A cat believed to be a Polish immigrant has been spared death after a regional daily raised hundreds of pounds on the day it was due to be put down.

Readers of the Nottingham Post donated more than £350 in under two hours to cover quarantine fees for the cat, which was found as a stray three weeks ago and is suspected to have entered the country illegally.

The Post launched a last-ditch appeal for the cat’s owners to come forward on Wednesday, when it set to be face the lethal injection, as well as an online donation page for readers to give money to cover the fees.

The black male feline, which has a microchip indicating it comes from Poland, has been at a veterinary centre in Ruddington, near Nottingham, for the past three weeks after it was found on a street in the suburb of Beeston.

Trading standards officials deemed the cat, pictured above left, a risk to the public because they could not be certain it was brought into the country legally.

However, enough cash was raised by the Post’s appeal on the day for the vets to be able to afford the cat’s quarantine bills.

By Wednesday evening, the total amount on the Go Fund Me online page set up by the Post stood at more than £800 – with 64 donations ranging from £5 to £175.

It is now hoped the cat, which is believed to be around four-years-old, will be rehomed after his quarantine period finishes, with offers coming in from as far afield as Austria and the USA.

Post digital publisher Natalie Fahy told HTFP: “When we published the story on our Facebook page it was an immediate hit, and all our readers started piling in, asking how they could help.

“After speaking to the veterinary practice, we decided to set up a Go Fund Me page to pay the cat’s bills.

“We had smashed our target by lunchtime and by the end of the day raised £805 – enough for some to also be sent to two local cat rescue centres.

“It just shows Nottingham really does love cats.”

Veterinary centre director Jane McLachlan said the speed in which the appeal reached its target showed the “power of the internet”.

She said: “We thought if we could get to within £50 or £100 we would do the top-up because there was no way we wanted to put him to sleep.

“We’ve had him for three weeks and while you try not to get too attached, you do. He’s very friendly and a big lad.

“We’ve never been in a situation like this before in our 21 years with a foreign stray cat so this is just such a relief.

“In a matter of two hours we had offers of homes across the UK and in the United States and Austria.

“Ideally the cat will go somewhere locally once it’s come back from quarantine.”