West Columbia, Texas - Residents of an apartment complex in Texas called animal welfare after they made a gruesome discovery: a neighboring cat was found with an arrow stuck in its head.

Perhaps it's true that cats have nine lives, because this feline got inexplicably lucky in this one!

Despite having an arrow that had been lodged in her head and was poking through the other side, this miraculous cat was still walking around an apartment complex in West Columbia, Texas.

Residents could not believe how the furry friend could survive in such a condition and immediately notified the local authorities, who sent animal welfare officers to help.

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Susan Dancer, a certified animal cruelty investigator who works for the welfare organization Texas Blessings Rescue also arrived on the scene on November 1. She believed it was a deliberate act of animal cruelty, and that the Calico cat had been shot in the face by a bow and arrow.

"It didn’t look like something that she could survive but she made it long enough for the blood to be dry and was still walking around the apartment complex," Dancer told news station KPRC 2.

At first, rescuers wanted to put the cat out of her misery and have her euthanized, but Dancer didn't give up. She took the injured animal to a vet clinic, who delivered some good news.

X-rays revealed a true miracle: "It’s honestly a shock that she was alive and able to live with it and I feel like she had it in there for a few days," said Dr. Lucy Pustejovsky of the Matagorda Vet Clinic.

"Just the way the angle, the arrow went in that angle, it missed the actual bone portion of the skull."

The arrow was soon sawed off at both ends and removed from the cat's head with surgery.

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Her owners, who had named her Eloise, handed her over to animal rescuers, as they had broken local laws by allowing her to remain outdoors. They do not know how the cat got hurt.

Eloise has now been given a new name: Miracle.

"She’s still purring and breathing and purring fine, good appetite, and is ready to explore," Dr. Pustejovsky said.

Nevertheless, it could take weeks for the Calico to recover from the trauma.

Miracle cannot currently be adopted due to her condition and recovery, but hopefully that will change.

Local police are investigating the crime as animal cruelty and have offered a reward of $1,500 for any information on the shooter.

"It’s imperative to identify who did this and get them into the system and either help or incarcerated or whatever that might look like," Dancer said.

"It’s very common for people who abuse small animals to go on to be sexual assailants or other kinds of domestic crimes."

For now, Miracle is on the mend, and beating the odds.