Animal lovers across York reacted with horror and outrage today at the plight of tabby cats Ditto and Cinder, who were blasted through the eye with an air gun.

As these shocking X-ray pictures show, the gun pellets are permanently lodged in the face of Ditto and Cinder, who were each blinded in one eye.

Vets believe the culprit held them to his or her chest while pulling the trigger at pointblank range.

The cats' owner, Helen Overton, raged: "What sort of person could do this?"

X-RAY pictures show pellets permanently lodged in the face of tabby cats Ditto and Cinder after sickening air gun attacks.

Vets believe the two pets, who are sisters, were grabbed, held against a sadistic gunman's chest and shot through the eye at point-blank range.

Horrified owner Helen Overton, from Troutbeck, Woodthorpe, York, said her beloved cats were both blinded in one eye after the assaults, which occurred within months of each other.

"I feel physically sick about it," she said.

"What sort of person on this earth could do that to an animal? There are ways of scaring cats off without shooting them."

Mrs Overton said Cinder was first shot with an air rifle in August. The pellet is permanently lodged in her jaw because it is too dangerous to remove.

"Ditto came home late last week and exactly the same thing had happened to her," she said.

"Our vet said the person responsible must have shot them at point-blank range because the pellets have gone so far into them.

"They are lovely, friendly cats who would go up to anybody."

Mrs Overton, who reported the attacks to the RSPCA and the police, said she was now too scared to let Ditto and Cinder out of her house on their own and planned to take them out for walks on a lead.

Mark Goodman, a partner at Minster Veterinary Practice where the cats were treated, said: "It's absolutely horrible.

"The cats have gone through extensive recovery and are still suffering now."

Mrs Overton's son, Adam Clark, 18, said: "I just can't explain how bad it feels for us. I'd love to catch whoever did this."

Elaine Murdoch, manager of the RSPCA animal shelter, in Landing Lane, Holgate, York, said the attacks were "mindless".

"I think what's happened is appalling. We've come across kids with airguns before, but nothing as horrific as this."

The Evening Press recently reported that Brenda Smith's cat, Peaches, from Dringhouses, was also shot with a high-powered air gun.

An X-ray revealed that the metal pellet had punctured the two-year-old pet's gut in two places, and vets said she would have died without an emergency operation.

Updated: 09:48 Wednesday, December 08, 2004