A SPA moggy could be the cat that gets the cream in a top contest.

Shortlisted Rescue Cat of the Year Awards entrant, Ming Ming could scoop the Most Incredible Story at a ceremony on July 6. The event has been organised by the UK's leading feline welfare charity, Cats Protection.

Ming Ming, from Droitwich Spa, is one of just four cats that has been shortlisted in this category from hundreds of heartrending entries for the awards. Ming Ming came into owner Mary Leach's life totally by chance when she was living in Spain.

"One morning I was putting my rubbish out when this little cat jumped out of the bin," said Mary, who now lives in Norbury House, Friar Street.

"She looked a sorry sight - covered in cuts with a broken tail and also heavily pregnant. She must have been dumped in there because the rubbish bin was a large metal skip with a heavy lid, so it would be impossible for the little cat to have got inside by herself."

Mary took the poorly feline to the vets, but sadly the six-month-old was so frail she lost her kittens.

Mary had been planning to move back to the UK, but the little cat had captured her heart so she decided to delay her move for six months so she could get a Pets passport for her new feline friend, named Ming Ming.

Now happily settled in England, Ming Ming brings a lot of love into Mary's life - and a bit of comedy too.

"When I go out and the phone rings, Ming Ming has a habit of dislodging it and miaowing, giving the caller a bit of a shock," said Mary.

"When I get home and see the phone off the hook I tell her off for phoning her friends in Spain!"

Julie Sharp, the awards' organiser at Cats Protection, said Ming Ming's story was an inspiring one.

She added: "It wasn't an easy task for us to shortlist the entries in this category - so many of the stories have been unbelievably heartrending. Mary and Ming Ming met purely by chance and have made such a difference to each others lives."

Mary will find out if her cat has won at the ceremony in West Sussex.

She added: "Ming Ming is such a special cat, I'm so pleased she's been shortlisted for an award."

Ming Ming's entry is one of a total of around 400 received from all over the UK for Cats Protection's Rescue Cat of the Year Awards 2006.

The awards, supported by an array of celebrities, seek to honour those felines whose stories of courage, survival, fate and transformation have inspired the humans who love and care for them.