Young Sheffield family 'in pieces' after cat shot and killed with air rifle

The Swift family from Walkley noticed their cat Mitzy, who had been in the family for 12 years, was not herself on Thursday last week (25 June) but initially put it down to the hot weather before dad Philip found her lying in a pool of her own urine and crying on Saturday morning (27 June).

When he took her to the PDSA, an X-ray found three pellets inside Mitzy – two in her chest and another in her abdomen. Shortly after, she was put down.

Philip said: “My four children were really upset and when I came home without her they were in pieces.

“She was a good family cat, they all played with her since she was a kitten.”

Philip and his partner Cheryl have four kids – Connor, 11, Isla, aged seven, Erin, aged four, and one-year-old Caira.

He added: “I’m a bit more resilient than the kids but I’m still gutted. I texted Cheryl last night saying I can’t believe she’s gone.

“If she died of natural causes we still would have been gutted but we could have lived with it. The fact someone has ended her life, it’s not nice.”

Philip said Mitzy was popular with other residents on Whitehouse Lane where the family live, including with their elderly neighbour Vin, who she would regularly sit with.

He said: “If anyone walked up the street she would let hem stop and stroke her. She was so placid.”

The incident was reported to police but they have yet to follow it up with Philip, he said. As Mitzy never went far when she left the house, he believes the culprit could live locally.

He added: “It’s a weapon and someone is using it wrongfully. What’s to stop it missing that cat and hitting a kid in the back garden? It’s quite a bad thing.”

A South Yorkshire Police said “enquiries are ongoing” into the incident.