Mystery as family's three cats are all struck down with same illness within six months

WARNING FROM OWNER WHO SAYS IT'S 'TOO MUCH OF A COINCIDENCE'

- By JOSEPH CONNOLLY Local democracy reporter

WHEN Kat Bailey's pet cat Mia had a stroke just days after her other pet cat, Alex, had recovered from one of his own, she might have put it down to scary coincidence.

But when Sammy, the family's third and significantly younger pet cat, started displaying the same symptoms, the pattern was too uncanny to ignore.

"It was bizarre," said mum-of-three Kat, 40. "None of them have ever had health problems in the past. The second time, we thought: 'No way is this happening again! But three - no, that's too much of a coincidence. This shouldn't be happening."

The older pair both made full recoveries from their neurological episodes, so when Sammy became unwell, Kat and her husband, from Compton Acres in West Bridgford, were relaxed enough to hope for the best. But Sammy never shook off the effects and had to be put down in August.

It was after that heartbreak that Kat felt it necessary to warn other owners in the area of what she felt might have potentially been an external cause of the illness.