Last Wednesday our three year-old black and white cat Gizmo went out for his daily wander in Old Dean Road, Mitcheldean. Between 4.15-4.40pm I saw him stagger into our rear garden and collapse which is completely out of character.
Realising something was wrong I rushed outside to find him completely covered in oily petrol. Rushing him upstairs I bathed him and realised he was seriously injured. We immediately took him to the vets at Pets Barn where they had to staple his rear leg from a nasty flesh wound and treat him for other cuts and grazes all over his body including scraped paws and mangled claws.
The vet believes he was hit with a very sharp object or possibly even hit by a car and dragged, but it doesn't explain why he was completely covered in oily petrol.
We reported the incident to the police as its possible someone may have covered him in oily petrol and then hit him, or he did get hit by a car? But that still doesn't explain why he was covered in oily petrol.
Since then he has been on medication and barely looked like he would survive the first couple of days, constantly asleep.
This weekend he began to walk and we realised he had a very bad limp and is now back at the vet receiving treatment for a damaged shoulder.
If the person responsible has any conscience we would like them to come forward and at least do the decent thing of paying the ever increasing vet bills. You don't hurt a cat, deliberately or accidentally, and then leave him for dead. – Mark Jackman, 16, Old Dean Road, Mitcheldean.