Kitten
© Henrik Montgomery/SCANPIXA kitten not related to the article.
Two Swedish women have been banned from owning animals after authorities found they had treated their cats as makeshift babies with one of them even 'breastfeeding' her pet.

Several anonymous reports prompted animal protection officers from Halland county council to visit the women's homes in the south-western Swedish region this autumn.

It emerged that the pair had pushed their two cats around in pushchairs. They had spoon-fed the cats while keeping them strapped to highchairs, and had also let the animals suck on pacifiers.

One woman also confessed she regularly let her cat suckle on her breast.

Authorities ruled that the pets had been mishandled and had been prevented from exercising natural animal behaviour, wrote Swedish public broadcaster SVT on Thursday.

It was further stated that the women were no longer allowed to own pets. The two cats were taken care of by animal protection officers following a visit to the women's homes.

Cats are among the most popular pets in Sweden, with the country's total feline population estimated to be more than a million.