SICK yobs gave a kitten such a violent beating he had to have an operation to remove his tail.

Owner Margaret Mottram thought a car had run over Rufus's long fluffy tail when the ginger Tom limped home injured.

But Margaret and her vet were puzzled because the young cat had no broken bones.

The mystery was solved five days later when a vet shaved Rufus to carry out an operation to remove the decaying tail and found bruising under his fur.

"It looked like somebody had given him a damn good kicking," said owner Margaret, of Chester Avenue, Little Lever.

"A car could not have caused bruising there without breaking any bones.

Now six-month-old Rufus has a stump where he once had a long fluffy tail inherited from his Persian mum but is otherwise recovering from his ordeal.

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