Updated: Two Woonsocket Cats Die of Air Gun Wounds: State SPCA Offers $1500 Reward for Culprit

EAST PROVIDENCE, RI—Oreo, the cat, may have been only a few months old, but he made a permanent impression on his owner, Nicole Nixon.

Nixon said today Oreo was really her three-year-old daughter's cat, and now the little girl is heartbroken over his death.

Lori Negrotti, whose cat Petu also died under similarly suspicious circumstances, was also upset and convinced someone had harmed her pet. She called the Rhode Island SPCA for advice.

As it turned out Oreo and Petu were both shot and killed by someone with a pellet gun or an air gun.

The pets were found Tuesday, Nov. 15. Nixon and her boyfriend initially found Petu, her neighbor's cat, in the driveway by Nixon's home. Then about 15 minutes later, she found Oreo in the garage under her car.

She told Negrotti she'd found a cat that looked like Petu. Negrotti went over to see the cat, and it was Petu.

Caption: Petu, the cat. Courtesy Photo Lori Negrotti

With no wounds and no indications the cat had been struck by a car, it was hard to understand what had happened. Petu had been healthy. Negrotti called the Rhode Island SPCA.

"I contacted Dr. Finocchio at the RISPCA the day my cat was found," Negrotti said, "and a couple of times after that."

According to Dr. E. J. Finocchio, of RISPCA, Negroti called the RISPCA in November to report her suspicions her pet had been poisoned.

He agreed Petu might have been poisoned. Or the cat could have eaten a rat or a mouse that ingested rat poison, he said. He recommended sending the remains to Tufts or the University of Connecticut for analysis.

When the results came back, they showed it was not poison but a pellet gun that had killed Petu. The pellet was found in the cat's chest cavity. It had caused damage to the lungs and heart and bleeding, Dr Finocchio said. He doubts the cat lived more than five minutes after being struck.

Then, he heard about Oreo.

Oreo was also killed by a pellet gun, he determined. Dr. Finocchio has turned the pellet he found inside Oreo over to Woonsocket police, who are investigating.

The RISPCA is now offering a reward of $1,500 for information about the person who shot and killed Petu and Oreo, in the Woonsocket neighborhood around Nursery Avenue.

Caption: Oreo, the cat. Courtesy Nicole Nixon.