TODAY is International Cats Day and our readers have been sending in lots of photographs of their feline friends from across East Lancashire.

International Cat Day is a worldwide celebration of these moggie marvels – and they have really come to the fore during lockdown providing thousands with company while we were stuck at home.

The festivities were put together for the first time in 2002 by IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, among other animal rights groups, to celebrate the most popular pet on the planet.

We posted an appeal on our social media pages asking for readers to send photographs of their purr-fect pets and the response included entries from Darwen, Blackburn and Oswaldtwistle.

n Check out more photographs of some of the area’s cutest cats on our website