Family's three cats may have been poisoned

Police were called and post mortem examinations carried out after the pets suffered excruciatingly painful deaths.

Craigyhill woman Cherese Bates said her nine-year-old son, Ben, has not slept since the weekend, when the family pets were killed.

“Ben has been very upset,” said the Knockdhu Park resident, who added: “He was very fond of the cats and they responded to him.”

On Saturday morning, six-month-old kitten Zimba was found to be in a very distressed condition. A vet was called, but by the time she arrived he had passed away.

Two days later, 14-year-old black Manx cat Max and pure white Sarda – a year younger – were also dead.

“Max was already dead when he found him on Monday morning and Sarda was very, very weak. The vet came and collected him, but he died in the car before they could get him to the surgery,” said Cherese.

The older cats belonged to the late Annie Patterson, mother of Cherese’s partner. “It has been a family tragedy,” she said.

“Everybody is heartbroken because the cats were a connection with Annie.”

A reward is being offered for information that will identify the source of the suspected poisoning.

“We want to let people in the area know that this is happening,” said Cherese. “We would hate to think that this would happen to anybody else’s pets.”