AN animal lover spoke of her distress and anger yesterday after her cat was shot through the mouth with an air pistol.
Gillian Charlton's pet, Smudge, is on a drip and feeding through a tube at a vet's practice in Helmsley, following the incident.
Mrs Charlton, of Ampleforth, said Smudge had been missing for a day and returned home late at night covered in blood.
She said: "I thought it was a hit-and-run and took her to the vet's. He operated and found a pellet in the right-hand side of her face, between the jaw and the eye.
"Somebody must have shot her with an airgun. Whoever has done it has done it deliberately. To say I'm angry is an understatement."
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: "This kind of incident is extremely worrying. It is hard to understand the mentality of people who think they can use animals for target practice."
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