A LEADING health foods company has been branded "sick" for using a picture of Bridport's most famous cat to promote its products - three years after his death.

Ginger Tom Spike was the world's oldest moggy when he died in 2001, aged 31 - equal to 217 human years.

Owner Mo Elkington, an aromatherapist, put Spike's long life down to a daily dose of a special supplement she based on extracts from the aloe vera plant.

But the fur flew when she discovered that photographs of Spike are still being used across the country to help sell a range of aloe vera products from the world's leading producer - Forever Living Products, based in Warwickshire.

"A neighbour of mine spotted one of their agents at Honiton Show displaying a big picture of Spike and a write up about him," said Mrs Elkington, of Bothenhamp-ton. "There was also a picture of my other cat Shar, a blue Persian, who is also dead.

"I phoned the company and told them they had no right to use Spike's picture now he's dead but I got no joy.

"The assistant manager said they had no power to stop agents using the photographs because they were not directly employed by the company.

"But they have all been issued with ID cards by the firm and they are using pictures of my two dead cats to help sell their products - which I think is very sick.

"These were cherished pets. It is very upsetting and I just want it stopped."

Forever Living's Managing Director Bob Parker apologised and said he would take action.

"It must have been very distressing for her to see the picture," he said.

"We have a network of home based distributors who all work for themselves and generally sell the products by word of mouth or through their families.

"There is little point in upsetting anyone because we have lots of testimonials available to use including some from pet owners and articles on clinical trials in the Veterinary Times.

"So I will make sure our agents stop using pictures of Spike."

Meanwhile Mrs Elkington has a new cat in her life.

PC - short for Pussy Cat - is a four month old British Blue crossed Siamese and she is already enjoying a daily dose of Spike's long life aloe vera formula.

* Forever Living Products is billed as the world's largest grower, manufacturer and distributor of Aloe Vera and Aloe Vera based products. Its supplements are used by both humans and animals.