A “miracle” cat is two lives down after being shot twice in as many years – this time surviving a gun pellet going through his eye.

Vets at the Blue Cross animal hospital in Victoria, where he underwent emergency surgery, have said it was incredible that the pellet did not reach O'Malley's brain.

The cat, named after the character in the classic Disney cartoon The Aristocats, had returned to his Lower Clapton home with a swollen cheek and a bloody eye.

Thinking he had been in a fight, Christine Smith took him to the charity's vets on behalf of her worried mother, O'Malley's elderly and housebound owner.

Blue Cross vet Lawrence Crossfield sedated O'Malley for X-rays and, to his shock, discovered a metal airgun pellet inside his skull. The pellet had entered through his eye and was stuck in the tissue at the back of his throat.

"It is incredibly lucky the pellet didn't head straight into O'Malley's brain, which would have killed him outright," he said.

"We had to remove his eye and the pellet from his throat. It is just shocking that someone could do this to an innocent animal. We hope to see O'Malley make a full recovery and get on the best he can with his remaining eye."

The bone in O'Malley's leg was shattered when he was shot two years ago aged just eight months. Blue Cross vets had to remove the pieces of broken metal from the bullet and repair his leg with a pin.

The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill was debated in Parliament last week. It could see the maximum prison sentences for animal cruelty increased from six months to five years.

Christine said: "I am appalled that someone has done this to O'Malley again. My mum and I are so grateful for the swift action of the vets and for the after care he received to care for him and help him start the road to recovery after his terrible ordeal."

The Blue Cross charity relies on donations from animal lovers to treat injured, sick, unwanted and abandoned pets.