WHO was me-owner? That's what little Star the abandoned cat needs to know.

The affable tabby was left on the doorstep of Blackpool's Easterleigh Animal Sanctuary in April.

But where she's from is a mystery, because her micro-chip is foreign.

And unless sanctuary staff can find out her background, the five-year-old feline will have to be kept in quarantine for several more months.

Sanctuary owner Mandy Leigh said: "If she's come from abroad she may have already done her quarantine, and if we knew her background it could save the poor cat from going into isolation for six months.

"We've had for six weeks now and we haven't let her mix with the other cats. When she first arrived we asked the vet to scan her for a micro-chip, but it was a foreign one. We couldn't read it."

The vet contacted the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), but Star's background remains a mystery.

Mandy said: "Whoever had Star had obviously cared for her. She was left in a nice carrier and on a nice blanket and she'd been micro-chipped.

"She's an extremely friendly, loving cat. Whether she belonged to somebody who's died or who didn't want her, we just don't know."

The abandoned puss was named Star by Easterleigh volunteers. She has a distinctive gingery face, grey tabby markings, and white toes on her left back and both front paws. But Star cannot be rehomed until the staff are sure she has been in quarantine before, or she undergoes six months isolation now.

"If we could just establish if she has been in quarantine - anyone that knows anything about her could just let us know in the very strictest confidence - that would really help," Mandy added.

Easterleigh Animal Sanctuary can becontacted on 789185.