Cat shot with screw in cavan town

A cat has been shot with a 5cm 'screw', believed to have been fired from a modified air-rifle or nail-gun in the latest in a string of sickening and vicious attacks against animals in the Cavan area.

The incident only came to the owner's attention when the household pet returned home on Wednesday last (August 21) and the spike of metal was found embedded in the cat's shoulder.

'Oliver' the cat, owned by local man Michael Higgins who lives in The Gallops, Cavan Town, has since been brought to the vet who surgically removed the screw from the pet.

It however is not the first such attack on cats owned by the couple, as others have similarly returned suffering after being shot by, what Michael believes, is nail-gun, or possibly, a modified air-rifle.

Last year he discovered a nail and patches of blood when cleaning the bedding area of one cat, 'Buddy', while another, Turbo', months later returned with a nail stuck into its chest wall, perforating the skin.

The couple's third cat, 'Cooper' returned to the couple's home with a nail sticking through one of its paws. That animal has since gone missing and the couple fear the worst.

Safety

Michael, who is the father of a young daughter, is worried not just for the safety of the animals but for the families of young children living in their estate, if someone is firing projectiles with force enough to do such damage.

“It's sick. I can't believe its happened again,” Michael told the Celt. “After the last time, with Turbo, and we brought him to the vet first thinking he had a broken rib only for the vet to show us an x-ray with with a nail stuck in him, I went and put up posters around the estate. It stopped for a while after that, but whoever's doing it is obviously at it again.

“I reported it to the guards but there's not much they can do unless they catch the person. The worst thing is is that there are a lot of young families living nearby. This is crazy behaviour, and if one of them got hit... there's no words for it... whoever is doing this has to stop. Its unbelievable.”

Gunshot pellets

The attack is the second such shocking act against animals in the region in recent weeks after another local vet located 17 gunshot pellets in the head of a Llewellin Setter found roaming stray around Belturbet area back in July.

When no-one claimed the dog, given the name ‘Lewis’, he was rescued by Carole Mansfield of Lily’s Dog Rescue in Shercock. Carole had agreed to foster the dog and nurse it back to full health before passing him on to the small UK-based charity Black Retriever X Rescue, run by Jemima Harrison, who re-houses unwanted, Irish gun dogs.
Concerned by Lewis’ tendency to walk in circles, his ill health and lack of appetite, Carole brought him to the vet. The vet diagnosed it as having an acute ear infection, as it presented with the typical symptoms.
However, as the weeks progressed and Lewis failed to recover Jemima organised a Facebook appeal, which saw a huge response, quickly raising the money to fund his treatment with a specialist in UCD.
This morning, a CT-scan revealed it had been blitzed by pellets.

The dog has since failed to recover from its injuries and had to be put down. A post-mortem was carried out, the results of which have not been disclosed.