Maine Coon shot with an airgun causing life-threatening injuries

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NEWS AND COMMENT: This comes from the UK, specifically the town of Exning, Suffolk. A lady who lives there, Julie Boucher, has a beautiful tabby Maine Coon cat called Kanji. He weighs 7.5 kg which is about 16 pounds.

Maine Coon shot with an airgun causing life-threatening injuries
Kanji. Photo: Julie Boucher

One day he became seriously unwell. It said that he "managed to return home". This clearly implies that he was allowed outside to roam around freely, unsupervised. That's okay if you are okay with it but some people would disagree with allowing a large Maine Coon cat outside unsupervised and it's been proved true in this instance.

As mentioned Kanji became mysteriously ill. They checked him and couldn't find anything wrong with him. Boucher took him to the vet who checked him over and they couldn't find anything wrong with him either.

A few days later he was more poorly and Boucher thought that he might be dying. She rushed back to the veterinarian who re-inspected him and decided to operate and they found a pellet inside him. Apparently it had left no mark on the skin. That's why they couldn't detect it.

But the pellet had damaged his intestines, bowel and stomach wall. This was causing him to gradually die. Comment: it's remarkable that it left no mark on the outside of the body and there may be a lesson there.

Clearly, the veterinarian decided to operate to investigate inside the body which proved to be a very wise decision.

Kanji improved and he has been doped up with antibiotics and he has lots of stitches as you can imagine.

He spent several days at the veterinary clinic in order to ensure that he didn't develop an infection as it would have jeopardised his life.

Boucher is mystified as to how or why somebody could do this to him. She says that he doesn't look like a wild rabbit. I find that a rather innocent comment because we know, that in the UK, there are criminal-types who like to shoot free-roaming domestic cats with their guns. They regarded as fun. This is a known fact.

Boucher has appealed to the public for help to track down the miscreant individual who shot her cat. The moral of the story is that you keep your Maine Coon cat inside the home while at the same time ensuring that the home is full of stimulating things to do for a domestic cat such as climbing frames and ideally a catio which as you properly know is an attachment or extension to the home with one side open to the exterior with fencing to prevent the cat getting out. 

This allows a cat to experience the outdoors while being safe indoors. Within that extension there should be climbing areas and other stimulating constructions and devices to amuse your cat. Yes, it can be expensive but people should realise that looking after a cat to a high standard is expensive. Period.

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Please excuse the occasional typo due to preparing these articles at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I don't have a proof reader.
Location: Exning, Newmarket CB8, UK

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