Animal welfare experts are calling for tougher laws after a woman was found hoarding dozens of cats in her tiny Beijing home.

A series of online pictures have sparked outrage among pet lovers since they were released on a cats website movshow.com last week.

Netizens released private information about cat owner Liu Hong, and criticized her as a cat abuser.

Dozen of cats were pictured living together in a small 100 sq m courtyard with trash scattered all over the grounds.

The rooms were filled with excrement and food scraps.

"It was horrible to go into there," a one writer who visited Liu's home in Tongzhou district on Monday.

"I, as well as other pet lovers can't stand that bad environment for cats."

But the Liu said she loved the cats very much and wanted to do everything she could for them.

She said she spent at least 2,000 yuan ($293) each month on them, the Beijing News reported.

Liu refused to give any comment to METRO yesterday.

"Perhaps it is not proper to say the woman 'abuses cats', but the cats deserved a better healthy living environment, more food and better mental care," said Zeng Li, who is in charge of the Lucky Cats organization, a homeless cat protection non-government organization founded in 2001.

"A pet owner should assure that whether they could afford dogs or cats' welfare when adopting them. If not, there will be a harm to the animals."

"This is not an individual case. It always happens across the country because many people still don't know how to treat animals well," she said.

She called on the government to legislate new laws, which better protected animals and also to raise awareness among the general public.

China has long been under fire from abroad for animal cruelty, triggering nationwide calls for specific legislation on animal protection by legal experts and animals lovers.

"It is time for legislation," said Lin Shiting, who has been helping homeless cats as a volunteer and for advocating animal rights for many years.

"Animal abuse cannot be tackled easily by public pressure. Even if you have saved as many animals as you can, but still they can't turn the tables."

Lawyer Wang Zheng said China has the Law on the Protection of Wild Life, which mainly protected those endangered species.

"But it doesn't take pets and other general creatures into consideration. There is even no any penalty for hurting or killing animals," he said.

Wang said the country should issue a specific law on animal welfare and to crack down on animal mistreatment like the US, India.

Animal abusers should be punished with jail and hefty fine.

Zeng Li said the basic point in animal welfare is to prevent animals from unnecessary pain and disease and give them the right to life.

A draft of the country's first law on animal welfare so far is under proposal, which requires a fine of and two weeks detention for those found guilty of animal cruelty.