CAT lovers are purring with delight after a cattery installed cameras so owners can keep an eye on their pets while away on holiday.

Six pens at Higher Spen Cattery, Noggarth Road, Fence, are equipped with webcams that even work in the dark.

Owners Carly Ogden and Jane Dewhurst believe they are the only cattery in the north west to provide the 24-hours-a-day cat-cam service.

It’s a secure system which means that only the pet owner with use of a password can view the cat, rather than the footage be live streamed on to the web for all to see.

Carly, from Padiham, said: “I just wanted to do something a little bit different and this seemed like a great idea.

“I’m not technically minded whatsoever and people thought I was mad, but the guys from Brandshank, who run our website, said it was a brilliant idea.”

The web cam pens are so popular, people have even travelled from Sheffield to leave their cat under the watchful lens of Higher Spen.

Daryelle Sunderland, who left three family pets at the cattery, said: “Blue, Tig and Smudge were comfortable and happy throughout our holiday and we knew that, because the web-cam proved it. It just made our holiday more relaxing and gave us peace of mind.”

Carly said: “Cats are people’s prized possessions and are an important part of family life. We have a lady who breeds very expensive cats and she told us she would never leave them anywhere where she couldn’t see them.”