Support is pouring in for a feral cat that was shot in Dominion, N.S. on Saturday.

“It’s absolutely horrible,” said Cathy McNeil, a resident in the area. “We love cats. I feed the strays. The lady next door feeds the strays. We look after them around here.”

“We fed her, we looked after her, and she was beautiful,” said resident, Roberta Fisher. “It’s a sin that someone did that to her. She didn’t deserve that. No cat does.”

On Saturday the feral cat, now named Phoebe, was shot by a firearm and needed emergency amputation of one of its limbs.

Stephen Mckay was the first person to help the injured animal and quickly took it into his home.

“I let her up on the step and put her in the basement because she was full of blood and everything,” said McKay. “But I didn’t know she was shot.”

After further investigation, the Nova Scotia SPCA determined Phoebe the cat had been shot with a .22-calibre gun. The bullet perforated her back leg and lodged in her front leg, shattering the bone.

“This particular case is very concerning. Considering the large calibre of bullet, it could of hit a child,” said Jo-Anne Landsburg of the Nova Scotia SPCA. “It could’ve killed the cat. It’s very concerning for us, for sure.”

“We are very scared now, very scared now. Because it’s heartbreaking that someone could be so devious to want to harm an animal like that,” said Fisher.

“I went over to my neighbours and they are all keeping their animals in the house now. They’re scared,” said McKay.

Landsburg says so far, they have no leads on who might have done this and are looking to the public for more information.

The Nova Scotia SPCA says Phoebe the cat is doing well and they’re expecting a full recovery.

The SPCA says the cat will spend several weeks recovering under close medical supervision.  Surgery and follow-up care is being funded by donors to the SPCA.  Animal lovers who want to help support the cat’s long road to recovery can visit https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/m/41197/donation

Anyone with information, or who may have witnessed the incident, is asked to call the SPCA’s confidential toll-free hotline at 1-888-703-7722.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore