TWO Dunfermline neighbours have urged other pet owners to be on their guard after they suffered a third sudden death of one of their cats.

Janice Ryan's cat, Trigger, fell ill suddenly on Friday just days after her Pitcorthie Grove next door neighbour, Fiona Scott, had had a note – accompanied with excrement – left in her garden by an anonymous sender.

The note, which was attached to a plastic pouch with poo in it, read: "On my lawn. Have it back. F*****g cats."

Dunfermline Press: The note left in Fiona Scott's garden.

Two of Fiona's cats have also passed away suddenly in the last year leading the two families to suspect that their treasured pets could have been poisoned.

Fiona explained: "In July 2020 we got two kittens. Bob and Nacho. Last year Bob took ill and he got put to sleep – we still have his brother Nacho.

"Then we got two more kittens, Binx and Barry. Barry was 11 months when he took ill. It was exactly the same symptoms. He was just a little kitten. He had complete kidney failure."

Fiona's 12-year-old son Matthew discovered a distressed Trigger, who had just turned six, on Friday afternoon and he took him back to his home before he was rushed to the vets.

Janice said: "I could have thought it was accidental to start with and the vet said it is hard to prove but it is the note that preceded it. I have reported it online to the police but I don't know where I will get with that.

Dunfermline Press: Trigger who passed away on Friday after falling ill.

"It is just awful witnessing the way he went. The vets thought they could do something but phoned and said he would have to be put to sleep. Even with the drugs, he was still in terrible pain. It was a horrible death."

Fiona said she has said to neighbours previously that if her cats were found going the toilet in nearby gardens, she would be happy to come and clean their mess up.

She was stunned when she discovered the note last week when she went to hang out her washing.

"Getting that note in the garden threw me. It absolutely threw me, had me feeling sick," she said. "It doesn't really look like a cat poo. It could be there's a fox going round. Cats try and find something like gravel to bury their's in.

"Cats have the right to roam. We started off saying we would have house cats but the doors and windows are always open and we back on to the golf course so they have all that area out the back."

Fiona said they are now concerned for their remaining cats, Nacho and Binx, as well as other local pets.

"We want this to stop. We don't want anymore cats to suffer like ours have. It is an absolutely painful, horrible way to go."