Freddie the cat shot with crossbow

A MISFORTUNATE and defenceless cat is recovering after being shot by someone using crossbow in the Rathcabbin area.

The feral male cat, called Freddie, had been turning up every day for at least the past year at the home of local woman Caroline Roddy at Ballyoughter, Rathcabbin.

Caroline, who has been feeding Freddie throughout all of that time, learned of shocking news about the poor animal on Saint Patrick’s Day.

“I was told by a neighbour that he was seen with a foreign object in him,” Caroline revealed.

“I looked and looked for him, and then he arrived at my back door last Friday with a bow arrow in his shoulder.”

Caroline obviously wanted to help the wounded tabby and have the arrow removed to try to save its life.

With the help of Andrea and Valerie from the Rocrea Society for The Protection of Animals, she eventually caught Freddie in a trap cage.

Caroline then brought wounded Freddie to Fitzgerald Vets in Roscrea where it underwent an operation to have the arrow removed from just below his neck.

“Freddie is now on the road to recovery, says Caroline, who praised Andrea and Valerie from the SPCA for their help in catching him. “If it wasn't for them both, Freddie would be left to die with an infection or something.”

But happily, Freddie is proving to be the proverbial cat with nine lives - or at least two at any rate! The arrow struck just inches from its head which would have proved almost certainly fatal.

After several days recovering in the veterinary clinic, Caroline collected Freddie on Monday last.”The vet said he is one tough cookie. He's on the road of recovery now, please God.”

She questioned how someone could deliberately take aim at a helpless animal with a bow and arrow.

“That someone could do this to a defenceless animal that does no harm to anyone… it’s absolutely disgusting,” said Caroline.

She had reported the matter to Birr Garda Station.