Pet owners suspicious after ‘20 cats go missing’ in Dagenham in a few weeks

Tinks is also missing. Picture: Louise Cooper (Image: Louise Cooper)

Diana Carolina Bustos claims to have seen a man in her garden in Nicholas Road on the day the second of her two cats went missing.

She was in the back room of her house when she spotted a man standing at the back of her garden.

Ms Bustos then opened the back door and her dog, Shadow chased the man away before she was able to take a photo or video.

Later that day she realised her cat had disappeared.

Ms Bustos describes the intruder as a 5’11” white male in his late 40s. He was wearing a navy blue jacket, a black beanie hat and jeans, she adds.

Due to the location of her house the man must have climbed several fences to reach her garden.

Liza Vallence had left her 13-year-old cat Biscuit to stay with a friend in RM8 while she moved house.

But her cat also vanished and has been missing for several weeks after disappearing from her friend’s garden.

“As every day passes I am less and less hopeful I am going to see him again,” she said.

Sarah Power, another cat owner, has had her cat Lucky missing for several weeks.

“I know cats can just go missing, so I didn’t think too much of it at first,” said Ms Power.

“But now I have heard about so many people who are in the same situation as me that is does make you worried,” she said.

Louise Cooper, of Wood Lane, has also had her cat disappear.

Her 15-year-old cat called Tinks went missing from Wood Lane.

When Ms Cooper was out putting up signs appealing for her cat’s safe return, she realised that there were several other people looking for cats within a small area.

It was then that she decided to compile a list of missing cats, appealing on social media for anyone who has had their cat go missing recently to get in touch with her to help establish whether they are connected.

The police say they are not investigating the spate of disappearances.

“We would not investigate missing cats,” said a police spokesman.