One of these families is struggling to explain to their three-year-old daughter why her pet cat Ella can’t have her leg put back on.

Sarah Bell, who has done everything she could to save her 11-year-old pet, is now faced with crippling veterinary bills after she was forced to pay for care on credit.

It means her family will now have to sacrifice to make ends meet with three young children at school and pre-school.

Ella was doing what she has done every day for years – sleeping on her cat stand outside the family home on Friday night when two dogs pulled her from her perch by the leg.

“At about 9.15pm we heard the dogs barking out the front and ran outside. Two dogs had pulled Ella down from the stand and were viciously attacking her. Our children aged seven, five and three also witnessed this,” Mrs Bell said.

The two dogs, which Mrs Bell had seen roaming together for about six months, had a Staffordshire Bull Terrier appearance – one tan and the other with black and white markings.

The ageing cat’s femur had been broken in the attack, a difficult break to repair.

The veterinarian informed Mrs Bell there were two options, amputation at a cost of about $500 or orthopedic specialist surgical repair in Tamworth, which would set the family back at least $2,000, with success not guaranteed.

Mrs Bell made the decision to have Ella’s leg amputated and prepared her children as much as she could for the shock of seeing their cat with only three legs.

“We explained that we are very lucky to still have Ella and she is ours to love as she is,” Mrs Bell said.

On the same weekend two other cats were also attacked near the Bell’s north Muswellbrook home.

One on Cousins Street about two hours after Ella was attacked and the other on Flanders Avenue.

April Noble’s cat did not survive the attack by the two savage dogs, which are believed to be the same dogs responsible for Ella’s injury.

Ms Noble said her neighbour had witnessed the dogs leaving her property and her description was the same as Mrs Bell’s.

Both Mrs Bell and Ms Noble contacted Muswellbrook Shire Council following the attacks on their beloved pets, only to be told council was currently without a ranger.

Mrs Bell was told she would have to catch the dogs herself as it was the weekend and even if a ranger was on staff the job description did not extend to weekend or on-call work.

Determined to locate the owners of the two dogs, Mrs Bell walked the surrounding streets explaining to her neighbours that her cat had been attacked and giving a description of the offending animals.

Under the Companion Animals Act the owner of the dogs would be held responsible for the veterinary costs the Bell family has had to endure and if council declared the dogs as dangerous a suitable enclosure would need to be constructed.

The day after Mrs Bell doorknocked her neighbours the two dogs were dropped in the outside cages at Muswellbrook pound.

Mrs Bell identified the dogs as the ones behind the attack and photographed them in case someone came forward and could identify the dog’s owners.

However, the chance of finding an owner is slim as both dogs are not microchipped or registered.

And as the owner has not come forward to claim the animals council confirmed they would be euthanised when the veterinarian visited the pound this week.

Once the animals have been euthanised it is the end of the role council will play in the matter as it can not seek compensation, according to Muswellbrook Shire Council section leader health John Rix.

The matter then becomes civil between the pet owners.

“There are a large percentage of irresponsible owners who know the laws, but when the animal is not microchipped or registered the animals don’t ‘exist’ and we find it difficult to locate the owner,” he said.

Both Mrs Bell and Ms Noble said they believed the amount of roaming animals was on the increase.

On Tuesday, Mrs Bell found three dogs in her front yard when she returned home from work, while Ms Noble found a dog at her home.

Mrs Bell said it was not uncommon to see a handful of dogs at the netball courts on a Saturday morning, which were attracted by the smell of hot food from the canteen.

“If there are dogs attacking pets then they might attack children, especially when food is involved,” she said.

“It was not a one-off incident and when I phoned council they just took my details, they couldn’t do anything for me. I am so upset,” Ms Noble said.

Mr Rix said council had received a number of complaints about stray dogs in the north Muswellbrook location and were undertaking patrols of the area.

“We have not picked up a lot of dogs, which doesn’t correlate with the customer service complaints,” he said.

Mr Rix said council had been without a ranger as it was struggling to fill an open position and the second ranger had been on leave.

He said a pound keeper had been undertaking patrols of the streets each day for stray dogs, so council was doing all it could to ensure the service was maintained.

Mr Rix said if residents found a stray dog and could secure the animal and drop it off in the pound’s outside cages this would be the ideal situation.

These pens are open 24-hours a day and allow the pound keeper to move the animals into the pound where they receive food and water and are checked for a microchip.

Mr Rix said dog attacks occurred in the shire at quite frequent intervals, however this case was unusual as the dogs did not attack just once but continued on their rampage.