Bristol cats shot with air rifle

A Bristol man says his pet cat is lucky to be alive after she was shot in the eye with an air gun.

Owner Andy Ridgewell says three-year-old Lentil came home one night with her face covered in blood, and had to have her right eye removed.

Only days earlier Lentil's one-year-old son Sprout had returned home in distress with a large puncture wound in one of his back legs, and Mr Ridgewell had rushed him to an emergency vets' surgery.

Mr Ridgewell, 40, from Easton, who works at Bristol University as a climate change researcher, said: "I was suspicious at the time but we couldn't find any pellets.

"It wasn't until a couple of days ago at a routine check that the vet found a pellet lodged in Lentil's neck.

"It must have passed straight through her eye.

"She is lucky to be alive – if it had hit an artery or her brain it might have been a different story."

Mr Ridgewell owns seven cats, but only three of them leave the garden.

He said: "Now I'm worrying whenever they go out.

"I don't want to stop them going out of the garden.

"It's a bit difficult to do that anyway, but I am worried they will come home injured again."

Both cats are recovering well, but Lentil is still on a course of painkillers.

He said: "Not only am I left with £600 in vet's bills, but I also lost £600 I had spent on a flight to Japan for work, which I had to cancel when Lentil was shot.

"I have no idea who did this, I just hope they will see what they did to my cats and be so ashamed that they don't do it again.

"I know there are people out there who are cruel to animals but it is pretty sad that someone would do this for fun."

The two incidents happened on October 25 and 28, over half-term, in the area of Chelsea Road.

Police spokesman Simon Whitby said: "These incidents have been allocated to the beat manager.

"He will be investigating and talking to Mr Ridgewell."