Pet cat dies after being kicked and shot in the eye with pellet gun in Fleetwood

Boots was attacked and shot on Wednesday night between 10.30pm and 11.45pm

Boots' owners Phil and Sarah Louise Bowker thought the five-year-old feline had been hit by a car when he returned to his Westhead Walk home covered in blood on Wednesday night.

But when they took him to the Mount Veterinary Practice, they were told he had suffered terrible injuries consistent with having been held down and kicked.

Phil, 37, said: "We thought he had been fighting at first, but when we checked him he was struggling to breathe. We thought he had been run over, but the vet said it looked like he had been kicked.

"He had a broken nose, a broken cheek bone, and a broken eye socket. They said he'd be OK, but when they looked further they found he had been shot in the eye and they couldn't get it out."

Vets determined that the pellet had become lodged inside Boots' brain, and the family made the heartbreaking decision to have their beloved pet put to sleep this morning.

"Boots was a stray who jumped through our back window on day and sat there. He must have been a month old," Phil, a dad of two, said. "My wife started feeding him and he kept coming back, so we bought him a collar and made him our own. I'm not a cat lover but he won me over. My eight-year-old boy was three at the time, so they've grown up together. He sometimes even slept on the end of my lad's bed.

"I'm just devastated. My daughter, who is 21, is absolutely in tears. My wife was heartbroken. My son was in his bedroom for an hour crying."

The family now hopes to track down anyone who might be able to help identify the person or people who attacked and shot Boots on Wednesday night.

Boots had been let out to wander at around 10.30pm, and returned at 11.45pm. Phil said he usually did not venture much further than 500 yards away from the family home, and stayed in the cul-de-sac area.

Phil said: "Nothing can bring Boots back, but I want to make people aware so that they can keep an eye out around here, and make sure that nothing happens to their pets. Obviously I want to find out who did this - but I know that it won't change anything."

Anyone who has CCTV footage of the Westhead Walk area, or who knows what happened to Boots, should contact Fylde coast animal charity Homeward Bound on 07789 775476, or online at www.facebook.com/groups/homeward.bound.lancs