A Seven Kings woman is appealing to local cat owners to have their animals neutered after years of staving off lusty tomcats sneaking in her house to see her pet moggie Mary.

Jill Brown, of Cambridge Road, said the cats get in through the cat flap and “spray” around her home to mark their territory.

She said: “It’s been a particular problem since I’ve lived here and it’s got worse since I’ve had the cat flap.

“There’s one that comes regularly, a Norwegian Forest cat, and I can cope with that.

“Occasionally he does a full scale spray around the place which is awful.

“The pong is horrible.”

The visitors would be disappointed to know that the object of their affections, Mary, has been spayed.

As well as spraying, the male cats have been fighting over territory in the garden.

Jill, 63, once had to stake out the cat flap to stop one particularly persistent male visitor.

She said: “It got so bad at one point I had to sleep in a sleeping bag by the cat flap and scare him off every time he came in.

“Neutering doesn’t hurt cats, I don’t know why people don’t do it.”

Neutered cats rarely spray and are less likely to pursue females or get injured in fights.

The RSPCA and charities like the Celia Hammond Animal Trust offer the operations free or reduced for people on low incomes.