Hmmm....
Cat, stepped in the triggergaurd. Ok, yeah.. right. Sure.
Methinks the kid did something else completely stupid, and came up with the cat story, and now that it's news, he dosen't dare tell the truth...
It just dosen't pass the smell test. I also note that there's no other witnesses untill he yelled out in pain.
Were it my kid, he'd know not to make up the stupid cat story, since leaving a pumped, loaded, and cocked airgun on a table and walking away from it would leave him in as much trouble as something equally as stupid like trying to spin the rifle like a cowboy with a revolver, or shoot with the rifle behind his back.
The real sad thing here is that when a kid actually gets away with telling a whopper like this, it's a bad lesson. I bet the gears are starting to turn up in his head, and he's wondering things like: If people are all really that gullible, is he really that clever, is telling big lies as easy as little ones, and what else can he get away with? etc. etc.