An internet site featuring live pictures of a cat recovering from a road accident has been named as one of the most popular of the year.

More than 4.5m people have logged on to check on Frank the Cat's progress - making it a surprise choice for one of Yahoo's sites of the year.

Frank was knocked down by a car near his Cambridge home and found by passers-by suffering from a badly broken pelvis.

Three web cams recorded his fight back to fitness after vets managed to save his life and pin his pelvis back together again.

Frank was knocked down near his home

News of his on-line recovery was flashed around the globe and Frank became the cult hero of the internet.

The site, www.cathospital.co.uk, has received a staggering 4,621,376 hits.

Frank has since recovered but the site still features his pictures, a fact-file on how the four- year-old cat recovered, a copy of the x-rays taken after his accident and messages of support.

It was set up by David Donnan, 33, from Cambridge, who is managing director of an internet company.

Web cams

He said: "It's just one of those things that has blown out of all proportion.

"The web cams allowed people to bond with Frank and it snowballed from there.

"Within five minutes of putting the site on the net we had 2,000 hits. It's like animal hospital - people love animals."

One of the reasons for setting up the site was to trace the couple who helped to save Frank.

The quest proved successful when the couple logged on.

Added Mr Donnan: "It was just a 10-minute job to be honest and it was amazing how everything steamrollered from there.

"At some point it would be nice to analyse how all this happened," he said.