An Angus woman has spoken of her disgust at the “sick” thugs who shot her family pet.
Alana Loffreda, 20, from Carnoustie, said she was shocked and upset to find a note from a nearby neighbour telling her that her family cat, Molly, had been involved in a scrap with the resident’s dog and had run off.
However, that feeling of anxiety was amplified when Molly eventually returned home, limping, and was taken to the vet where an x-ray revealed she had been shot in the leg.
“It has been horrendous,” said Alana, who studies optometry at Glasgow Caledonian University.
“When she was just missing after the dog attack I was really upset at that but then to have her home and be relieved, only to take her to the vet and find out she had been shot it has been so up and down.
“I just don’t understand why someone would do this. It’s sick. I know some people might think it’s just a cat but she has been here a long time and you get attached.
“The vet said that things like this are quite common around this time of year with schools being off and daft kids thinking something like this is cool to do.”
The vet told Alana that he managed to get the pellet out of Molly’s limb but that it had narrowly missed the cat’s spine by half a centimetre and was mere millimetres from her aorta.
Had the object hit her spine the moggy would have been paralysed or could have bled out within seconds had it hit her artery.
“When I first got her to the vet he thought it may have been a broken leg or something from the dog attack,” added Alana.
“The injury was just where the joint of the limb is so he said he would do some x-rays and give her some morphine.
“She stayed in the vet overnight and then I got a phone call the next day from the vet saying she had been shot as well as the dog attack.
“It seems she has run off frightened by the dog attack and then someone has shot her. She probably couldn’t get away quickly enough. The vet said the last cat that he dealt with that a similar thing had happened to died.
“However, he managed to get the pellet out and she is home now.”
Molly is resting up in the house and is being spoiled with tins of tuna and lots of attention but Alana wants other pet owners in the area to be mindful of what has happened and be aware of the safety of their own pets.
She said: “I want people to just be aware and be careful with their cats. If the cat comes in looking ill, bear in mind that this has happened and get it to the vet as soon as possible.”
She added of the culprits: “I just don’t understand them or why they would do that. Someone said maybe they thought she was hurt and tried to put her out of her misery but they’ve shot her in the leg so I don’t believe that.
“They have made it worse and I just think they’re sick. Why would you want to do that to something? She’s a pet not game, like deer or something.
“She had a collar on so it’s clear she was a pet. I just don’t get it.”
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “Tayside Division received a report of a historical incident where a cat appears to have been shot by a pellet. Anyone with information, please contact Tayside Division on 101.”