MEXICO CITY - Wanted: A new home for a one-of-a-kind feline in Mexico.

The Sphynx cat, which does not yet have a name, is about one year old and has spent weeks in the Mexican city of Juarez under the care of animal rescue workers after police found him in a prison, where it suffered mistreatment at the hands of a criminal gang.

Gang members even tattooed the cat’s furless skin.

The cat’s tattoos decorate both sides of its slender, grey body, and include the phrase “Made in Mexico”.

The authorities say they are now looking for the right family to take the cat, which is not for sale, into their home.

“The cat is very sociable, and is in great shape, with no infections,” Mr Cesar Rene Diaz, ecology director for the city of Juarez, told Reuters.

A committee of city authorities will make the final decision about the adoption before presenting the cat to its new family in a ceremony on March 1. REUTERS