A family are pleading for information after their cat was shot in the neck with an air rifle.

The shooting happened in the Leigh Road and Hollywood Lane area of Wainscott, near Strood, on October 30.

WARNING: Graphic image below

Louis Howard said his cat Milo ran indoors at about 4.30pm to 5pm on Sunday and he didn't think anything of it.

But 10 minutes later he noticed a trail of blood leading from the cat flap to an upstairs bedroom.

The 27-year-old said: "I found my cat hunched over with blood dripping out of his neck and his third eyelid covering his right eye.

"We rushed him to the emergency vets where they helped save him and after a CT scan in the days after, discovered he was in fact shot, as a lump found in the back of his neck turned out to be an air rifle pellet.

"This means the pellet entered the front of his neck and was very close to exiting the back of his neck."

Milo's eye has been damaged in the shooting, which vets said is most likely to do with the nerves in his neck.

He had initially thought that Milo, who is 18 months old, may have been in a fight or caught by a fox as he "did not think someone would do something so evil".

He continued: "We as a family are absolutely horrified and furious that someone close by has it in them to commit such an evil act on a defenceless animal.

"He is so lucky to be alive and to be recovering very well but we know that this could have been very different.

"Had he been killed, the person shooting would have most likely disposed of his body and we would have never seen him nor known of his whereabouts again."

The family are appealing for anyone in the area to check their CCTV or doorbell footage to see if they caught anything on camera.

If anyone has any footage or information, contact Louis at lwh10@hotmail.co.uk

He added: "We as a family, like many others, regard pets as other members of the family and as you can imagine, want answers on why this has happened."