A FAMILY has spoken of their anguish over the loss of their dog who was run over and killed on Bonfire Night after being spooked by fireworks.

       Cadi, the five-year-old Cocker Springer Spaniel, was hit by a car near the family home in Cardiff, Wales, when she bolted after hearing loud explosions.

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       Cadi was knocked down on Friday night after bolting from fireworks Credit: Facebook

       The dog's owner Garry Hamilton, 58, said he let out his pet to the garden to relieve herself when a series of fireworks were let off.

       "It was all quiet when we let her out, but it suddenly got very noisy very quickly," he told the Daily Mail.

       The family said that Cadi, terrified by the explosions, had bolted through the garden's wooden fence and was later spotted running around a nearby park panicked.

       "She must have freaked out and escaped somehow, but before I could go and look for her I got word that she'd been hit by a car and killed," Gary recalled.

       "Someone must have taken her to the local vet who, having found our details on Cadi's microchip, called us with the awful news."

       The dad-of-two said that his entire family has been left devastated especially his daughter Caitlin.

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       "We're distraught, she was such a fantastic dog, very affectionate. I loved our walks together," he said.

       "I just want to warn other pet owners that, even though Bonfire Night is over, to keep a close eye on their animals.

       "People will still be setting off fireworks in the run-up to Christmas and we don't want what happened to Cadi happening to anyone else's dog."

       Gary's daughter Caitlin spoke of her heartbreak on Facebook saying the "biggest Cadi shaped hole" had been left in their hearts.

       "Hope everyone enjoyed their fireworks, we lost the most beautiful girl in the world to them last night," she wrote on Facebook.

       "There’s the biggest Cadi shaped hole in our hearts and she didn’t deserve her fate, just short of her 6th birthday.

       "For anyone assuming that we were walking her off the lead late on bonfire night - we weren’t.

       "We live opposite the rec, she went outside for a wee and broke out of the fence, ran blind and we couldn’t find her."