LONDON -- A brave cat who disappeared for a week after being badly injured in a shotgun attack has returned home alive.

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Three-year-old Puss-Puss from Colchester, UK, was taken to the vets after staggering home to her owners last Friday.

An X-ray showed she had around 30 shotgun pellets in her eye, body and paw. Puss-Puss survived, but in a press release sent to Mashable the RSPCA said her injured eye will have to be removed.

Puss-Puss is three years old.Credit: rspca

Doug Taw, Puss-Puss' owner, said he couldn't think what sort of person could have done this.

"We heard some gunshots but didn't imagine at first it could have anything to do with Puss-Puss," he said. 

"Then we found her crouched under a car, frightened and injured. She ran off and we couldn't find her for a week. I was beside myself with worry. Then she eventually dragged herself back in a terrible state and we rushed her straight to the vet."

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Taw said it was heartbreaking to see his cat in such a distressed state.

"It is a miracle she survived but it's going to take a lot for her to get back to her normal self, and she will obviously always bear the scars now," he said.

Adam Jones, an Inspector for the RSPCA, has urged anyone with information to get in touch.

"We were shocked to find that Puss-Puss was peppered with such an extraordinary number of pellet wounds all over her body and head," he said.

"One was in her paw making it hard for her to walk, and another in the middle of her eye -- causing a detached retina. The vet said two had just missed her spinal cord and it is a miracle she survived.

“We urge anyone with any information about what happened this cat to call us, in complete confidence, on our appeals line on 0300 123 8018. 

"She would have been incredibly distressed and in a lot of pain and we want to do all we can to stop such a callous act happening again.”

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