Two Saskatoon men are paying thousands in vet bills after claiming a cat under their care was abused.
David Carpenter and Ray Cooper found a neighbourhood cat, named Mr. Harry, in a bush by their house on Lorne Avenue on Saturday morning. The cat had swelling and bruising on his abdominal area.
“Whoever did this took a loving little animal and treated him like a football,” Cooper told CTV Saskatoon.
“I thought he was dead because he was just lying there. When I touched him, he responded a bit, but he was very weak and dehydrated,” Carpenter said.
Mr. Harry, who Cooper and Carpenter describe as a neighbourhood cat, is predominantly cared for by the two men.
The cat underwent abdominal hernia surgery on Tuesday. The procedure has so far cost the men $4,000.
Cooper started a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of Mr. Harry's vet bills, which the men expect to be approximately $8,000.
“When the surgeons were repairing the hernia, they said they’d never seen an abdominal hernia created that way — the way the muscle belly was torn and presented,” Georgina Inwood, from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, said.
But Inwood said she can’t confirm the cats injuries are from kicking.
“We’re less suspicious he was hit by a car, or something like that, because there isn’t any gravel rash or any skin abnormalities, just severe bruising. Something traumatic has happened here. We don’t know exactly what,” she said.
Mr. Harry is recovering and still can’t use his hind legs.
