A DEVASTATED Lye couple had to have their beloved cat put down after it is suspected the black and white feline was poisoned and kicked in the face.

Shaun and Claire Godfrey, of Stourbridge Road, knew something was wrong with one-year-old Whisper when he was struggling to walk and vomiting.

Mr Godfrey, said Whisper had been out with his other two cats last Sunday (August 3) and seemed fine on his return but had rapidly deteriorated through the night.

He said: "The next morning he started to stagger and throw up. My wife noticed that he was drinking a lot of water when usually he only had a couple of sips so we knew that wasn't normal.

"We started to panic so phoned the PDSA in Quinton and they said it sounded like he might have been poisoned and to get him there straight away."

The concerned couple rushed their poorly pet to the charity's pet aid hospital on Hagley Road West for emergency treatment.

Mr Godfrey continued: "The vet said it looked like someone had kicked him in the face, his teeth had been pushed back and his gums were split. I hadn't noticed as I hadn't looked inside his mouth.

"Later that night, I had a call from the vet asking me to go back. They said the poison had got to his kidneys and he wouldn't make it through the night, so we had to have him put down."

The 38-year-old has warned other cat owners to be vigilant and added: "My wife is really upset, she was really close to him. We could accept the poisoning could have been an accident - you can't watch them 24/7 and it could have got on his paws and he'd licked it off but we can't accept that some sick person had given him a good booting."

Ian Fleming, senior vet surgeon at PDSA in Quinton confirmed tests showed that Whisper was suffering with renal failure, a common side effect of some poisons but said the cause in this case was unconfirmed.