A DEVASTATED cat owner has issued a warning after her pet was shot and had to be put down.

At first it was thought that Janey Smith’s silver tabby, Marley, had been hurt in a road accident.

But she was stunned when vets told her the four-year-old cat had been shot and suffered extensive injuries to his shoulder, chest, elbow and paw.

They advised the 37-year-old from Turton Road, Bradshaw, to have Marley put down, to save him from further pain.

Mrs Smith, who has three other cats, Willow, Asha and Simon, says she is now ‘worried to death’ they could also be shot. She didn't know if the weapon was an airgun.

She is now warning other residents to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity.

She said: “I just want people to be aware, because next time it might not be a cat, it could be a child. I want people to be vigilant and if they see anyone with anything, to report it.”

Ms Smith said she had been left seriously distressed by the loss of her pet.

She said: “I am devastated, he is a really timid cat, he doesn’t go to people. And where I live at the bottom of Turton Road, they don’t go out the front, the back of us goes down towards the cricket club, he doesn’t go in anyone’s gardens.

“When the vet phoned they said it would be better to put him down. I’ve just come out of hospital and am barely mobile. That made it even worse as I couldn’t even go and be with him.”

Ms Smith added that she could not understand how anyone could cause such harm to an animal.

She said: “I think they should be brought to justice, they don’t realise the damage they do.

“My pet was in so much pain and it’s the devastation they have caused to me. If it was their cat and someone else had shot it, how would they feel. I can’t believe how cruel people can be.”

“I spoke to a vet who said it would be much kinder to put him to sleep because it would be a long recovery and he would have to have it all amputated and would never be able to go out again.

“I didn’t think I could put him through all that.”

Ms Smith’s friend John Bibby discovered the silver tabby lying in his own litter tray after giving her a lift home from hospital.

Although there was no blood the usually timid animal allowed Mr Bibby to carry him down the stairs in the tray.

He was first taken to Armac Veterinary Clinic in Bury, who believed Marley had been hit by a car.

He was then transferred to the RSPCA animal hospital in Salford, for further investigations, where it was revealed he had been shot and seriously injured.

Ms Smith's warning has now been echoed by Pets in Need, an animal rescue centre in Tottington, near Bradshaw.

Charlotte Southwell, a committee member with the charity said: "We have rehomed cats in Bradshaw and it's worrying if there is someone around there who thinks it's all right to do this.

"We want people to be vigilant and if they let their cats out to try to keep track of where they're going, and if they can only let them out if they know the area well and there's no sign of anything suspicious."

She added: "It's horrible that people can treat animals like that and feel it's all right no to treat them like equals. Animals don't have a voice, we have to be their voice and protectors."