A GUNMAN shot a pet cat at close range in a family’s garden.
Amanda Adams and her twin girls Lauren and Alisha, 10, have been left devastated after someone shot their beloved cat Billy in the neck leaving him paralysed.
Now Amanda is terrified for her children’s safety amid the thought a gunman has fired into the garden of her home in Marian, Flint, where her daughters play.
She said: “Billy is such a homebird and he’s normally back by the time the children get home from school. When they got in they said ‘where’s Billy?’
“Alisha shouted him and heard the most horrendous miaow. She found him laying on his side completely unable to walk.”
Single-mum Amanda believes 15-month-old Billy had been shot off the fence in her garden and had fallen into the neighbour’s garden.
She and her daughters, who are pupils at St Mary’s School, rushed Billy to the Gatehouse Veterinary Centre in Rossett where her worst fears were confirmed.
“I thought at first he’d been run over,” she said.
“Then I noticed blood on his collar and I started to get suspicious.
“I could just see the change in the vet, he couldn’t speak for a bit and I said ‘it’s not a shot is it?’ and he said yes.
“I just burst into tears I was devastated.
“The vet confirmed he was shot at close range.”
An MRI scan and X-ray showed the pellet bounced off the cat’s vertebrae and into his neck where it lodged in his shoulder.
Billy is now undergoing round-the-clock care at home after being discharged yesterday.
Amanda, 43, who works in a bank, says she is now terrified to let her children out as well as her other cats Oliver, Harley and Jake and dog Bruce.
She added: “My child was potentially out in the garden when this happened up to 10 feet away from the cat.
“The person who did this had no regard for the fact this pellet could have hit my child.
“This is a family orientated street with lots of young children. I don’t want to let the kids out knowing there’s someone out there so haphazard with an air gun.
“I’m terrified every time the animals go out. We have a dog run in the garden and I’ve not put the dog out because he would be like a sitting duck.”
The whole family has been left devastated by the incident, which took place on Monday afternoon.
Amanda added: “The twins have written him a get well card and they have asked their school to pray for him.
“The other animals also know something is wrong. Bruce the dog and Billy are very close and Bruce has been quite unsettled and has been curling up in Billy’s bed.”
Further tests have shown Billy, a black and white cat, has severe bruising of the vertebrae.
Yesterday he had attempted to stand up giving the family hope he may recover.
Amanda, who fortunately has insurance to pay for the treatment, added: “He’s an adorable cat, very soft and affectionate. Even the vets have said what a cuddly little thing he is.
“He is trying to take steps so he is getting some sensation back.
“I’m so gutted that someone has done this to my children’s pet, and that I actually live near someone that has such a disregard for others.”
Vet Denis Callanan said: “It was a distressing case as it would seem that Billy was shot while sitting on his own garden fence.”
The matter has been reported to North Wales Police and Amanda is due to meet officers today.
Anyone with information should call police on 101.