RSPCA volunteers are appealing to animal lovers to provide a home for a family of cats found abandoned by the side of a road.

The cats were discovered by a member of the public who noticed a black bag by the side of a road, between the villages of Leeming and Exelby, in North Yorkshire, on August 6.

The anonymous passer-by had initially been alerted after spotting the bag moving. When he opened the sack he found three cats, one of which was heavily pregnant, and five kittens.

Now their carers are desperately looking for homes for the animals, which have been recovering at a rescue centre near Northallerton for the past week.

June Levy, an RSPCA volunteer, said the cats had not been mistreated and were very friendly despite their suffering.

She said: "We are very keen to find the right homes for these cats, because they have obviously had quite an ordeal over the past few weeks.

"We have been busy getting them fed up and they are pretty much back to full fitness. The next step is to get them settled with some new owners.

"The cats don't seem to have been abused, but we need to find out more about how they came to be abandoned and to do that we need some help from the public."

Anyone interested in providing a home for the cats, or anyone with information about how the cats came to be abandoned, should contact Mrs Levy, on (01609) 776652.