A North Tyneside community has been left shaken after an air rifle pellet was found lodged in a cat's head.
Two-year-old rescue cat 'Sooty' came home with a wound which their owner thought must have been from a run in with another feline - but the truth was far more sinister.
When the injury wouldn't heal, further investigations by a vet revealed the cat had been shot.
Northumbria Police are probing the sick incident and asking for witnesses to come forward.
Teacher Megan Furness, 25, said the incident happened in mid-April but decided to go to the police when stories from other residents suggested it was not an isolated incident.
Another cat on the Earsdon View estate in Shiremoor was found dead more than a fortnight after going missing and another cat owner nearby found air rifle pellets in his garden.
Megan said: "Sooty came on Monday morning with a cut on her head so we took her for treatment but antibiotics didn't fix it.
"I had a closer look a few days later and noticed something was lodged in there and had started to come to the surface.
"We went for an X-ray and it showed something was lodged in there. When the vet got it out it was clearly an air rifle pellet.
"I think it must have been deliberate, I can't see how it could have been an accident."
Megan reached out to other pet owners on a community Facebook group and found evidence this wasn't a one-off attack.
She said: "It's very distressing, she's very lucky to be alive. Pet owners in the area are very worried.
"Another cat who played with Sooty, Bubba, went missing and was found a couple of weeks later.
"It wasn't possible to tell how he died but, considering another cat owner found air rifle pellets in his garden, it's really frightening."
A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “On May 3 we received a report that a woman believed her cat had been shot at with an air rifle in the Delaval Crescent area of Shiremoor.
“The owner stated the injury occurred on April 12th but it was not for several weeks later that the cat’s owner felt a pellet within the wound – previously unable to detect due to swelling.
“The caller also revealed that a neighbour’s cat went missing on April 12th and was later found dead.
“Anyone with any information on the incidents is asked to contact police via our website, quoting log 694 030520.”
