Eleanor Walls, Elizabeth Rundle and Claire Wood Hill, embarked on the trip to Gocek after Mrs Walls went on a summer holiday to the seaside village and spotted maimed and sickly cats breeding.

Mrs Wall was saddened to see the stray cats leading such miserable lives so she set about raising money to buy neutering equipment to stop them breeding.

Just before Christmas the trio, who work at Purley Cattery, raised more than £1,600 for materials for their trip on January 18.

Mrs Walls, 67, who owns 12 cats, said: "The problem was even worse than we suspected.

"We trapped and neutered 39 cats, and treated three others, including giving one kitten, who was too young to be spayed, a contraceptive injection.

"Many of them had to have stitches in wounds where they had been fighting, and various abscesses treated.

"We came back exhausted but thrilled with what we had done."

The cat enthusiast says fundraising for her furry friends in Turkey is far from over.

She explained: "There are about another 150 un-neutered cats in the village, and unless we go back and neuter fairly quickly, we will be working to stand still, as they have litter after litter."

*If you would like to donate to their cause, write to Eleanor Walls, Purley Cattery, 110 Riddlesdown Road, Purley, CR8 1DD.