A man whose cat was put down after he was thrown on a Halloween bonfire has urged pet owners not to let them out this weekend. 

20 years ago, Martin and his family in Blanchardstown met a cat who kept arriving at their home to be fed and watered. 

Eventually, the family realised they had been “adopted” by the cat. 

“He'd be hanging out the back garden,” Martin recalled on Lunchtime Live. 

“The kids would be out rubbing him and I'd be out hugging him - a lovely, really friendly cat, whose name was Snowy.” 

Martin added that Snowy always liked to see people and thought they all had a “decent heart”. It turned out to be his undoing one Halloween night when he was picked up and thrown on a burning bonfire. 

“Unfortunately, we went down to the wife's mother in Galway for the weekend before Halloween with the kids,” he recalled 

“When we got back on the Sunday night, a neighbour said to us, I think your cat was on the RTÉ News and we haven't seen him around since. 

“We opened the laptop and googled the RTÉ news and saw the report of a cat that was found born and in severe pain in Blanchardstown.” 

Martin rang the DSPCA and they confirmed that he had him. The family went to see him and to their horror found that he was “burned to bits”. 

“He was in the cage and God love him, he was burnt to bits and he was even trying to meow and you couldn't,” Martin said. 

“I was heartbroken.” 

The DSPCA promised they would try and nurse him back to health but, in the end, Snowy was too sick. As he was struggling to breathe and swallow, they put him down the next day. 

Martin believes that Snowy’s “kindness was his downfall” and he urged all pet owners to keep a close eye on their animals this Halloween. 

“A message to anyone that has any type of pet, keep them in,” he said. 

“Keep them in over the weekend - don't let them out because you don't know what type of person will just grab them, throw them in, thinking it's a laugh, not realising that.” 

Main image: A white cat. Picture by: Alamy.com.