FAMILIES in Littlemoor fear that their young kittens may have been stolen.

Three pets have gone missing from gardens on the Weymouth estate in recent days and despite extensive searches they have all failed to materialise.

Ruth Wild says her children Ashley, nine, and Yasmin, five, are distraught after kitten Jasper went missing and she fears he could have been taken.

She said the family has been searching for the seven-month-old silver and grey tiger-striped tabby day and night, but despite their efforts he is nowhere to be found.

Now Ms Wild believes Jasper was taken out of the family's garden in Littlemoor and is offering a reward for his return.

She said: "I let him out after the children went to school when I went to bang on his dish a little later to get him in he did not come back.

"When he had still not come back after I had picked the children up from school we started to go and look around for him.

"The children were really upset and were crying as we were searching and kept shouting for Jasper but there was no trace.

"One night I even slept on the settee with the back door open in case he came back but there's just no sign."

She said posters have gone up all over Littlemoor asking people to look in their sheds and garages in case Jasper is trapped but there has been no sign.

"I am not saying 100 per cent that he has been stolen but there seem to be a lot of advertisements for missing cats in the area. I just fear the worst, that someone has stolen him and sold him on.

She said the children - who were both left fighting for life three years ago after being struck down with the potentially fatal heart bug Kawasaki Disease - idolise him.

Ms Wild, who works as a prison officer, said: "The children just want him back."

Linda Pruett, a teaching assistant, believes two kittens belonging to her daughter Gina, 11, could also have been stolen.

She said the distinctive black and white kittens were put out in the garden early one morning, but 10 minutes later they were gone.

"They did not like going out, but when I checked on them a little later they had just vanished. It's strange that they both disappeared at the same time."

Posters and flyers have gone up asking anyone who sees the four-and-a-half-month-old kittens - Loopy and Bugsy - to get in touch.

"They are quite desirable and I do think they could have been stolen," she said.

A Dorset Police spokesman said there was no evidence that there was a trade in cats and kittens.

He urged cat owners to get in touch with police if they had any evidence to suspect that the pets were being stolen.