A FAMILY have spoken of their horror after their two pet cats were shot at close range with an air rifle.

One of the cats lost its leg and the other had to have part of its stomach removed after separate incidents in the Crook, County Durham area.

A third cat, from nearby Sunny-brow, is recovering after surgery. It was shot in the head deliberately, at close range.

Claire Gooding, who lives with her husband, Jason, and four children in Longfellow Court, Crook, said she first thought one of her cats, five-year-old Pepper, had been fighting.

She said: "I came home and I found him on the doorstep pouring with blood. I thought he had been in a fight. He disappeared upstairs under the bed, which is what he usually does.

"He started going downhill rapidly, so we took him to the vets. They found three pellets in his abdomen. He had to have two operations."

Mrs Gooding said Pepper had also had a wound on each side, which suggested someone had held him while another person shot him.

She said: "I am sure he would have run away after being shot once."

A few days later, one-year-old Scruffy went missing and the family feared she had suffered a similar attack but had not survived. They found her under one of the children's beds.

Mrs Gooding said: "The pellet had gone completely through the shoulder of her leg. These people are not shooting from a distance, they are taking their shot at close range."

Vet Billy Moloney, of Weardale Veterinary Practice, Crook, who treated the Goodings' cats and is also caring for the third cat, said: "We have seen cats in the past which have been shot with air rifles but nothing like this."

Crook police have confirmed the three cats were shot and said they were investigating. Witnesses are asked to call PC Andy Boyd at Crook on (01388) 762011.