Durban - Will furry forecaster Skabenga - Durban’s most famous cat - be up to scratch with his prediction of which team will lift the coveted Fifa Soccer World Cup trophy on Sunday?

Confronted with two bowls of tasty treats - each placed next to the flags of France and Croatia - at his home at the five-star Oyster Box Hotel in uMhlanga, Skabenga promptly settled on France.

It is not known which team Russia’s clairvoyant cat, Achilles, has gone for yet.

Some animals have a knack of sniffing out a winner, say those who remember the now-deceased Paul, the famous German octopus, which predicted the winners of eight matches and the winner of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Skabenga’s hotel is pet-friendly and football fans can even take their pets to watch the final in the Lighthouse Bar, a spokesperson said.