I just had to take flea-ridden Restalrig cat to get help at Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home – Hayley Matthews

I was outside The Ripple Club at Restalrig during the week and spotted a small cat wandering.

Being infested with parasitic fleas is extremely unpleasant (Picture: Olha Schedrina/The Natural History Museum, Creative Commons via Wikimedia Commons)

I didn't think much of it but then it took some sort of fit in front of me and was a bit distressed.

I picked it up and it didn't seem very happy. It was also covered in fleas. I had a white dress on and when I looked down I was covered in little black specks. I thought about what to do and decided to take her to the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home to see if she was chipped.

I'd put a few posts on some Facebook pages to see if I could find an owner and, being well-versed in some people’s fondness for trolling, I suspected there would be a few nutters bashing their knuckles off the keyboard.

But 96 comments later, a private DM from a guy I don't know, a voice message from a mad cat woman and a threat of having me charged if I’d lifted one of their animals, and you would have thought I'd taken a Fabergé egg.

I'd said on my post that if the cat belongs to someone then call the dog-and-cat home. Nonetheless, there was still a lot unpleasant chat from a few "I Love Leith" Facebookers.

The comments section has been an eye-opener to read, as well as giving me a bit of a chuckle.

But this is about a wee cat who anyone in their right mind, if they had taken a second glance at, would have tried to help. If she's your cat, I'm sorry. We'll get her home once she's been de-flea’d.