They like their cats fried with garlic and washed down with beer in Vietnam's specialist restaurants.

Some diners even falsely believe that by eating a cat's spine they will gain the feline's agility.

Live cats in a truck in Hanoi on January 27. Credit:AFP

Although no official statistics are available, eating cat meat in Vietnam is by all accounts almost as popular as eating dog meat, something of a tradition in the South-east Asian nation, despite the import of both meats being illegal.

Vietnam's cat trade has caused outrage among animal lovers across the world after reports that Vietnamese officials this week buried thousands of seized cats after the felines were smuggled from China.