A family has been left heartbroken after their beloved kitten was apparently beaten to death outside their home.
Eight-month-old Wesley was found dead in a lane outside Lorna Henderson’s block of flats in the Merkinch area of the Inverness.
Her 11-year-old daughter Bethany MacLennan, had spent the day searching for her fluffy blue and grey pet after it failed to return home the previous night.
Yesterday police confirmed officers were investigating and appealed for witnesses to come forward.
Miss Henderson branded the killers “disgusting”.
The 32-year-old mum said: “The cat was my daughter’s best pal. These people are absolutely disgusting, they are not human. I just can’t see the point of getting a kick out of killing a beautiful family pet.”
Miss Henderson, of Benula Road, let Wesley out on Friday evening and became worried later that night after the cat failed to return.
When he wasn’t back by Saturday morning, Miss Henderson’s daughter spent the day hunting under bushes and cars to find him.
The youngster even knocked on neighbours’ doors to see if anyone had taken him in.
However, at 1am on Sunday Miss Henderson received a phone call from a friend who had seen a post on a social networking site from someone who had spotted a dead cat close to her flat on Saturday morning.
Tragically, it turned out to be Wesley.
Miss Henderson said: “When I realised what had happened I did not know what to do. I was outside in my dressing gown and there was a pool of blood on the walkway. I knew it was my cat because he’s the only one like that round here.
“My daughter was shouting for him to come home for several hours during the day. My friend had heard my daughter shouting for him, and after seeing the post online, she put two and two together and called me.
“The Scottish SPCA are doing a postmortem on the cat and they are going to cremate him for me and my daughter.”
Scottish SPCA senior inspector Andy Brown said: “At this stage we do not know the cause of death and we are awaiting the results of a postmortem, which will hopefully determine how this poor cat died.”
A police spokeswoman added: “We did find a metal implement nearby and inquiries are ongoing to establish the details.”
Anyone with information about the incident should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.