A Glenrothes couple have spoken of their heartache after claiming that their cat was killed in an airgun attack.
Allan and Doreen McDougall say they accept their beloved tabby Oscar is dead after finding their bathroom covered in blood before he ran from their Shiel Court home on Friday night.
It is one of three alleged cat shootings in the Rimbleton area since then and police have launched an urgent investigation into the attacks.
The two other cats have sustained severe injuries with one reportedly paralysed after being shot in the neck.
Speaking about Oscar, Allan said: “He came in on Friday night and we thought he had been in a fight and got a nick on his ear.
“I went upstairs to the bathroom at about 11 and there was blood all over the floor. He had gone out of his cat door and we never saw him again.
“We got him 14 years ago as a kitten from the Cats Protection Centre but today is the first day that we’ve accepted that he’s not coming home.”
Concerns that Oscar may have been shot emerged after speaking to a neighbour whose own cat had returned from the vet after being treated for a wound inflicted by an airgun pellet.
Reports of a third cat being shot have since materialised in what appear to have been deliberate acts of cruelty.
Doreen told The Courier that she believed Oscar had used the last energy he had to take himself away and die in solitude a well-known cat trait.
“If I thought that something was up I would have locked his cat door,” she said. “Oscar was not a cat that roamed he was a home cat.
“I know he was just a cat but we have no family.
“I’ve been looking everywhere even down at the old Roots garden centre and the local kids have been to all of the houses helping as well.
“We’ve stayed here for 45 years and it is a quiet street people don’t move on. I just don’t believe that this could have happened to Oscar.”
Police Scotland confirmed to The Courier that they were investigating reports of cats being shot by airgun pellets.
A Fife Division spokesman said: “I can confirm that two cats were reported as being shot by airgun pellets at the weekend.
“We are following a definite line of enquiry but anyone who has any information should call Police Scotland on 101 or ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”