AN ANIMAL lover from Dorset is desperately trying to find homes for her beloved seven cats before she downsizes to a new home in less than a month.

Mother-of-seven Fiona McCormick, 61, has been rescuing cats and kittens for more than 12 years and currently has seven feline friends in her home in Sherborne which is next to a field where the cats can roam freely.

She is moving into a one-bedroom bungalow next month as she cannot afford to pay the bedroom tax in her three-bedroom home now that all of her children have moved out.

The bungalow, in Bishop's Caundle, is near to a main road so she is desperately trying to rehome all seven of her cats before then.

She said: "The new place I am moving in to doesn't have very much space and doesn't have a cat flap.

"It is also near to a busy road and I am afraid that after spending all of their lives next to fields they will not be very road-wise and I fear they could get hurt or could cause an accident."

Fiona, who also has seven children who are aged between 17 and 41, rescued all of her cats, including a pregnant mother who had five kittens.

Six of the cats are aged between three and seven and one of the cats is older at 12-years-old. They have all been neutered and are up-to-date with their worm and flea treatments.

Fiona can provide cardboard cat carriers, a teddy and toys for each cat as they are rehomed.

She said: "Although I would love to keep them and take them all with me, it would be extraordinarily selfish not to do the very best thing for them which is to let them go.

"It is something I have got to do but I know when I have done it I will be pretty devastated - they are my family.

"I just hope I can find some lovely homes for them and they will be spoilt rotten by their new owners."

If you are interested in rehoming one of Fiona's cats, call her on 07488 256871.