THE devastated owners of a cat that was shot with a ball bearing say they are too scared to let it outside again.

Five-year-old Sox was found covered in blood and with an eye injury close to his home in Lineacre Close, Grange Park, on July 12.

At first Ron and Joan Schofield thought the black and white puss's wounds had been caused by fighting with another cat in the area.

But when they took him to the vet to have them treated it was found that he had been shot, costing Sox the sight in one eye, and that the ball bearing was probably fired from a catapult.

Mr Schofield was upset and angry after realising that someone had deliberately targeted their beloved pet in such a cruel way.

“My wife had taken him to see a vet after she spotted blood on his face around his eye. She thought he’d been fighting but the vet discovered a ball bearing behind his left eye, which we think had been fired at Sox from a catapult,” he said.

“He’s now recovering after his operation but we’re too petrified to let him back out.

I can’t understand how anyone could do this and hope someone knows who is responsible and gets in touch to stop this happening to another animal.”

Steph Daly, an RSPCA inspector who is investigating, said: “Thankfully Sox has survived but has sadly lost his eye after being attacked.

“We are really keen to try and find out who is responsible and urge anyone who has any information about who did this to contact us in complete confidence on 0300 123 8018.”

Earlier this year the organisation released figures that showed a five percent increase in the number of cruelty allegations from the previous year. It put the increase in reports down to more people seeing incidents shared on social media.

Assistant director of the inspectorate Dermot Murphy said: “It continues to outrage and sadden me that people can be capable of such deliberate brutality towards animals, but equally it drives me on to ensure that perpetrators of animal cruelty are put before the courts.”

In 2016 the charity received 1,153,744 calls to its 24-hour hotline and investigated 149,604 allegations of cruelty. A total of 744 people were taken to court– down 6.53 per cent – and 628 disqualification orders, banning people from keeping animals, were issued in the wake of successful prosecutions.

Most complaints were about the welfare of dogs but there were 36,156 about cruelty to cats.

Last month the RSPCA said it was dealing with a surge in air gun shootings and had already received 470 calls in the first six months of the year.

It is campaigning for new controls to be introduced requiring anyone with an air weapon to have a licence. Details about the RSPCA can be found here