the calls she says she made to the RSPCA. She does not mention which telephone number she used.

It is possible that Miss Hussain phoned the animal centre at Altham, near Accrington, direct. If so, she would have been informed that the centre has no room to take in any more cats at present. It has a three-month waiting list for unwanted cats to be brought in.

Without more detail, I am unsure how Miss Hussain came to the conclusion that this cat was abandoned. The RSPCA does not have the resources to collect stray cats, but will intervene if the cat is sick or injured.

The RSPCA is a charity and does the best that it can with limited resources. It is unfair of Miss Hussain to claim that the RSPCA 'ignores' cruelty. That could not be further from the truth.