TWO cats were shot with air rifles last week and police are appealing for information about the callous attacks.

The first cat was shot near to her home in Antonine Gate on the Verulam Estate, St Albans, between 10am and 4pm last Wednesday and is now on the mend but the second cat, which lives in High Oaks, St Albans, and was targeted between 4pm on Saturday and 6am the next morning, remains critical.

Clive Potter who owns the one-year-old bengal cat Georgie, the first cat to be shot, said that the bullet entered the back of her neck and became lodged at the front, narrowly missing a main artery by half-an-inch.

She is at home recovering but the ordeal has cost more than �350 in vets bills.

Mr Potter explained that Georgie, who is a cross between a normal cat and a Asian leopard cat, is kept in the garden with another bengal cat and has only occasionally managed to find a way out but has never strayed far.

She managed to escape on Wednesday and returned late afternoon feeling a little under the weather.

Mr Potter continued: “She was on the bed and my wife went to stroke her and she yelped. I fed her in the morning and found matted blood on her neck and she was still a bit quiet so I got straight in the car and went to the vets.

“The bullet had entered from an above and behind angle and narrowly missed an artery, and it got lodged round the front of her neck so she has stitches in two places – the entry wound and where they had to dig the pellet out.”

He added: “I feel shocked that it had happened in this area. How can somebody do this to a defenceless animal?

“I want to warn people around this area that there is somebody around with an air rifle that is quite willing to shoot it a cats.

“It might be kids mucking around or it might be an adult who obviously hates cats in their garden.”

Two-year-old cat Millie, whose owners live in High Oaks, has not made such a speedy recovery and remains under treatment.

Her owner, called Sophie, said: “We have had Millie since she was a kitten and this has been an extremely difficult time for us. She is very poorly and needs at least five days of treatment. I would ask anyone who knows anything about what happened to her to ring the police.”

Pc Alison Phillips is investigating and said: “It is not clear as to where exactly this incident happened but it will have been somewhere around High Oaks.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Herts Police’s Crime Service Team on 01707 355001 or by emailing crimeserviceteam@herts.pnn.police.uk.

Alternatively call Crimestoppers, the independent charity, anonymously on 0800 555111 and you could be entitled to a cash reward.