Valentine after her first operation, which removed a shattered pellet from around her eye, and another from her back.

A distraught kitten owner is desperately hoping her pet will pull through a second surgery, after being shot three times by an air rifle.

When nine-month-old Burmese, Valentine, came through the door of her Avondale home on Thursday night with a cut underneath her eye, Sharon Hunter thought she had been in a cat fight.

"I thought, gosh, theres a cut under her eye. And then I realised she couldn't open it."

Supplied An air rifle pellet extracted from Valentine's back. One pellet remains lodged in the kitten's skull, requiring specialist neurosurgery to remove.

Hunter raced her kitten to the vet early the next morning, where X-rays revealed she had three air rifle pellets embedded in her head and back.

Valentine went into urgent surgery, where she was for most of Friday afternoon.

Vets removed the shattered pellet pieces from around her eye and a second pellet from her back, which Hunter said "narrowly missed her spine".

Supplied Hunter said Valentine loved the outdoors, but the owner wasn't willing to let her roam the neighborhood until her attacker had been caught.

A third pellet lodged in her skull needs specialist neurosurgery.

"The pellet is resting on a number of nerve endings, so there is potential to do a lot of damage", Hunter said.

Hunter was returning to the vet on Wednesday to get a consultation for Valentine to receive such an operation. Without it the kitten would likely need to be put down.

"Whether they can do this on such a small kitten - I don't know. I guess I'll find out."

This initial surgery cost $500. Hunter said she would expect a second operation with a neurosurgeon to cost a lot more.

Sharon said she was in shock when the vet told her what had happened to her beloved pet.

"It's hard for me to fathom such cruelty on a tiny animal."

Her first call upon finding out the cause of Valentine's distress was to the police, and the second was to the SPCA.

She had since put fliers in all the letterboxes around her neighbourhood offering a $100 reward for any information.

"I am very determined to track this person down".

Hunter said the incident had her concerned about the ownership of air rifles in the city.

"They seem to be in the hands of idiots who are taking pot shots at animals."

"What concerns me is that this could happen to other people's pets - there's someone crazy enough to shoot a kitten out there."

And if she does find them, Hunter plans on taking the shooter to court.

"I'm very protective of my children, and I'm very protective of my pets", she said.

"Don't go there, just don't do it."