The cat belonging to Helen Maritz of Johannesburg was shot with a .22 rifle by an unknown person, and died this morning after much suffering.

Corrie - Martiz's husbandm - heard a bang but when he saw Duke running through the garden he thought the cat had been scared by a firework. But Duke was in bad shape - bleeding and vomiting - and Corrie rushed him to a vet.

Veterinarian Cliff Meyer said the bullet "entered Duke on the right, damaged the lung lobe, traumatised the lobe of the liver, nicked the stomach wall and the pancreas, split the spleen and then lodged on the cat's left chest wall".

He added: "I had to work fast because I had a kitty under anaesthetic".

Meyer said he has not seen a cat shot with anything other than a pellet gun in at least 15 years.

"It is the worst case I have seen in years," he said, adding that Duke was lucky to have survived. Sadly, it wasn't for long.

He said Duke had been shot at close range and from above - the bullet had followed a downward trajectory.

Cats shot by pellet guns are most often the victims of neighbours who keep pigeons or other birds on which the cats prey, Meyer said.

"You just shouldn't have to worry about your pet's safety," Maritz said.

"My daughter couldn't sleep last night," she said, adding that Duke was a friendly cat who, like a dog, wagged his tail when he was happy.

Maritz went to the police station yesterday afternoon to lay a charge of malicious damage to property.