Scottish Independent Media

By Claire Elliot

AN INJURED cat is lucky to be alive after a bullet was blasted into its shoulder by a callous gunman.

Jack, a two-year-old rescue cat, was found by his owner lame and covered in blood after the sickening attack.

A bone in his shoulder was broken in two places and fragments of the bullet remain lodged in the damaged muscle.

Vets today said if the bullet had struck his body an inch further back it would have gone straight into his chest and killed him.

They are confident the moggy, who is thought to have been shot with a low calibre rifle, will make a good recovery.

But angry that someone could be so cruel, owner Fiona Grant has put up a £100 reward for information that will lead to a conviction of the person responsible.

The 53-year-old, who lives between two shooting estates, near Alford, Aberdeenshire, said: “It’s just pure luck that it didn’t kill him.

“He was covered in blood and really distressed.

“His eyes were staring and he couldn’t walk on that leg.

“It’s just so cruel to take a shot at an animal. How would they like it if I went and shot their pet?

She added: “If it’s someone with a rifle it’s someone with a firearms certificate. But they can’t just go around shooting domestic cats.”

Ms Grant initially thought the feline had been hit by a car when she found him outside her home in agony last Wednesday. But an x-ray confirmed he had been shot.

Vet Neil Crossling, of Morven Veterinary Practice, Alford, who first treated the sick moggy, said: “He is a lucky cat.

“The bullet hit the scapula (shoulder blade) and shattered. If it had hit him an inch or two further back it would have gone straight into the chest and damaged the heart and lungs and that would have been it.”

Ms Grant, a quality assurance manager, who lives with her partner Robert Wiseman, a master mariner, is now concerned for the safety of their other two cats, Stroma and Sulasgeir.

She hopes the £100 reward will encourage people to come forward with information and stop another attack.

“We’re out in the country, but there are a lot of people around here who have cats and I wouldn’t like it to happen to anyone else,” she said.

“It’s not fair. Jack hasn’t done any harm.”

A spokesman for Grampian Police, said: “An inquiry is underway to establish the circumstances surrounding this incident.”