Two women have been left devastated after their cats were shot with air rifles – killing one and leaving another seriously injured.

Jacqui Keeler, who lives on Shortlands Road, Sittingbourne, found one-year-old Kitty lying dead in her back garden.

The 38-year-old said: “There was a small trail of blood over the shed roof – she tried to make it home.

“My son had a look at her, he turned her over and there was a big pellet wound in the side of her.

“People need to be warned about these mindless thugs that did it" - Jacqui Keeler

“How long had she been lying there I don’t know.

“I’ve got another cat, Chops, and I’m really scared about letting him out now.

“People need to be warned about these mindless thugs that did it.”

Her discovery follows an attack last month in which another cat was shot nearby in Fallowfield.

Naomi Fields arrived home with her fiance Billy to find their six-year-old black cat Stitch bleeding and unable to walk.

The 23-year-old, who has a five-month-old baby daughter Neve, immediately rushed her pet to an out-of-hours vet, where she was kept in for three days.

She has now been left with a £2,300 vet bill just weeks before Christmas after Stitch needed X-rays, emergency surgery and metal plates inserted.

The mother said: “The vets told us she had been aimed at because of the way the pellet had gone through her leg. Now she has to be in a cage so she doesn’t damage her leg any more.

“We’ve been left with a big vet bill and right before Christmas when we have a little one, but we wouldn’t put her down because we just couldn’t bear it – she’s family.”

Both women reported the shootings to the police but the person or people responsible have yet to be caught.

A spokesman said: “We received a report that a cat had been found dead having suffered a pellet-sized wound and a report that a cat was shot in the leg between 6am and 7pm on November 19. Inquiries are ongoing.”

Anyone with information about either incident is to asked to call police on 101 and quote crime reference number XY/42888/14 for the Shortlands Road incident or XY/41290/14 for the Fallowfield shooting.