Blue Cross calls for review on air guns after rise in injured cats
After the number of cats with gun wounds needing help from our hospitals almost doubles in one year, we’re calling for stricter restrictions around the sale of air guns.
Eleven cats suffering from air gun injuries have been admitted to Blue Cross animal hospitals in the past eight months.
Sadly one pet, a four-year-old cat called Lily-Bell from London, had to be put to sleep because of the damage to her vertebrae and internal organs caused by an air gun pellet.
Cleo and Ninja were both admitted to Blue Cross within a week of each other after they were shot.
Ginger cat Ninja (pictured above) had been shot twice, once in the chest and another in his left side. It was too dangerous to remove the pellets, as they were too close to vital organs, so vets decided to leave them in and keep Ninja under observation at home.
Cleo’s condition was life threatening as the pellet had gone through her body, causing serious damage to part of her intestine.
She needed emergency surgery to remove the pellet and repair the intestine to save her life. This was the second time Cleo needed surgery to remove a pellet after she was shot in the chest in 2013.
Alison Thomas, Senior Veterinary Surgeon at Blue Cross in Victoria said: “The rise in shot cats we’ve admitted this year is very worrying.
“These cats were in a great deal of pain and most needed intensive emergency care. Air gun pellets can be very serious and the damage to internal organs and bones can mean amputation or even death“.
Cleo’s owner, Elizabeth Parlett said: “When vets told me Cleo had been shot again I was totally shocked. Cleo doesn’t wander very far and I’ve spoken to neighbours and we just don’t know who would do such a thing.
“I can’t protect her by keeping her inside all the time because it’s not fair on her but now she will always come back when I call her if I‘m worried about where she is.”
Last year, we treated seven cats for air gun wounds.
Blue Cross wants a review into current age restrictions on air gun ownership and the permission of where and why they are used.
We’ll be closely monitoring new legislation in Scotland, where a licence is needed to own an air weapon.