Warning: This article contains content which may upset some readers.
A Rotorua woman is heartbroken after finding her beloved pet cat with an arrow through its back.
Chantelle Gillette told Newshub she was about to go to bed when she noticed her cat Sativa sitting on her bed "in a puddle of blood".
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Sativa had been shot through the back, narrowly missing her spine.
"I'm pretty sure it was done on purpose because the angle was from underneath as if she'd been shot from below while she was sitting on a fence," Gillette told Newshub.
She says the discovery caused her great emotional distress.
"Immediately I had a panic attack and I screamed my partner's name and he came rushing down," she said.
"We grabbed her as carefully as possible and took her straight to the vet."
When the arrow was removed from Sativa, the gravity of the situation became clear.
"[It was] a couple of millimetres away from her spine, I could actually see [her spine] through the exit wound," said Gillette.
If the arrow had been even slightly higher, Sativa would be dead.
The emergency vet bill set Gillette back $230 - all her grocery and bill money for the next two weeks.
Although Sativa survived her ordeal, Gillette says her beloved cat is traumatised.
"We've taken her home and she's stayed in the same place, she hasn't moved she's not eating or drinking or anything,"
"She looks like she's in shock, she would normally meow or purr when I pat her but she's just looking at me like I'm a stranger."
Gillette says Sativa usually stays away from people, meaning the vicious shooting was purposeful.
"Someone's gone out of their way to do this and it just breaks my heart."
She is warning others to look out for their animals, and ensure they don't suffer the same way her cat has.
"I don't want it to happen to anyone else's babies…just keep an eye on your babies."
Newhsub.
