Ipswich: Eight-month-old kitten Flash killed by airgun pellet – family left heartbroken

An x-ray of Flash the cat, who had to be put down after being shot with an air rifle. The air gun pellet can be seen on the right side of his body in front of the hind legs. (Image: Archant)

Heartbroken Tracey Augood told how she sobbed while cradling eight-month-old Flash in her arms moments before a vet put him to sleep.

“I just sobbed at the vets,” she said. “I couldn’t hold it back.”

And now the mother-of-four wants justice served on her beloved cat’s attacker.

Mrs Augood first realised something was wrong when Flash arrived at her home in Ruskin Road this morning struggling to breathe and walk.

“We heard him meowing and went to investigate,” she said. “We thought something was stuck in his throat.

“We couldn’t see anything but when I took my hand away it was covered in blood.”

The 46-year-old rushed Flash to the Highcliff Veterinary Practice in Cliff Lane where an X-ray showed an air gun pellet lodged inside him.

It entered the ginger and white kitten just in front of his left hind leg and almost passed completely through his body.

With the vet believing the pellet would have damaged Flash’s organs their only choice was to put him down.

An emotional Mrs Augood said: “He was very much a home cat, he loved his home comforts.

“He was so friendly, just such an affectionate cat.”

A police spokesman said they had been told of the crime and would be investigating.

And Mrs Augood knows exactly how she wants the shooter dealt with.

“I want them found, named and shamed,” she said. “I want them to pay all the vet bills.

“They’re sick in the head. I’m so hurt and livid, he was like one of my children.

“Why would anyone hurt a loved pet? You don’t do that sort of thing to an animal.

“It makes me worried about all my cats and all the other cats in the area.

“We’re going to bury him in the garden. He’s just going to be so missed.”