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Cat poisoning

(21 Posts)
Anne58 Wed 02-Sep-15 18:08:01

We have had a bit of a spate of cat poisoning in the village sad

Our lovely neighbour lost her polydactyl ginger boy not long ago, and young Marvin (a good friend of Oliver Sprout) was put down today after we found him on Saturday looking as if he had been hit by a car, his back legs kept collapsing and he was obviously in pain.

She took him straight to the vet, who after xrays & tests said it looked like anti freeze poisoning, just the same as the ginger one.

Another neighbour with a very yappy dog thought he had suffered a stroke, but again it was poison. Luckily the little dog made it, but as he is either inthe garden or out on the lead, it would seem that it must have been deliberate, i.e. someone throwing poisoned food over the fence.

I appreciate that not everyone likes cats, and they do tend to use other peoples gardens as toilets, but this is too much.

MiniMouse Wed 02-Sep-15 18:16:04

How awful sad angry You must be worried about your two. Can you keep them in? I suppose the trouble then is how long would you do that for?

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 02-Sep-15 18:19:51

OMG!!! Are the olive doing anything? There are laws about cruelty to animals. sad angry. You must be worried out of your mind about Ollie Sprout sad

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 02-Sep-15 18:21:32

I did type 'police'. Don't know how it came out 'olive'.

Anne58 Wed 02-Sep-15 18:22:39

Both Mr P and I are very worried, but it would be very hard to keep them in, apart from the fact that Digby wouldn't mind too much, Mini but Oliver Sprout would hate it.

I do always keep them in after about 8.30pm whenever I can, which fortunately is most nights.

Anne58 Wed 02-Sep-15 18:24:34

Jingl, my neighbour has reported it to the police, and posted on the community FB page. We are also going to put a piece in the next edition of the village newsletter.

janerowena Wed 02-Sep-15 18:30:20

sad That's just horrible. Anti-freeze - disgusting.

Alea Wed 02-Sep-15 18:31:43

Sickening, I do not have the words to express my contempt for this sort of lowlife. angry

Ana Wed 02-Sep-15 18:37:46

I've heard of a similar case recently from a friend on another forum who lives in your neck of the woods, phoenix!

The vet thought it was anti-freeze poisoning, but fortunately the cat only had a burnt and swollen tongue and has made a full recovery. It's horrible that some people are so warped that they could do this sort of thing. sad

tiggypiro Wed 02-Sep-15 20:14:57

That is awful phoenix. I can understand why people don't like cats in their gardens but there are better ways of dealing with the problem. I do hope Digby and Oliver Sprout remain safe.

Indinana Wed 02-Sep-15 21:21:12

Unfortunately this is just one more incident in many that I have heard of, up and down the country. There have been several episodes and warnings in our area of Devon. It seems that anti-freeze has a sweetish taste, and all the evil minded people have to do is pour some into puddles. When the animals stop for a drink, they will be delighted to find it tastes even nicer than plain old water and take their fill. And let's face it, dogs will drink from puddles on their walks, whether or not they're on a lead.

God, phoenix, I really hope your lovely cats don't get caught out. You must be very worried shock

numberplease Thu 03-Sep-15 01:17:43

There has been a spate of cats dying of anti freeze poisoning around Boston over the last few months. It`s been in the local papers and on the local BBC TV news. The main area where it`s happening isn`t far from us, and I worry so much about Mia, but she`d hate to be kept in, plus it`d be nigh on impossible to stop her nipping out.

Anne58 Thu 03-Sep-15 07:48:39

Thank you all.

Indinana it had never occurred to me that it could be put into puddles, but now you say it, I can see how easy it would be for someone to do that.

My neighbour was out last night putting leaflets through doors warning pet owners (and hopefully making the perpetrator think twice) and apparently 6 cats in the village have died this way in recent months. sad

Charleygirl Thu 03-Sep-15 09:55:15

phoenix that is absolutely awful. Poor Digby and Oliver Sprout cannot look after themselves to that extent. I do hope that the murderer is caught but that will be very difficult.

Digby I am sure would love a comfortable bed to lie on to while away the hours when mummy is out working but Oliver Sprout is much younger and still wants to explore the world.

Anne58 Thu 03-Sep-15 18:24:49

Your're not far off there, Charleygirl , although even his Squeaky Fatness likes to pootle about outside for a while, Oliver Sprout is far more active (hence the magpie, I suppose, plus his rather interesting attempts to catch a pigeon the other day by climbing the sycamore tree to a somewhat worrying height, fascinating to watch but we were wondering if ladders might have to be deployed)

When I went to work today Digby was in, OS was out. He usually comes gallumphing up once he hears the car when I come home, but tonight there was no sign of him. I was really worried, but thankfully after about 20 minutes (which seemed much longer) he appeared smile

Apart from keeping cats in permanently, I'm not sure what else we can do.

MiniMouse Thu 03-Sep-15 19:22:58

Is there any antidote? Though, even if there is, it would probably need to be administered PDQ, I suppose.

Charleygirl Thu 03-Sep-15 21:35:48

If Oliver Sprout goes tree climbing. he would scoot down the tree on the opposite side to where you had placed a ladder and some fearless soul, I am assuming Mr.P would be gingerly climbing up it. OS would be sitting at the bottom of the ladder, wondering what Mr. P was doing and waiting patiently for him to return to terra firma so that he could have a cuddle.

Unfortunately I do not know the answer to the cat poisoning. If you are at home, maybe entice both of them to play games indoors so that you at least know where they are for a short period of time. Very worrying.

Anne58 Thu 03-Sep-15 23:57:30

Worrying indeed.

Mini this may sound very odd, but the antidote that my neighbours vet was giving to poor Marvin was vodka shock apparently the anti freeze has certain chemicals that alcohol can combat, but although he was seeming to make good progress, his kidney damage was too much, bless him, he was a dear little chap.sad

Allison42 Mon 21-Sep-15 12:03:08

I live in an area with lots of cats and yes they do use my garden too as a toilet which is infuriating BUT I would never think to harm them. If anyone reading this has a cat problem get some cheap tea bags and spray them with Ralgex, honestly since I have started doing that I havent seen one in the garden! Total shame about cats being poisoned though its just damn cruel and totally unnecessary.

Tegan Mon 21-Sep-15 13:00:37

This happened in my village years ago [the village policeman lost two cats] and I got an article put in what was a free newspaper. Don't get that particular paper any more but I used to a lot to generate bad publicity. It's another reason why I [sadly] don't have cats any more as I worry to much about them. How can people be so evil?

LuckyDucky Thu 22-Oct-15 08:41:29

How awful phoenix. My heartfelt commiserations.

We have 2 Maine Coons. Neither are allowed to roam free, though Buddy inspects his back garden - on a lead. It took him two weeks to calm down and walk properly. Then he noticed ants, bees, wasp, butterflies, small birds and daffodil leaves. He took a bite out of a leaf which meant I had to clean his mouth out as daffs are poisonous.

He stared down a neighbour's cat. The cat was content to lie in the sun and sleep, on our side of the hedge. The cat woke to find Buddy staring. When Buddy stood up, he cat backed away then scooted off. Buddy is about the size of a spaniel but isn't aggressive. Coonies are gentle giants of the domestic cat world. The abbreviation is typical when reading or writing about Maine Coons, it's not a derogative word.

Our white red and black Maine Coon is Amber; she's scared of the big outdoors. She was mated outside, in her breeders cat enclosure. I'm guessing she associates the outside, with being bitten and pain from the act. Why pain? A male cat has prickles on his wotsit, including big cats.^ The human race would have died off if the same applied to us.^

Any funny tales? Does anyone have funny anecdotes and photos.
But all cats have their funny moments. =^--^=