THE owners of a beloved family cat say she is ‘lucky to be alive’, after she was shot with an air rifle near their home in Milford Haven.

Marie Springer, who lives in Coombs Drive, was distraught to find her four-year-old cat Daisy covered in blood when she returned home at around 5.45pm on Sunday (December 28).

“I looked at her and thought she had been rolling around in the mud, but when I got closer I realised it was blood,” said Marie.

“I thought she had been fighting or something, but when I washed it off there was a perfectly round hole, and no other marks on her and I realised that it had to be from a gun of some kind.”

Daisy was taken to All Pets Vet Care, in Milford Haven, who discovered that the pellet had passed through her body, and become lodged near her left shoulder.

Vets then undertook a delicate operation to remove the pellet, costing around £500.

“All Pets Vet Care were a great help, they saw her straight away even though it was out of hours,” said Marie. “They said she is lucky to be alive.”

Marie said the incident has been very traumatic for her and her husband David, who also have two other cats, Flossy and Millie.

“She’s like a child to us; she’s part of the family,” she said.

“I just felt really angry and sick to the core, to think that someone could do that.

“I’m just glad she’s not a wanderer, if it had happened further away she might not have been able to make it home.”

Daisy is recovering well, but the usually confident cat is keeping close to her owner’s side since the incident.

“She’s usually not bothered by fireworks but she was edgy and jumpy this New Year,” she said.

The couple hope that by making Daisy’s injury public, local people will be more vigilant.

“We wouldn’t want someone else to go through this,” said David.

A spokesman for All Pets Vet Care said Daisy was extremely lucky that the pellet had passed right through her body.

“This could have very easily have had a less fortunate outcome for Daisy, as it's more a miracle that the pellet did not do any life threatening damage to the structures that it must have passed very closely,” she said.

Anyone with information about the incident should contact Milford Haven Police Station by telephoning 101.