Cat killing angers neighbourhood

By Sarah Schwager
A CAT has been shot dead in Pakenham, angering its family and the quiet neighbourhood.
Larissa and Rob Sayburn and children Mitchell, 7, Jake, 6, and Bethany, 3, were distraught when xrays showed the cat’s wound contained bullet residue.
Mrs Sayburn said she and the kids had been at their home in the peaceful Heritage Springs estate on Tuesday 10 January when they discovered their cat, Puss Puss, outside with a gash on her neck.
They took her straight to the vet, where her wound was treated and they were given antibiotics.
Veterinarian Ben Goddard from Pakenham Vet Clinic said it looked like she had been attacked by a cat or possum.
But Mrs Sayburn said after a week, the cat was still not better and the wound was weeping.
Xrays found bullet residue all the way through the wound and a chunk taken out of her shoulder bone.
“It was such a shock,” Dr Goddard said. “We were doing xrays to make sure that the bone didn’t have a chip.
“The last thing we were expecting to find was bullet fragments. You could see it in the xray, there was a piece of metal on the bone.”
The bullet entered through her shoulder and came out through her throat.
Dr Goddard said it was the first gunshot wound in an animal he had seen.
The family decided to put the cat down last Friday as she was in a lot of pain and would have needed expensive specialist surgery to pin the shoulder.
“I can handle the fact that she is gone, but that someone shot her is really hard to come to terms with,” Mrs Sayburn said. “You don’t have to be a cat lover to sympathise with this.”
She said her children had been absolutely devastated, angry and confused about what had happened.
“Jake won’t let me wash his doona because it still has cat hair on it,” she said.
She said while Puss Puss wasn’t wearing a collar, she had never strayed far from their house and was always inside at night.
“She wasn’t a feral looking cat, she was very clean. It blows me away that someone could do that.”
Mrs Sayburn said that, despite being at home, they had not heard a shot.
She said neighbours were concerned that someone had firearms in the area. “This is supposed to be the best estate in Pakenham,” she said. “The police were very surprised.”
She said the Pakenham Vet Clinic had been fantastic and had even sent a sympathy card to the family.
The family has lived in the estate for 14 months and in Pakenham for more than 10 years.
They are big animal lovers and also have a kitten, Mushka, which they only got two weeks ago, a labrador Jessie, a maltese dog Toby, a canary and fish in their pond.