TWO weeks ago it looked as if Marley the cat had used all of his nine lives.

But despite being blasted with 21 pellets from a shotgun, the plucky tabby is now back at home and on the way to completing a miraculous recovery.

Eleven-month-old Marley was found slumped at his owner Kathryn Thomson’s back door in Yarnton Road, Cassington, on Tuesday, September 28, after hauling himself home following the gun attack.

Just six of the pellets could be removed leaving shot in Marley’s lungs, head and back.

But vets at Parkwood Veterinary Group in Woodstock were able to save Marley’s wounded leg during a three-hour operation.

Now, restricted to a small cage in Mrs Thomson’s kitchen and with huge patches of fur shaved off because of the surgery, he is slowly recovering from his ordeal.

Yesterday the Oxford Mail visited Marley to give him a fluffy mouse as a ‘get well soon’ gift and cheer him up during his weeks of confinement.

Mrs Thomson said: “He has to have four to six weeks of cage rest because his leg is pinned, and the vets were worried he would wrench them out.

“I think he did know something had happened to him, and he still has a really big wound on his leg.

“Although he gets bored, he is almost quite resigned to being in the cage and he is eating well.”

The mum-of-two added: “He looks like he’s been attacked by a demented poodle clipper, but he will return to being a handsome boy.

“At the moment, his leg is shaved down to the bottom, leaving one furry Ugg boot and he has a morphine wrap on the base of his tail.”

Marley’s confinement means he is unable to play with brother Dylan, but Mrs Thomson moved the cage near Dylan’s bed together so they can paw each other through the metal bars.

The RSPCA has yet to track down the person who shot at Marley.

Insp Annabelle Black said: “We’ve got one lead we are still following, but nobody has come forward and we have yet to make a breakthrough.

“If anyone knows anything, they should get in touch.”

Mrs Thomson said: “I like to think it was not deliberate, but there were 21 shots in him.

“It’s either somebody who mistook him for something else, in which case they should not have a gun, or somebody who is sadistic.”

l Anyone with information about the shooting should call the RSPCA on 0300 123 4999.

lsloan@oxfordmail.co.uk