A Russian body artist has come under fire for giving his cat four tattoos after dosing the animal up with anaesthetics.

The tattoo fanatic, named only as Aleksandr, carried out the inking himself in the city of Yekaterinburg in central Russia's Sverdlovsk Oblast region.

His Sphynx cat now has a series of 'gangster' designs on its back and sides, featuring a prison tower, playing cards and a cigarette.

Russian body artists have come under fire for giving their cat four tattoos after dosing the animal up with anaesthetics

The tattoo fanatic, named only as Aleksandr (pictured), carried out the inking himself in the city of Yekaterinburg in central Russia's Sverdlovsk Oblast region

He said that he had to give Demon an anaesthetic so that he could stand the pain of the ink needle and admitted that he might not have been doing the right thing.

Aleksandr said: 'Of course I feel pity for doing it to him. It's not like he wanted to do it himself. He has a different skin, so tattoos are applied differently.

'I hope it is not too bad for him, it is not his first tattoo. Usually he feels fine and recovers from the anaesthesia pretty fast.'

The tattoos that Aleksandr chose for Demon are of the type typically worn by criminals in Russia, including representations of a prison tower, a pretty woman and a cigarette.

The tattoos that Aleksandr chose for Demon are of the type typically worn by criminals in Russia, including representations of a prison tower, a pretty woman and a cigarette

His Sphynx cat now has a series of 'gangster' tattoos on its back and sides, with the design featuring a prison tower and a cigarette

They are often used to denote the seniority of the member of a criminal gang, how long they have served in prison and the seriousness of their crimes.

Animal activist Yelizaveta Skorynina hit out at the tattoo artist for putting Demon through the ordeal.

She said that the skin of Sphynx cats was extremely sensitive and that giving the pet an anaesthetic was also an unnecessary risk.

Ms Skorynina added: 'The drug turns off the movement of the cat, but the brain is still working. If he does it frequently, it could affect its heart.'

However, another local tattooist, Aleksandr Purtov, defended his namesake, saying that what he had done was no worse than a farmer branding his livestock.

'It is an old practice, this is why I am neutral to it,' he added.

Sphynx cats were developed through selective breeding and are known for their lack of fur but are not completely hairless.