Cat stabbed with a screwdriver and another shot with an air gun - RSPCA appealing for witnesses.

Pumba dies after she is stabbed with a screwdriver (Image: Archant)

The RSPCA is appealing for information after two cats were attacked

Mischief, a 13 year-old tortoiseshell, came back to her home in Southwick Close covered in blood, and then collapsed. She was taken straight to a vet who found a pellet in her abdomen, and had to have an operation. She is still very nervous, but recovering well.

The incident was on June 12.

There was no such happy ending for Pumbaa, a 14 month-old tabby-and-white male, who was discovered injured and bleeding to death in an alleyway between Croyland Road and Walton recreation ground on Saturday June 20.

He was taken straight to the vet by a passer-by. The vet discovered the “small, flat wound consistent with a screwdriver” in the side of his abdomen. Pumbaa died before he could be operated on.

RSPCA inspector Justin Stubbs said: “These were two shocking and completely senseless attacks.

“Poor Pumbaa had a hole in the side of his abdomen where he had been stabbed - the vet thinks by something like a screwdriver. The wound was so deep that his internal organs had been pierced and so much damage was caused that, tragically, there was nothing the vet could do to save him.

“Mischief was shot with a pellet which went all the way through her leg. It seems likely someone was aiming straight for her. It damaged her bladder and bowel and narrowly missed her kidney. Really, she is lucky to be alive. Attacks like this are very painful and distressing for the cat.

“Although these incidents happened just a five minute drive from each other, we do not necessarily think they are linked. They do show how cats, like wildlife, are more vulnerable to such attacks simply because they are out there in the open, unprotected. The injuries which result can be horrific - and often fatal.

“We urge anyone with any information about this incident to call us on 0300 123 8018.”

Pumbaa’s owner Kirsty Cracknell, 29, of Croyland Road, said: “I am utterly devastated about Pumbaa - he was such a soppy little mummy’s boy. I just keep expecting him to jump through the window.

“What particularly breaks my heart is that I think he must have been on his way home to me, considering where he was found. He was so close, and is likely to have come from the recreation ground.

“I am grateful to the kind passer-by who picked him up and took him straight to the vet, but just so sad that he died before I got there to say goodbye.”

Mischief’s owner Sharon Prosser, 44, said: “I know we are very lucky to still have our Mischief, but I am just so angry she had to suffer so much unnecessary pain. She is physically recovering now, but is still very traumatised and nervous from her experience and spends most of her time hiding upstairs.”