Kitten ‘pouring with blood’ in pellet shooting attack in town

THE distraught owners of a 10-month-old kitten said it came home ‘pouring with blood’ after being shot.

Distraught owner Kayleigh Macmillan, 36, of Weston Point, Runcorn, was confronted by the heartbreaking sight of her injured cat Jason, when it came home on Saturday last week.

The kitten was rushed to the vets and an X-ray confirmed a pellet had ripped into its back and become lodged so deep inside its torso that the surgical site was some distance from the entry wound.

Jason, who Kayleigh said was named before she found out her sex, survived the operation and is now recovering at home.

It is suspected the incident might have happened near Russell Road or Sandy Lane.

Kayleigh, who reported the “awful” attack to police to help to stop it happening to anyone else’s pets, said: “She’s doing really well, she seems back to her normal playful self.

“She can’t go out at the minute.

“She was shot in the shoulder and it travelled quite far – they had to open it up quite far down to remove the pellet.”

She added: “She came running in with the blood pouring from the back door area.

“Our back fence is joined onto the houses at the back, we’ve got neighbours all the way round.

“No-one heard anything or saw anything.

“The police have been in contact with me and they’re going to pop out to speak to me tomorrow.”

Kayleigh continued: “When we brought her in, she was panting, she was quite stressed.

“So we thought she might have been shot and we’d have to shave her hair off so we could see.

“[Vets] shaved her hair off, they did an X-ray and said ‘she’s been shot, we might need to operate’.”

Jason is now being doted on, including by the family pet dog Indie.

Kayleigh said: “The dog is like Jason’s mum, she’s washing the wounds.

“She’s a beagle and they like the smell of blood so she’s washing her and looking after her.

“They’ve been lying next to the fireplace, it’s quite cute.”

A Cheshire Police spokeswoman said: “It is believed that the cat had been shot with a type of pellet gun.

“The incident is believed to have occurred at around 12.50pm on Saturday, September 25.

“Anyone with any information in relation to the incident is asked to contact Cheshire Police on 101 quoting IML 1094105 or report it via https://www. cheshire.police.uk/ro/report ”