A cat which was shot in the head by an air gun has made a full recovery.

Last summer, the Echo reported how Tilly, a cat who lives with a family in Weymouth, was lucky to be alive after an air gun pellet narrowly missed her brain.

Dorset Police carried out a full investigation in conjunction with the RSPCA but no arrests were made.

Diane Restall, Tilly’s owner, says her beloved cat is now back to good health.

She told the Echo: “She’s back to perfect health, there’s no scar. Emma, the vet from Medivet Weymouth, was absolutely amazing. If the pellet was three or four millimetres closer to her brain, she would have died. That’s one of her nine lives gone.”

“The stitches have been taken out and her fur has grown back. You wouldn’t have known she had been shot.”

She added: “She lost a lot of weight afterwards, she was just under 4kg and went down to about 3.4kg, but she’s put it all back on again.”

Despite her recovery, Tilly has been left ‘spooked’ by the incident.

Mrs Restall added: “She’s very jumpy still, she wasn’t like that before. She doesn’t like loud noises and there’s a difference to how easily spooked she gets.

“It’s mainly things like - if you close a drawer or there’s a bang of some sort - she tends to jump, which she didn’t do before.

“We’ve put a tracker on her, so we know where she is.”

Mrs Restall said her family and friends were horrified to hear about what happened to Tilly.

She said: “Our children have known Tilly since she was a kitten and are very attached to her. Tilly’s brother was killed when he was about 18 months old, to think they could lose her as well was quite a big deal for them, even though they don’t live with us anymore.”

She added: “A lot of people I spoke to in the area said they were absolutely disgusted. They couldn’t believe that someone had shot her.”

Mrs Restall said she hopes what happened to Tilly doesn’t happen to another cat.

She explained: “That little cat means the world to me and anyone who owns animals will know they are part of the family.

“She was so lucky. I hope whoever did this has seen the impact of what they have done, and I hope no one else’s cat has to go through it. “

“I think the whole thing is absolutely disgusting. The type of pellet which struck Tilly was designed to kill. I think the person who did this needs to seek some medical help.”

Anyone with information should contact Dorset Police on 101 quoting crime number 55180110248.