Shocking moment stranger snatches elderly cat from front garden by scruff of his neck caught on doorbell video

Shocking video shows the moment an elderly cat is snatched by an unknown man and carried away from the front porch of a home.

Padstow, 18, was grabbed by the young man dressed in an all black tracksuit at 1.30am on July 9.

The person can be seen seizing Padstow up by the scruff of his neck and carrying him across the front garden of Vanessa Potter and Liz Delaney in Wivenhoe, Essex. Vanessa and Liz live around the corner from Padstow's owners Naomi and Christian Winter, who have had the cat since he was a kitten, with Padstow being a frequent visitor to their garden.

Vanessa said: “When Liz turned on her phone at 7am the following day, Naomi had said Padstow hadn't come home. We then saw on our camera footage that he had been taken. 

"They didn't know we had a ‘Padstow cam’ and so we caught the whole thing. We can’t watch the footage with the sound on because it's so distressing.”

Naomi said: "We’re truly touched that so many people love our furry old boy as much as we do and want to see his safe return. All we desperately care about is getting Padstow back to where he belongs."

Posting an update on Facebook on July 11, Christian shared that Padstow had been found in Colchester and is now safely resting at home.