This little kitten has been nursed back to health after being sold online when he was just four weeks old.
The tiny white kitten, named Nimbus because he looks like a cloud, was so young he was unable to clean himself and was scalded from his own excrement.
The cat had been sold through a car boot app and was left underweight, in pain and frightened, said the charity.
Because he had never seen his mother or littermates eating food from a bowl, little Nimbus struggled to feed himself.
Battersea’s head vet Shaun Opperman said: “Nimbus was far too young to be separated from his mother when he was sold online. He came into us in a terrible state as he couldn’t clean himself properly and he clearly wasn’t being fed properly as he was seriously underweight.
Nimbus now has a new home but the charity is using his story to warn people against buying animals online.
Battersea’s head of catteries, Rob Young, said: “Luckily Nimbus was brought to us just in time as without immediate veterinary care, his future could have been very sad.
“His story just goes to show how dangerous it is to purchase a pet online – this poor kitten was in an awful state and far younger than he’d been advertised.”
