TOWSER, the killer cat of Glenturret, will be lapping it up in feline heaven.

Her former employers yesterday conceded that no single cat was fit to fill the late puss's boots.

Instead, the Crieff-based distillery has decided to appoint not one but two cats, to step gingerly into the legendary moggy's pawprints.

Step forward Dylan, a ginger and white male from Forfar, and Brooke, a semi-longhaired black and white female from Glasgow.

Nine cats were "interviewed" for the job at the home to the Famous Grouse brand, the oldest working distillery in Scotland.

Candidates were nominated by staff and volunteers from Cats Protection branches and refuge centres.

Towser, who died in 1987, will be a hard act to follow.

The tortoiseshell assassin dispatched almost 30,000 mice, earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Her immediate successor, Amber, was not quite so successful.

In 1998, it was reported she had failed to catch a single mouse.

Three years later, she almost broke her back cornering a mouse. Sadly, it escaped.

Thankfully, killer instinct is no longer required. Vermin are now not a problem at the distillery.

The very thought might send Towser spinning in her grave, but the main criteria now is a loving personality.

The cats must be sufficiently cuddly to appeal to the thousands of visitors at the whisky plant each year.