A stray tom cat who was found battered and injured living inside a mattress on wasteland is settling into his new home in Falmouth after being rescued and subsequently adopted.

Cats Protection’s Cornwall Adoption Centre initially came to the aid of the stray they named Rocky, after the black cat, thought to be about six-years-old, was brought in by a member of the public.

Rocky had been living inside a mattress on an area of wasteland near a housing estate in Penryn and it is thought he had been living there for months, scavenging for food and getting into fights.

“He had a large number of scabs all over him, tears to his ears and a large abscess in his right ear and one on the left side of his face,” said Gareth Williams, acting manager of the centre. “He was also starving and very thin.

“I immediately took advice from the local vet and gave him something to eat, which helped him to perk up. He saw the vet straight after and immediately started medication for his many ailments.

“We called him Rocky as he looked like he had done a few rounds in the boxing ring. He had not been neutered which was probably why he was in such bad shape.”

After being neutered and nursed back to health at the centre, Rocky was adopted by Dorothy Jones and the pair are settling in well together at her home at Goldenbank.

“I have fallen for the handsome Rocky and I will ensure that with plenty of TLC he is soon the handsome boy I know he can be,” said Dorothy, whose previous rescue cat died last summer.

“Looking at Rocky for the first time made me realise how essential it is to have cats neutered as soon as they are old enough.

“I am looking forward to spoiling this gorgeous boy with lots of love.”

To find out more about the work of Cats Protection’s Cornwall Adoption Centre, or to learn more about neutering your cat, visit www.cornwall.cats.org.uk or call 01872 870575.