PET owners in a residential area of Urmston fear that a cat hater may be targeting their animals.

The concerns have been sparked by a succession of incidents involving prized family pets.

Two cats belonging to neighbouring families have gone missing recently.

And that followed previous incidents which had seen cats returning home smelling of bleach, and one with severe injuries.

One of the affected families is the Vernons, of Grangethorpe Road, Urmston, who have two cats, Caspar, a Siamese, and Kailash, a black Oriental.

Two months ago, Caspar disappeared all day and when he eventually returned he was soaking wet and smelt of bleach.

Then two weeks ago, Kailash went out and never returned.

Karen Vernon - who has two children, Emilia, 10, and Thomas, seven - said: "Kailash slept on Emilia's bed at night. She is distraught about her going missing, we all are."

Karen discovered that a neighbour's cat had also come back smelling of bleach. Than that cat - Arnie, which has three legs - disappeared on October 5.

Another pet cat from the area, eight-year-old tabby Sophie, had gone missing for 36 hours, but managed to crawl back with a punctured lung.

Karen said: "We are all very worried about our pets. Whatever is happening is escalating.

"We don't know who these people are and what they are capable of.

"It makes me worried about children.

"'All we want is just to have our cats come home to the family."

She is not letting her other cat out of the house, for fear that something will happen to him.

Noreen Ryan, of Grangethorpe Road, Urmston, who owns Sophie, who returned with a punctured lung on August 25, said: “We don't know what happened to Sophie, She had no obvious injuries. her lung had collapsed and she was struggling to breathe. Our vet thought she was lucky to survive."

After being treated for two days at an animal hospital she has made a good recovery.

Joanna Robinson, of neighbouring Cumberland Road, who owns three-legged Arnie, said all the family – her husband , two grown up children and a 13-year-old daughter - are ‘devastated’ at his disappearance. six-year-old Arnie had lost a leg in a road accident a couple of years ago.

She said: "He never went away, but now he has just vanished.”