Distraught pet owner Jonathan Walland has thanked concerned motorists and passers-by who tried to save his unusual sphynx cat.
Anubis, a two-and-a-half year old male, escaped through an open window at Mr Walland's home in School Close, Knapton, and was hit and killed by a vehicle.
The striking cat, worth about £1,500, had distinctive sphynx-shaped long ears, long legs and was hairless.
He was still alive but severely injured when two 10-year-old girls found him and alerted the Walland family who had spent about 12 hours frantically looking for their missing pet. He died on a water bed about an hour later.
Mr Walland, 65, said he, his wife Linda, 59, and son Jonathan, 31, had rescued Anubis from 'disgusting' conditions at a property in Lincolnshire about five-and-a-half weeks earlier. Anubis had been kept in a cage and ill-treated so that he was scared of humans.
He had responded well to kindness and was very affectionate but had never been outside before.
The day after he was killed, Mr Walland said about five motorists had called at his house to say they had seen the unusual cat on the Mundesley Road and had tried to catch it or 'shoo' it away from danger. One person at first thought he was a piglet until they spotted the ears.
One woman had gone home and looked up the breed on the internet, realised how valuable it was and had returned to the scene with help to try and find him.
The family own 11 assorted cats, including a female sphynx cat, Amber. They have found some comfort in the fact that she is expecting kittens, fathered by Anubis, in about five weeks' time.
Their daughter Hilary Walland, 36, from Walsingham, also has a female sphynx cat which is pregnant by Anubis.
'I would like to put out a big 'thank you' to everybody who tried to help,' said Mr Walland. 'They didn't have to do it, but they did and we are very grateful. We really miss him. He had become a real member of the family.'
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