Sign In / Register
A Snells Beach couple is appealing to the public for information after they found their beloved rescue cat Twiggy seriously injured last month.
Julienne and David Law had originally thought their 11-year-old cat, who never ventures far from their property on Hewson Drive, had been in a fight.
However, Paws and Claws Veterinary Clinic in Warkworth, which treated Twiggy, revealed the injury was likely caused by an air pistol pellet, after entry and exit wounds were discovered above her tail.
In other words, their cat had been shot.
Julienne Law says she doesn’t know who could so such a thing.
“I just thought she’d been fighting and got an abscess. Then the vet rang and said, ‘do you live on a farm? Because she’s been hit by an air pistol’. And I said, ‘no we’ve never lived on a farm’.
“The vet kept her in overnight she was so sick, they were excellent. When we got her home, she was in absolute agony all week, she just cried all night. We had to try to get painkillers down her,” she says.
Twiggy’s condition continued to deteriorate, so she was taken back to the vet a few days after her first visit, and again on the next day to have the wound cleaned and receive a painkilling injection.
Now Twiggy is convalescing at home and well on the road to recovery, but the Laws hope someone will come forward with information that could help identify the perpetrators.
“I’d just like to know who did this because you know it’s terrible and I read in the NZ Herald that somebody’s cat in Whanganui had been shot and nearly died. You just don’t do this to animals.
“I’ve talked to all my friends, at tai chi and so on, asking if they know anyone who owns an air pistol, but we’re not getting anywhere.”
Law says she talked about the incident with her neighbour Margaret Faed, who launched Snells Beach Neighbourhood Support in 2007, and that the next step might be to contact Warkworth Police.
“This is a very peaceful area. This is our sixth year here and this is the first time we’ve had any problems,” she says.
Having been found under a house in Devonport, Twiggy had a rough start to life but after being rescued and fostered, she was then given to the couple by David Law’s granddaughter as a present.
“When she arrived, she was all skin and bones and looked so small and skinny, so David called her Twiggy, after the famous 1960s model,” Law says.
If you have any information that could help identify the perpetrator(s), please contact the Warkworth Police on (09) 425 8109.
