The new owners of a house in Schiedam had a shock this weekend when a very skinny cat raced passed them as they opened the front door of the property for the first time.

A cat, dubbed Finn by animal shelter workers, had been locked up in the house for 52 days without food, it turned out.

The previous owner had left at the beginning of July and his whereabouts are unknown. Since then the house had been left unattended until the current owners bought it sight unseen at an auction.

Animal ambulance staff were able to catch the cat and take it to a shelter where a check of his faeces showed the animal had been reduced to eating paper. ‘There must have been a leaky tap somewhere where he could drink,’ Dik Nagtegaal of animal protection organisation Dierenbescherming told local broadcaster Omroep Rijnmond.

The animal is now recuperating but has reportedly been traumatised by his experience and is shy of people. A crowdfunding action has brought in the necessary money to pay for Finn’s medical costs. Police are looking for the previous owner of the house to find out how Finn could have been left behind.

It is hoped that opening up the floorboards in the house will not reveal any other surprises.