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Pet owners can do lots of different things with their animals.

It's common to see people playing with their precious pooches or furry felines, taking them for walks or giving them some good old TLC, but have you even seen someone reading to their pet?

Well, that's exactly what a cat charity is encouraging visitors to do!

Shropshire Cat Rescue recently invited people to come along and read books to some of its elderly residents, with visitors who weren't part of school groups being offered the opportunity for the first time at an event held over the weekend.

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The visitors were reading to the cats in the charity's "retirement village", where the oldest resident is an impressive 22 years old.

The charity said it wanted to encourage a love of reading and to give its cats some extra human interaction.

So how have the senior felines been finding the educational experience?

Volunteer and trustee at the charity Susie Phillips said the cats "respond well" to being read to and it also gave nervous readers a "calm and peaceful" audience.

Other cats who have suffered from illness or injury are also benefiting from being read to.

"Even the nervous cats tend to come forward and want to interact," Susie explained.

"They enjoy that extra company."

With their special reading scheme proving to be a big hit, Shropshire Cat Rescue says it plans to do it again April.

The charity is also looking to do more to help children or adults who are struggling to read.

"We're helping people discover the passion of reading through the love of cats," said Susie.

Have you ever read to your pets? If you haven't, would you give it a go? Let us know in the comments!