Two black kittens, abandoned outside a Devizes pet shop, have been given a new home by a couple whose own beloved black cat had died just days before.

The cats were left in a carrier at the Rangebourne Pet Care door in New Park Street two weeks ago.

Public relations man Philip Mackie, of Potterne, saw the shop’s Facebook message and called in to take a look at the abandoned pets.

He said: “Our black cat, Billy, had died and when I saw these they reminded me of him so much. My wife, Jane, and I had been very upset by Billy’s death and were finding it strange without him.

“I don’t think they had been very used to human company, as they were very timid, but they have gradually begun to get used to us and have started to sit on our laps.

“It seems like fate that these two little fellows, so like Billy, were found when they were.”

They gave the cats the literary names Shardey, after Shardlake from CJ Sansom’s crime novels, and Ozy, from the Shelley poem Ozymandias.

Two other cats at Rangebourne, taken in when an owner could no longer keep them, need a home.

Three-legged Harvey and Rampage, aged three and five, are being looked after by shop owners Andy and Jo Sheppard. To offer a home, call (01380) 725294.