Meet Henrietta - Sunderland's adorable six-legged kitten

Three-month old Henrietta was born with six legs and needs to have complicated surgery to remove her additional limbs, but such surgery would come at a huge cost.

Hendon charity Feline Friends - which is caring for the little kitten - put out an appeal for funds to treat her and now their prayers have been answered, thanks to a £1,000 donation by builder Persimmon Homes Durham.

The business decided to donate after being moved by the adorable kitten's plight.

They made the generous donation from their Community Champions campaign to give Henrietta a bright future.

The donation means the charity which rescues stray, abandoned and unwanted cats, can better afford the surgery needed to remove Henrietta’s extra limbs.

Gillian Connor, a volunteer with Feline Friends, said: “Henrietta was born to one of our strays and she was born with six legs.

"She is three months old now and the vet’s advice is that we wait until she is about six months old to undergo the complicated surgery and aftercare to remove the limbs.

“She is a lovely little thing and we have already had a lot of interest from people looking to give her a forever home, but we want to make sure she is fit and well before we do that.

“As an organisation we trap and neuter feral cats and rescue any stray or abandoned cat we are notified of – as you can imagine costs can be quite high, so this donation by Persimmon Homes Durham is very gratefully received.”

Christine Cooper, sales director at Persimmon Homes Durham, said the Community Champions initiative was a way of supporting people across every city, town and village where the company works.

She said: “After hearing about Henrietta’s plight and the excellent work being done by Feline Friends we’re delighted to be able to make this donation to help meet some of the vets’ costs.

“We have many animal lovers amongst our team who were impressed with the work the charity does and we hope that the money helps them to re-home and rescue more cats in the area.”

The Persimmon Homes Community Champions initiative invites groups and charities who have already worked hard to raise money themselves to apply for match-funding of up to £1,000.

Persimmon Homes Durham has two awards of up to £1,000 each available every month. This is the same for each of Persimmon Homes’ other 29 business regions.

Groups and charities can apply for next month’s donation by completing an online form at www.persimmonhomes.com/charity