Wolverhampton cat owner devastated as two-year-old pet dies after pellet gun attack

Mother-to-be Lucy Wingrove from Bradmore, Wolverhampton, has asked people to consider the consequences of their actions after finding something was wrong with her two-year-old cat Luna on Wednesday, October 19.

She said she discovered two-year-old Luna curled up in a ball in an igloo in the upstairs of her house. When saw she was walking slowly and tentatively and realised there was something not right.

She said: "I found her cowering under the desk in an upstairs room and picked her up to check her, only to find my hand coming away with blood on it, so I did an investigation and found a small hole which seemed exactly like the burst abscess her brother Bob had had.

"We booked her in with the vets and they checked and thought it was exactly the same thing, so gave her painkillers and antibiotics and cleaned her up and we took her home.

"However, we then found she wasn't eating and wasn't vaguely interested in eating and after finding she was losing weight quite dramatically, we took her back to the vets and after they did x-rays, that's when they discovered she'd been shot with a pellet gun."

Ms Wingrove said she and her husband Nick had been told about how, during surgery to remove the pellet, it had perforated Luna's intestines three times and any further treatment would have meant removing her small intestine.

She also said that the vet, Kate Ashleigh, had found bruising all along Luna's stomach, showing that she had been kicked as well.

Having thought about quality of life, she said that the kindest option was to have Luna put down, which happened last Friday at Vets for Pets on Compton Road in Wolverhampton.

Ms W ingrove, who is six months pregnant, said she had come to terms with the loss of Luna more now and said her husband had helped to bring her back down from the anger she was feeling for the benefit of their unborn child.

She said: "There's no point in holding onto the anger and upset any more as I have to be very careful because the baby stopped moving on Friday and Saturday while I was upset.

"There was no movement whatsoever and Nick, quite rightly, brought me down and said we've got to get back on track to make sure he's ok, so he started moving again and we've turned the corner, although I'm obviously still upset."

Ms Wingrove said it had been like losing a member of the family, having had Luna and her brothers Fred and Bob since they were kittens.

She said she wanted the person responsible to think about their actions and understand the damage that a weapon like a pellet gun could cause to a small animal like a cat.

She said: "To me, I don't see why they have those guns at home, unless they are doing it as a sport, but they shouldn't be using it on live creatures anyway and there are so many other ways of doing cat prevention in a garden.

"If it's someone doing it because it's fun, then you can't send them a message as they're not going to listen to you and I addressed that on Facebook with a post about Luna.

"I just wonder how they could do that to a defenceless creature, who was just two-and-a-half years old and less than three kilos and was a very loving animal, so there's absolutely no reason why anyone would do something like this.

"I would ask people to also be aware of anything different with their cats if they are acting different or are not well and get them to the vets straight away as it could be a burst abscess or something else."

Ms Wingrove also said she wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and messages and offered praise for Kate Ashleigh and her team at the vets.

She said: "Kate is the most amazing vet and she really looked after Luna and treated her so well, so I want to thank them for their wonderful help.

"The response from everyone has been amazing from the message I sent out, because we were absolutely devastated and it still upsets us to think about what she went through as she must have been so scared.

"It was lovely to read all the messages and realise that we are being supported, not just from people we know, but from all over the community, and it helps us to know that we are not overreacting and it is ok to be this upset."

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "We received a report of a cat having died after being attacked and shot with a pellet gun on October 19.

"The pet had returned to its home in Bradmore, Wolverhampton, with the injuries.

"Anyone with information can contact us via Live Chat on our website and quote 20/901392/22."

The RSPCA is also investigating the shooting. Anyone with information can contact the animal charity in total confidence on 0300 1234 999.