A VET has appealed for an end to cruel gun attacks on animals after another cat was shot.

Fluffy was blasted in the back near his home in Wigan Road, Wigan.

The pellet smashed into the long-haired cat's spine - narrowly missing vital organs.

Now the vet who treated him has called for a halt to these cruel attacks.

Dr Shams Mir, of Anrich Veterinary Hospital, said he has seen a number of similar incidents and he is appealing for parents to think twice before buying teenagers air weapons.

Fluffy's owner Louise Bithell, 40, the boss of a waste disposal firm, realised her cat was in agony when he developed a lump on his back. She said: "I can't believe somebody would shoot a pet like this. They must be callous and uncaring beyond belief.

"My little boy Jack is devastated to think of his pet being shot for target practice, because Fluffy is a member of the family.

"There's no skill or bravery to shooting a pet cat, is there?"

Dr Mir said Fluffy was lucky to survive his ordeal.

He said: "As you see on the X-ray, the pellet has hit the vertebrae and got stopped rather than going through the chest, which could have proved fatal.

"It looks like these attacks on cats are becoming more common - possibly many go undetected in cats found dead by owners.

"Isn't it sad to see stories of cruelty on animals for fun repeat so often without any body caring to do anything to stop this trend?

"Parents who provide guns to their children need to think hard about the consequences of what their kids are up to.

"And I think it's high time there was a tight -ening of regulations on airguns and their use." In May, the M.E.N. revealed how Oscar the cat had been shot in the eye in an incident in Atherton, Wigan.

Oscar was left blinded after being fired at by thugs with an airgun. The pellet shattered the 21-month-old ginger-and-white tabby's eyeball and is still lodged in his neck.

His owner Valerie Brown, from Atherton, was horrified by the attack and has offered a £1,000 reward to catch the attackers. Tweet