A DISTRAUGHT pet owner is appealing for information about her missing guinea pig left at a boarding kennel where scores of neglected pets were found.

Wendy Cole took her three-year-old pedigree Himalayan guinea pig Smudge to A1 Kennels and Cattery, at Brompton-on-Swale, near Catterick, North Yorkshire, at the beginning of November.

She rang up three weeks later and was told by staff he was fine.

However, after reading reports about the boarding kennels in the Northern Echo on Friday, she went to collect him - only to be told by RSPCA officers he was not there.

Mrs Cole, 47, said: "I am very annoyed and upset. I want to know what's happened to him - we thought everything was hunky-dory."

Mrs Cole took Smudge to the cattery in his cage.

But her husband, Mick, 50, said: "There's no cage, no guinea pig, no nothing."

Police and animal welfare officers discovered scored of neglected dogs after being alerted by a member of the public on Thursday. It is believed the owner has been taken ill.

A spokesman for the RSPCA said: "There weren't any guinea pigs at the kennels when we arrived. We are making inquiries with the owners to see if it rings any bells. We will make every effort to trace the animal," he said.

Smudge is white with a brown nose. It has red eyes and its ears are ragged from being chewed by another guinea pig when it was young.

Anyone with information is asked to call the RSPCA on 0870 333 5999.