Pay up or kiss the kitty goodbye!

Bailiffs with a warrant to collect debt issued an arrest for a five-month-old kitten. Unless the owners find the money to pay, the little feline will go under the hammer at an auction.

The sphynx kitten, with an estimated market price of $500, may be soon moving to a new home somewhere in the Siberian Kemerovo region, because its current owners have failed to pay for municipal services.

Also scheduled for auctioning are a DVD player and a TV belonging to the debtors, reports ITAR TASS news agency.

For now, however, all the property – including the kitten – remains with the original owners, as the auction date is yet to be set.

The sphynx kitten is far from being the first animal seized by bailiffs in the region. This year they took a horse, several pigs, sheep and a dachshund, which was actually bought at an auction by its owner.

“Our experience shows that debtors are motivated to pay off when their pets get arrested,” commented a spokesperson for the local bailiff service.