AT FIRST Johanna Edgar thought the friendly cat who often came over to say hello belonged to one of her neighbours.

Then she discovered the timid little feline was actually a stray. Unable to take him in because of her own cat, she decided to get him some help.

But several weeks later the cat is still living on the street because she can’t find anywhere to take him in. Johanna is increasingly worried he will be killed or injured on the roads near her home close to Queens Drive.

She contacted the RSPCA but was told that because he was not injured the charity could not take him.

She also tried several Cats Protection League branches, even as far away as Salisbury, but was met with answer machines or cat fosterers who said they already had their hands full.

Johanna also went to the Blue Cross for advice.

She said: “I’m worried about him on the busy road. The drag racing at night time along here is ridiculous and people go in the subway on their motorbikes. People hang around their doing drug deals.

"If that poor cat is around I dread to think what might happen to him.”

Earlier in the summer the Cats Protection League said it was struggling to cope with the annual kitten season, which stretches from April to late autumn.

By mid-May it had already helped 3,000 and last year it had to find new homes for more than 14,500. A spokeswoman for the Blue Cross said they too were facing a busy time coping with pregnant cats and their litters.

Johanna, who has named the stray Benny because her cat is called Frankie, said: “I have been buying food and treats for him to try and give him something.”

Benny spends most of his time under the hedges near her home and it was there that she first noticed him.

“I was sat in my wheelchair outside one day and he was over the other side. I called him and he came running over to me and I stroked him. He was very tame,” she said.

At first she thought he belonged to one of the neighbours.

“They said he had been around for a while and people had been feeding him for several weeks. They thought he was my cat,” said Johanna.

A friend took Benny to the vet to be checked over and they discovered he had not been microchipped or neutered. He was in reasonable health, due to the fact residents were feeding him and was probably around a year old.

A collar was put on Benny with a message asking the owners to contact the surgery, but there has been no call.