Family’s kitten shot with air rifle
A family from Haywards Heath were left in shock after their six-month-old kitten was shot with an air rifle.
The adorable grey feline Fred, of Acre Close, suffered a broken leg and still has the pellet inside him.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said owner Dan Neve, 41, who was outraged someone would shoot a cat.
Dan said the incident happened while he was on holiday in Selsey with his wife Donna and their three boys.
Donna’s mother and father were feeding Fred and his sister Dusty while they were away from Friday, October 22.
But when Donna’s mum and dad went round on Saturday evening Dusty came home for dinner and Fred did not.
Dan’s inlaws looked for Fred and after an unsuccessful search they phoned the family.
They called again on Sunday morning to say Fred still had not returned and Dan drove home to help.
“I found him pretty quickly,” said Dan, who discovered Fred hiding on their shed roof.
“He couldn’t move, he couldn’t stand up,” Dan said, adding that he tried to tempt Fred down with his favourite treats before getting a ladder.
“I picked him up and I saw straight away that he didn’t want me holding him,” said Dan, who saw Fred was in pain.
He got Fred into a carrier and took him to the vets at
Pets at Home, Burgess Hill, where an X-ray revealed Fred had been shot with an air rifle.
“We had to sit down,” said Dan. “We were in utter shock.”
A full X-ray showed the exact damage and on Monday night the vets told Dan that Fred needed a £1,853 operation to pin his broken leg together.
Dan and Donna borrowed money from friends and family and put up a JustGiving page at justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/donna-neve.
“What we’ve set up is just for the operation,” said Dan, adding that Fred will need after care too. “We could be looking at a bill of near £3,000.”
But, Dan said the fundraiser is 76 per cent towards its £1,850 target and he is ‘overwhelmed’ so many people have donated.
Fred has now had the operation and is ‘on the mend’, said Dan, but the pellet could not be removed because it is too close to Fred’s bladder. Fred also has muscle damage and is not allowed out of a cage until his leg heals properly.
Dan has informed police and said he wants the person responsible to come forward.
A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “Police received a report on Sunday 24 October from a cat owner reporting that he had found his cat injured in Acre Close, Haywards Heath. The cat had been taken to a vet, who believed the animal had been shot at with an air rifle.
“The incident is believed to have happened sometime between Friday evening (22 October) and 4.30pm on Sunday (24 October).”
Police asked people with information to call 101, quoting 923 of 24/10.