PRANKSTERS are targeting pet owners who have lost their cats and dogs - by making sick calls to their phones.

Now the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is warning people not to circulate posters and leaflets advertising their personal numbers.

The warning comes after a Glasgow mother-of-two received a string of hoax calls to the phone number she included on posters on lamp posts appealing for help to trace the family pet.

The woman, who was left heartbroken after Dutch, her Staffordshire Bull Terrier disappeared, received phone calls from people fabricating graphic stories about what might have happened to the dog.

Calls have ranged from the ridiculous - a young man calling to ask questions about which football team the dog supports - to the horrific.

One man called her to describe in detail how he witnessed the dog being run over and how it lay dying in his arms. Another call came from a man claiming he would find her pet and "make it into a pot of soup".

The woman, who didn't want to be identified, said: "Dutch is not just a dog to my family, he is part of the family.

"We have had him for 12 years and my 10-year-old daughter has never known him not to be there.

"People call at all hours, it's vulgar and horrific. These people are extremely sick, going out of their way to make fun of a situation that is traumatic for me and my family."

An SSPCA spokesman said: "Unfortunately we get a lot of calls about this kind of thing.

"We always advise people never to give out their personal telephone numbers on lost pet flyers.

"In some cases it's necessary to buy a new phone to deal with the calls separately."

Some owners go to enormous lengths to search for a missing pet, such as Janice Bennie who spent more than £2000 to find her Rhodesian ridgeback Luci.

Mrs Bennie shelled out the cash in a campaign which included having posters printed after Luci ran off after a fight with another dog on the Clyde walkway, near Cambuslang.

Dutch's family are especially worried as the dog, who has suffered skin cancer in the past, is currently on medication for a bladder problem. But he cannot get his treatment while he is missing.

Dutch went missing in the Tradeston area of Glasgow on November 19. He is brown brindle coloured with a white patch on his chest.

The family believe he has either been stolen or picked up by someone who perhaps thought he was lost.

If you have information regarding the dog's whereabouts, please call a special line that's been set up on 0795 1046132.