Pitbull attack leaves cat with broken legs
EDDY’S OWNERS FACE £7,000 VET BILL AND ANXIOUS WAIT TO SEE IF HE WILL HAVE TO LOSE ONE OF HIS LEGS
A WEST London family is facing a large vet bill after their cat was violently attacked by a pitbull in a neighbour’s garden.
Lorna Wenham was woken by her son’s screams on July 24 after seeing Eddy being ‘shaken’ in the pitbull’s mouth.
Eddy suffered two broken legs in the attack and although now on the mend, one of his legs may still need to be amputated.
Lorna, who lives in Northolt, Ealing, now faces a £7,000 vet bill.
Speaking to MyLondon, the 42-year-old said: “We had spent the evening celebrating my daughter’s 24th birthday and we came home about 11pm. I had been asleep about 30 minutes when I woke up to my son screaming and when I looked out the window I could see this dog with my cat in his mouth shaking around the garden.
“I raced out there and the dog had let go of our cat. The cat was just laying there.
“I scooped him up in the washing basket as he was seriously injured and we went to the emergency vet.
“Because of Covid-19 I couldn’t go in with him and I just waited.”
The emergency vets, in Harrow, told Lorna that Eddy would need to stay overnight before being transferred to another vet.
The next morning, Lorna was told one of Eddy’s back legs was broken, as was one of his front legs. He was also suffering with a puncture wound. After frantically searching for a vet who could treat Eddy, the pet was transferred to Medivet in Watford.
In the following weeks Eddy received 24-hour care and stayed at the vets while Lorna and the rest of their family went on an alreadyplanned holiday.
Eddy is now back at home but has to return to the vets every two days for check-ups.
However, due to the severity of the injury to his front leg, the vets have told Lorna they may have to amputate the leg to give Eddy a better chance of survival.
The final decision has not yet been made and it all depends on how Eddy responds to treatment.
“It [the attack] was horrific,” reflects Laura. “It was one of the worst experiences of my life.
“My son saw the whole thing and he was devastated.”
Eddy, 1, has been with the family since he was a kitten. Tragically, just three days after the cat was attacked, Lorna’s dog, George, died at the age of 15.
Lorna explained that her neighbour had been looking after the pitbull who attacked Eddy for a family member.
The mum now hopes the owner will help financially with the vet bills that she’s already struggling to pay. The Metropolitan Police were not made aware of the attack.
She has started a Gofundme page in the bid of raising some money and has so far raised more than £1,000.
“I have been blown away by it,”
Lorna, who lives with her husband and son, said. “There is one lady, who I kind of know through a yoga class, who gave me £100.
“All of the people have come out the woodwork have been so supportive. It has made us feel really good.”
Lorna admits she regrets not paying for pet insurance and hopes other pet owners won’t make the same mistake.
“We never expected something like this to happen and it has been a really tough lesson,” she said. “I hope other people who read this will see that they need to have pet insurance.”
To visit the fundraising page, go to uk.gofundme.com/f/zkb96-helpeddy.
It’s the start of a new term, and time for children across the country to return to nursery, school or college. Many parents, pupils and teachers are excited to get back into the routine and, although it’s understandable to have a few worries, the advantages of going back into education are clear.
Not only will pupils be learning again, but they’ll benefit from a sense of routine, the chance to see their friends and a boost to their wellbeing.
With n e w safety measures in pl ac e, things won’t look quite the same, but pupils will be guaranteed plenty of support from their teachers.
Dr Paul Phillips CBE, the principal and chief executive of the Weston College Group in Somerset, is one of many leaders who has worked hard to make the learning environment a safe and welcoming one for returning students. “If you came into my campuses you’d see the one-way system, the sanitisers, the counselling service and the ability for us to check temperatures,” he says. “But behind all that are the individual learning plans for each student. That’s where the crucial planning really takes place. “We’ve increased the number of mental-health advisors and support workers, and we’ve put a massive investment into all levels of additional learning support at tutorial level , mentoring and one-toone teaching.
“I ’ve doubled the amount of cleaners in the college too – I need to be assured that everything we do is protecting everyone.”
And parents li ke Clare Rushforth, mum to 11-year-old Lily, are grateful for the efforts schools have gone to with safety measures – especially with the about to move fr om primary to high school.
“They ’ve got good hand-washing rules, and h av e put additional cleaning measures in place,” she says. “It’s quite a large school, but they’ve managed it so well, and their communicat i on with parents has been amazing. They treat their students very much like their own children, and I’ve got faith that the school will keep everyone as safe as possible.
“Children need their education, to get back to learning and to get back into a routine,” she adds.
Home schooling hasn’t been easy and many parents are worried that their children have fallen behind, but parenting expert and author Dr Kalanit
Ben-Ari belie ves they ’ ll catch up quickly, and getting back into the classroom will help them in other ways too.
“I ’m not worried about the academic gap, because I think kids will soon pick up. But it’s starting to affect their mental health, so it’s good that they will be back in school from September,” she explains.
“Children are not designed to sit down all day. They need to be out in the fresh air and moving their bodies. It’s so important for young people of all ages to communicate with their friends face to face.
“During lockdown, kids at home have been spending a long time on screens while parents are working, and
I need to be sure everything we do is protecting everyone
DR PAUL PHILLIPS
If I have any worries we are all helping each other
CHLOE WILLIAMS
often those parents don’t have the resources to entertain and teach their children. That increased screen time will have affected children’s mental health: it increases anxiety, especially with those who are more vulnerable to that.”
For Chloe Williams, a beauty therapy student at Weston College, Somerset, the return can’t come soon enough. “I feel ready to go for a long-awaited 2020, and seeing the new socially distanced facilities has been great,” she says.
“My tut o r s a re v e r y approachable if I have any worries, and we are all helping each other.”
Public Health England chief nurse Viv Bennett says: “Parents can be reassured that to maximise safety in scho ol s, an extrem ely stringent system of controls has been advised by PHE and is published in Department for Education guidance. Evidence so far indicates that schools do not appear to be a primary driver of coronavirus infections in the community. Globally, children and young people have been found to experience coronavirus asymptomatically or as a minor illness.”
The Government’s new Wellbeing for Education Return package has training and resources for teachers and young people to protect their wellbeing and mental health. Now the NHS Test and Trace system is up and running, and there’s more understanding about how we can stay safer. Children should stay at home if they have symptoms such as a fever, continuous cough or loss of taste and smell. If there is an outbreak at a school or college, local health protection teams will work with staff to agree what action is needed. Schools shouldn’t need to close fully, but if they do there’ll be a contingency plan in place to make sure children’s education continues.
Kids need to communicate with friends face to face
DR KALANIT BEN-ARI