An eight-month-old cat named Keto is recovering in a foster home on the Sunshine Coast after he was shot with a pellet gun.
The Sechelt cat, which appeared to be suffering from “an intense injury to his right eye,” was surrendered to the Sunshine Coast BCSPCA on March 12 after his owners said they couldn’t afford the veterinary care.
“Initially, we did not know Keto had even been shot, just that he looked to have blunt-force trauma to the face,” BC SPCA Sunshine Coast branch manager Marika Donnelly told Coast Reporter in an email. “The vet found the bullet lodged in his nasal cavity upon doing X-rays.”
The veterinarian retrieved the bullet from his skull but was forced to remove Keto’s eye in the process. The bullet caused no other damage and according to Donnelly, the “incredibly outgoing and affectionate” feline is recovering well at his foster home.
Costs related to emergency surgery, antibiotics and painkillers totalling $1,679 are “over and above” the branch’s tight medical budget, said Donnelly, so the organization is appealing to the public to assist in covering costs.
The branch is also requesting the public contact them with any information about the shooting, since as of March 31 there were no leads or evidence of who the perpetrator could be.
This is the second recorded cat-shooting incident in less than a year.
Last September, a Sechelt resident contacted the Sunshine Coast RCMP to report someone had shot her cat in the face with either a pellet or BB gun. The cat survived the shooting but required veterinary care. The owner reported another cat living in the area had also been shot.
To provide information about the shooting, contact the BC SPCA Sunshine Coast branch at 604-740-0301 or sunshinecoast@spca.bc.ca.
To assist with Keto’s medical bills visit: spca.bc.ca/medicalemergency.
