A HORRIFIED animal lover found her 12-year-old cat shot dead under a bush.
Andrea Stevenson said coming across Milo was "horrendous" and branded whoever had fired the pellet "sick."
The 47-year-old discovered her pet on land behind her Alvaston house after he went missing 48 hours previously.
She has reported the incident to the police who are treating it as a crime and are also looking into a case where another cat in the same cul-de-sac was found shot dead in March.
Mrs Stevenson, a mother-of-two who works as a secretary at Rolls-Royce in Raynesway, said: "Whoever did this must have got some kind of sick pleasure from this.
"I appreciate that not everyone likes cats but to shoot it for no reason is just awful.
"Finding Milo like I did was horrendous, just horrible."
Mrs Stevenson noticed Milo was missing on Saturday afternoon when he did not come inside for his food along with the other six cats she owns. She and her family searched the area but there was no sign of the ginger tom.
The following morning, when it was apparent Milo was still missing she, husband Lee, 41, and children Olivia, 15, and Joshua, 10, carried on looking for him.
Mrs Stevenson said: "Because the weather had been so nice, at first I wasn't that concerned but as the weekend carried on and Milo had still not come home, we all got more and more concerned.
"I got home from work on Monday, threw some old clothes on and searched deeper into the woods at the back of the house.
"That's when I found Milo.
"He was dead and the vet carried out a post-mortem examination and found the air-gun pellet inside him. I assume that he had been shot and then crawled under the bush to die."
Mrs Stevenson said Milo was born in the house where she lives, in Mountfield Way, which backs on to woods off Snelsmoor Lane.
She said a similar fate happened to a neighbour's cat earlier this year and police are looking into both incidents.
Mick Harvey found his cat in distress in March and took him straight to the vet.
Mr Harvey said: "I couldn't believe it when they said that he had been shot.
"The vet said he had massive internal injuries and because of his age he might not pull through.
"I just wanted them to do whatever they could but the next day he had to be put down.
"I had Frankie and another cat for 14 years since they were both kittens so I got another cat to keep him company."
But earlier this week that new cat was also shot.
"I noticed that our new cat had a lump under his fur and just thought it was a cyst.
"But after a couple of days it was very obvious it wasn't right and I took it to the vet.
"It was between his shoulder blades but the vet said that if it had been any lower then it would have killed him too."
Mrs Stevenson is now worried about hers and neighbours pets. She said: "I am worried that another one might be targeted.
"There have been a number of dead magpies found in the area that I understand have also been shot with some kind of air weapon.
"We just need to raise awareness to people living in the area that it's happening."
A spokesman for Derbyshire police said: "The vet that examined the ginger cat has confirmed to us that he removed a pellet from an air weapon from the animal.
"We have visited the owner and we are looking into a similar incident of the same nature that happened in March this year."
Anyone with information should call 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
