Cat left with 9-inch arrow stuck in body after being shot with crossbow

The crossbow bolt was lodged in Nuke’s body between the shoulder blades and the lungs

Nuke the cat was shot with a crossbow bolt (pictured: stock image of a crossbow) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A cat has been found with a nine-inch crossbow bolt embedded in its body after it went missing for two days.

Jim McLean’s pet Nuke turned up at his house in Kingussie, in the Scottish Highlands with the horrific injury after being gone for 48 hours.

The dart was lodged in Nuke’s body between the shoulder blades and the lungs, as reported by The Daily Record.

The 52-year-old owner said: “We’ve been out looking for him every day. He turned up yesterday at the back of the house and couldn’t get over the fence with this cross-bow dart in him.

“We rushed him up to the vet and they said that they’ve never seen a cat able to walk about and still alive with a thing this size in him.”

“It looks to me like whoever has done it has pinned him into a corner or whispered him over because he is such a friendly boy. The vet said that he has definitely used one of his nine lives.”

“It is not an accident, it is predatory. Whoever has done this is a sick human being and I hope they get help. Putting a cross-bow into a friendly defenceless animal is just sick. Nuke would go to anybody for a cuddle.”

Mr McLean added that the inhabitants of the village are now scared to let their animals out of the house in case their pet encounters a similar fate.

A Police Scotland spokesperson told the Daily Record: “At 4pm on Friday, July 22, we received a report that a cat had been seriously injured by a crossbow.

“The cat was found by its owner in the Orchard Court area of Kingussie and the incident was believed to have happened earlier this week. Inquiries are ongoing.”

Mr McLean launched an online fundraiser which has now closed to pay for an operation to remove the crossbow bolt from Nuke’s body.