Cat was shot in the eye in '˜horrific' Peterborough attack

Jim, the three year old cat, was shot in Glinton last week.

Despite suffering horrific injuries - including losing his left eye - he is now making a recovery - but an investigation is being carried out to try and find who fired the shots.

Steve Perry (48), of Scotts Road, Glinton, said he was horrified anyone could carry out the attack.

He said: “He had gone out at about 1pm, He came walking into the house at about 5pm and it looked like he was crying blood.

“We took him to the vets, who thought he had a tumour behind the eye.

“The next day we took him back, and they took an x-ray, where they saw the pellet.

“He had two operations, and still needs to have stitches taken out.

“I was horrified anyone could do this. He is such a friendly cat, he is not scared of anyone. He just goes up to people to say hello.

“He is still recovering - we have not let him out again yet.

“We are looking after a few other cats for my daughter, and we have let them out. It is not right to keep them in.”

The incident happened on February 11.

Now an appeal has been launched to try and trace who shot the cat - who is named after Star Trek character James Kirk.

RSPCA inspector Justin Stubbs said: “I think he used up a few of his nine lives in this incident.

“The cat was shot in the eye with an air rifle, which is horrific. He is very lucky to still be alive - normally, we would expect the cat to die as a result of these injuries.

“I don’t know why anyone would do this to a cat.

“We would say that we can examine the pellet, and get ballistic records from it, in the same way it can be done with bullets from a gun.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the RSPCA’s appeal line on 0300 123 8018.