Gertrude the tabby cat has certainly used up one of her nine lives after she was shot in the face with an airgun pellet.

The pellet ripped through her eye before lodging behind the eye socket – missing her brain by millimetres.

Although Abbey Vets at Barnsley were able to save three-year-old Gertrude's life, they had to remove her eye.

Owner Patricia Turnbull, of Dovecote, Foundry Gate, Wombwell, said: "She was in a terrible state when I first saw her. She had got back to the house and was trying to scramble into her basket.

"I rushed her to Abbey Vets who said that the pellet had caused so much damage the only option was to remove the eye."

A target board was found in a small wood adjacent to Hemingfield Road which backs onto Patricia's house and is where Gertrude often goes prowling.

"If she was shot at deliberately then it's a cruel and callous act," she added.

Tony Duffy, from Abbey Vets, said: "While Gertrude was in hospital having her eye removed we also operated on another cat that had been shot - the pellet caused a fracture of the hind leg which we successfully repaired with a steel pin.

"Thankfully both cats are recovering well. Sadly not all cats which are shot make it home and many will die in agony.

"It is a very cruel sport. We often find airgun pellets in cats incidentally during routine radiography, many will have been lodged for some time. As long as they are not causing any problems they can usually be left."