Cat loses leg in shotgun attack

Scottish SPCA worker Catriona Irvine tends to Stanley the cat

A stray cat has been found riddled with 40 shotgun pellets after being shot in West Lothian.

The injuries were so severe the Scottish SPCA were forced to amputate the leg of the cat, named Stanley by staff.

Stanley is understood to have been a stray in South Queensferry for a number of years and was found last week in Springfield Road by a local resident.

Anyone with information has been urged to come forward.

Emma Boyd, an ambulance driver with the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said she had never seen an animal which had so many pellets inside it before.

She said: "It was so bad that we had to amputate his leg, and, after the vet found a pellet when stitching him up, we decided to take some X-rays to see if there were any more. When we got the results, we couldn't believe it."

Ms Boyd said she thought Stanley must have been shot a few months ago, because his skin had healed up.

"He's obviously been walking around in a lot of pain, and we think he must have been chewing at the wound on his leg that had been caused by one of the shots," she added.

It is thought Stanley will make a full recovery and can be rehomed in the future, once he has learned how to walk with three legs.