A PET cat had to be put down by vets after being shot with an air gun pellet.

The incident has left its owners devastated and they are now warning neighbours and other animal owners to be on their guard.

The Pugh family’s tabby cat Phoebe was found critically injured behind her Ferndale Road home on Tuesday evening.

The injuries Phoebe sustained were so severe that vets at Wroughton’s Drove Veterinary Hospital initially thought she had been attacked by a dog.

After an X-ray revealed Phoebe had a pellet gun bullet lodged in her spine the family made the heartbreaking decision to put the five-year-old to sleep.

Wiltshire Police are investigating the incident.

Mother-of-four Teresa Pugh said: “I keep expecting her to run down the path or to hear her meowing.

“We’re taking it in turns to cry at the moment. The children are heartbroken, she was their baby.

“I went out at about 5.30 when Phoebe was having her dinner. She’s a very independent cat and she’d always be out and about, climbing trees in the gardens, so when I got back a few hours later and she wasn’t in I wasn’t worried.

“Then I got a call from the microchip people that she was at Drove vets. They said she was in a really bad way.

“I couldn’t be there when she was put down, I didn’t want to see her like that. My husband is in bits about this. She didn’t deserve that.”

Phoebe was adopted as a stray in 2010.

Teresa’s husband, lorry driver Steve, found the six-month old kitten when working in Wales.

“She was starving and looking for food. She jumped up in his lorry and that was it. He knew she was coming home with him,” Teresa said.

“She was a very mouthy cat, always very vocal. She would check out people who would go in and out of the house, she was always protective.

“To think we gave her a life she would never normally have had and someone just took that away is heartbreaking.

“I don’t understand why someone would do something like this. How could they hurt an innocent animal?”

The family now fear for the safety of their second cat Felix and have begun leafleting their neighbourhood in a bid to track down the gunman.

“We are worried about our cat but it’s cruel to keep cats indoors when they’re used to going out and about. I just don’t want this to happen again. We’re just in disbelief," she said.

“We’re determined to find the person or people that did this. If anyone saw or knows anything please contact the police.”

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “We believe the incident took place between 5.30pm and 9.30pm.

“The cat was found by a couple and taken to Drove Vets in Wroughton. A scan identified the owner. The cat sadly had to be put down.”

Anyone with information regarding the incident should contact police on 101 or via Crimestoppers 0800 555 111.