Look out for the cat-kicker.

A distraught family from Wateringbury have warned cat-owners to be on their guard, after two of their pets suffered injuries within a few days of each other, one fatally.

James Bignell of Tonbridge Road said they were contacted by Trinity Vet Centre in Maidstone last Monday to say that 18-month-old Agnes, whom they had had since she was kitten, had been brought into the surgery by a passer-by and was dead.

Mr Bignell said they felt suspicious about the death because although Agnes had been found at the side of the road, she was already cold and stiff when discovered. He said: “It’s possible she was hit by a car, but she did not usually go near the main road and she may have been killed elsewhere and dumped there.”

On Friday, the family’s second cat, Alan, who was Agnes’s brother, came home dragging a rear leg.

An emergency run to the vets revealed the leg had been badly broken, but there was no external signs of injury.

Mr Bignell said: “The vet told me he believed Alan had been kicked.”

In October last year, another cat called Harry was killed after alleged being kicked by a dog-walker in Snodland and Mr Bignell believes a similar cat-hater could be at work in his own village.

He said: “It seems too much of a coincidence.”

Mr Bignell and his wife Victoria have four children: Dixie, 15; Ike 13, Herbie 11, and Abe eight, and the loss of Agnes and the injury to Alan has been particularly upsetting for them.

Mr Bignell said: “Probably Herbie has been most distraught - he was absolutely devoted to the cats.”

Alan is so seriously injured that he will have to have his leg amputated on Monday.

The incidents have been reported to the police.