Did poison kill his cat and guinea pigs too?

FEARS have been raised that the nerve agent used to target Sergei Skripal may have also claimed the lives of his three pets as it emerged that he was most likely to have been poisoned at his home.

Friends said they had not seen Sergei Skripal’s cat and two guinea pigs or been asked to care for the animals since he was targeted over a week ago.

They fear the animals might have come into contact with the nerve agent used in the attack which has hospitalised Skripal, his daughter and a detective who visited the property.

One friend said: ‘He imported the cat a couple of years ago from Russia, he got it especially. It was really expensive. Everyone on Sergei’s street is really worried about it.

‘If they used nerve agent in the house he was always petting his guinea pigs, so it will have got on them.’ Yesterday it was revealed that traces of the nerve agent had been found at a pub and restaurant Skripal and his daughter had visited. The friend, who did not want to be named, said the Russian spy would speak about his pets enthusiastically.

‘He had this huge hutch in the corner of his computer room at the front of his house where he kept the two guinea pigs. He would take them out and pet them, or he would go into his kitchen next door and prepare his cat’s meal while I was there.’

Meanwhile, police confirmed that two pet rabbits also caught up in the chaos after being left stranded at the sealed off Mill Pub had been fed and watered. The pub has been shut down since Monday night after investigators discovered Skripal and his daughter had visited it for a drink on Sunday afternoon.