A family cat that was badly burned in an Eleventh Night bonfire ordeal is getting better and will soon be reunited with her family.

Kitty sustained facial injuries and her ears were seriously scorched after the pyre she had climbed onto in Antrim's Parkhall estate was set alight.

Owner Darryl McGreevy said he was told by a number of people that they saw his cat walking around the structure, but their pleas to delay lighting the bonfire were ignored

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Brian McAuley, the vet treating Kitty at Firmount Veterinary Clinic, said the animal was in danger if losing part of her ears because of burns.

"She's badly singed all over and her whiskers are burnt off her, so at some point she must have been in the flames," he explained.

"She's a bit better today. She has eaten a little bit, but she's still quite withdrawn and she's still very shaken up by it all.

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"It'll take a number of days until we see how her ears heal. They're badly burnt, especially right around the edges, and it's likely that she'll maybe lose some of the tips. She would be in a lot of pain, but she's getting medication for that and the nurses are looking after her and keeping her comfortable.

"Apart from the burns, which are localised mainly to her face, she's in reasonably good general health and we're convinced she's going to come through this."

Mr McAuley described Kitty as "an all-black, youngish cat" and said he hoped she would fully recover when back at home.

"She'll be staying with us for a few days, but we hope to send her home on medication soon, after which she can continue to visit the clinic," the vet added.

"We'd be anxious to see her back in the family situation and back into her own environment because that would help her to recover from the nervous shock that she's had.

"It was very traumatic. Her ears are painful, there's no question about that, and her wee nose is scorched as well.

"She hasn't got generalised burns all over her body, so it's a low-scale as regards the burns, but as regards the fear and shock it would be a high scale."

Belfast Telegraph