Family cat recovering after being shot with BB gun

VERSAILLES, Ky. (WTVQ) – For a family already dealing with the loss of a loved one, finding out one of its cats had been shot was unimaginable.

“We lost my husband recently and we’re still coping with that and at the moment we didn’t know if we were going to lose her,” says Jocelyn Roper, a mother of three kids.

The Ropers have three cats. “One for each of the girls,” Jocelyn says. On Thursday morning, the family brought their cats inside for breakfast and they say, one of them, Cinderella, was painfully dragging her hind leg.

Jocelyn’s mom rushed the family cat to the vet, where the news got even worse. The vet told the family there was a BB pellet lodged in Cinderella’s spine and the vet believes it was deliberately shot by a BB gun.

Cinderella was rushed into surgery at VCA Woodford Animal Hospital. “I was just preparing myself every time the phone rang,” Jocelyn says. “[My] mom kept me up to date, I was preparing for bad news.”

But the news wasn’t bad, the vets were able to remove the pellet, says Dr. Kate Campbell, a veterinarian at the animal hospital.

“She’s making a good recovery,” Campbell says. “She’s comfortable [and] using that hind leg a little bit more.”

“It’s really sad, because I brag on this neighborhood,” Jocelyn says. “I love that there are always kids out playing, we feel safe with our kids out playing.”

She says she never dreamt anyone would do something so cruel.

There have been multiple reports of cats being shot by BB’s in the Lane View subdivision in Versailles, police tell ABC 36 News. Some of the animals have been wounded, while a few were killed.

Woodford County Animal Control is asking neighbors to be on the lookout and keep a close eye on their pets. Versailles Police say they’re stepping-up patrols in the neighborhood.

Anyone with information on the shootings is asked to call Versailles Police at (859) 873-3126.