More than 20 pet cats were rescued after a cruel owner allegedly locked them up at home with no food for months.

Concerned locals contacted the animal welfare group Watchdog Thailand Foundation after hearing loud cat noises coming from a house that had reportedly been locked for months in Samut Prakan province, Thailand.

A team arrived at the two-storey townhouse on March 21, and found the helpless animals staring outside from behind a transparent glass door, unable to escape from their enclosure.

Watchdog Thailand called the homeowner to ask for permission to enter the house, before having a technician unlock the entrance.

As they stepped inside, they saw more than 20 starving ginger cats roaming around the derelict house. Clumps of faeces littered the first and second floors, making the interior reek of waste. The rescuers also found dried-up corpses of cats that unfortunately succumbed to hunger.

Officers said a total of 17 cats were rescued from the house while a further four escaped. Five moggies were found dead.

A Watchdog Thailand Foundation spokesman said: ‘The villagers told us that the owner has been living somewhere else after her mother passed away last December. The owner would occasionally visit to take care of the cats, but this time she left them inside for too long so we had to help.’