BARRY children could be targeted and badly injured by people with pellet guns, a local vet has warned after two frightening attacks on cats.

Maurice Kirk, 57, of Barry Veterinary Hospital, says the next to be hit could be youngsters, after two felines were worryingly found with gunshot wounds.

Mr Kirk revealed how on Friday he had two call-outs to separate elderly women, whose pets were very ill.

He said: "The first lady lived near College Road. Her cat had one pellet wound which I was able to treat. But she told me that she is so frightened of her own community that she is now housebound, because she's worried about going out.

"I told her 'you realise the next to get hit with pellets could be a passer-by' and said she should report it to the police."

Next, Mr Kirk visited a lady at the back of Winston Road in the Colcot.

He said: "She had a very sick cat. I could see it had a hole in its side, so I told her I'd need to take it back to the surgery with me to operate.

"This lady was also very scared of the community, and worried about being identified." When he X-rayed the cat - a six-year-old black and white female called Whiskey - he found she had four separate gun pellets embedded in her.

Mr Kirk said: "She had been shot in her chest, back, muscles and intestines. It was the one in the intestines that had made her so sick. The others had been there for months." Fortunately, Whiskey was nursed back to health and returned to her owner on Monday night.

But Mr Kirk had a warning to local residents: "The next animal to be shot at will be a two-legged animal - a child, or an adult - as people get bored of shooting cats."

Barry police were unable to find any record of the two incidents being reported on Friday.