A PET cat was savagely attacked by a fox on Saturday morning as it sat soaking up the winter sun in its owner's back garden. Mrs Jane Scaysbrook, the pet's owner, said: The fox bit her back leg right off." Mrs Scaysbrook, of Beechwood Avenue, St Albans,

A PET cat was savagely attacked by a fox on Saturday morning as it sat soaking up the winter sun in its owner's back garden. Mrs Jane Scaysbrook, the pet's owner, said: "The fox bit her back leg right off." Mrs Scaysbrook, of Beechwood Avenue, St Albans, did not find her 11-year old injured pet, called Hannah, immediately after the attack. The first she knew of it was when she saw their other cat Mr Gill hurtle through the cat flap at high speed at around 10am. The mother of two grown-up children said: "I thought something must have been up because he is so big he doesn't normally travel that fast. My husband Terry looked outside to see a fox sauntering up the path which was an unusual sight in itself. We've never seen one in our garden before. But I didn't think to check on Hannah because I thought she was safely indoors." She was indoors - upstairs in her basket in the family study - where her owner discovered her an hour later. Mrs Scaysbrook, Head of Learning Support at Loreto College in Lattimore Road, St Albans, said: "Hannah was lying there in a pool of blood. It was a horrifying discovery and I still feel desperate about it." Her husband Terry - also a teacher - had already gone to play golf before Mrs Scaysbrook made her shock discovery so her next door neighbour Simon drove her to the family's vet in Hatfield Road. At first the vet dismissed the notion of it being a fox which had injured the cat but he confirmed it when he saw the tooth marks. Mrs Scaysbrook said: "I don't know if cats get depressed but Hannah is like someone in shock - very cowed by the whole thing. "But the vet said she must have given a good account of herself to have escaped alive." She added: "The only reason I am keen for people to know what happened is so that other cat owners are made aware that this could happen to their pet.