Horrific injuries were inflicted upon a St Albans cat before he eventually found his way home after disappearing for 10 days.

At some point after Robin the black cat went missing from his family home in Cottonmill, he was kicked in the face and left to die.

Robin’s owners, Laura Cheadle, 26, her husband Shane, 29, and their three young children of five, four, and two, looked everywhere for Robin – including calling local vets to see if he had been handed in.

Ten days later, on February 1, Laura saw a scrawny cat like Robin outside their house but thought nothing of it because Robin had been a big cat of healthy weight.

That evening at around 9.30pm, she heard a “weird” sneezing and scratching outside their house, and found Robin sat outside – but her “excitement turned to horror” when she saw his injuries.

Robin was bleeding from his mouth, had a broken jaw, yellow discharge from his eyes, was soaking wet and had lost almost all of his weight.

It is not clear what exactly happened to Robin, but the vets believe he was kicked in the face.

Laura said: “We think he got trapped somewhere, but we don’t know if he had been taken - and it could have been someone on my road, it couldn’t have been far.

“It’s horrible to think that he could have been kicked by youths or by anyone.” She described the people who did this as “sick and twisted”.

Since the family have been reunited, they have had to pay for hundreds of pounds of operations to fix the injuries, and Robin is now on the mend with pain medication, antibiotics, special food, and 24 hour care. But he will never be able to close his mouth or eat hard food again.

The treatment would have cost much more, but London-based charity Celia Hammond Animal Trust took him in to help.

The whole episode has been “extremely upsetting” for the children, and “heart-breaking” for Laura and Shane.

She said: “He is alive and that’s what matters to me most, I’m so proud of him at the progress he is making.

“The vets can’t believe he survived so long with his injures, let alone make it home.”

Anyone who has information should call the police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.