Morden cat shot loses eye after being shot

Nellie, a two-year-old domestic shorthair tortoiseshell cat, was found with the metal pellet lodged in her neck after it entered through her eye.

Liz Gallagher, who lives on Rougemont Avenue in Morden, discovered that something was seriously wrong with her cat while at home on the evening of September 5.

Liz and her daughter Annie rushed Nellie to The Vets in Morden the next morning after her eye was starting to look like “something that you get in a horror movie.”

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Liz and her daughter Annie with Nellie before her injury (Image: Liz)

The pellet, which was discovered after the vets took X-rays, is believed to have come from an airsoft rifle.

The vets said that two other cats that had been brought into the vets for treatment recently were suffering from similar pellet wounds.

Liz told Newsquest south London: “We are heartbroken and horrified.

“It is just such a heinous crime - It's awful.

“It just horrified me that somebody around where I live is doing that.

“I have two cats, who both jump the fence and wander, and I'm terrified.

"I noticed something was wrong late on the Monday night – her eye just looked very odd.

“Her eye was just like a ball of red jelly.

“It looked like something that you get in a horror movie.

“So, I rushed her straight down to the vet with my daughter the next morning.

“They took her in and within the vets had come out and said we need to we need to operate.”

Liz and her daughter left Nellie in the care of the vets and around an hour after they returned home, they received a phone call informing them that after an X-ray the vets had discovered that she had been shot.

Liz praised the staff at The Vets in Morden for how they treated their pet and their family.

Body x-ray of Nellie and the pellet lodged in her neck (Image: Liz)

She explained: “They were really kind and really understanding.

“As soon as I brought Nellie in, they whisked her off and we sat down, and every step of the process was explained to us. “She understood when we needed a hug, and they were just really clear and considerate.

“That is our little baby girl and they treated her with so much care.

“The staff at the reception desk are also wonderfully caring and considerate.

“If it hadn't been such an awful event, it would have been lovely.”

The vets explained that Nellie will be fine to remain to have the pellet in her body due to where it is located.

If Liz chose to have it removed, it would take an expensive specialist procedure.

While the vets could not give the location of the homes of the other injured cats, Liz said that “given that the vets are like a ten-minute drive away, I can only assume that it's in the neighbourhood.”

She shared what had happened on the NextDoor app to inform people living nearby, as well as reporting it to the police.

Liz said the support she has received from her local community on the NextDoor app has been overwhelming and that the “messages from people have been really kind.”

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said there no arrests have been made at this stage, but local neighbourhood officers had been informed.

Nellie before her injury (Image: Liz)

The Vets in Morden said in a statement: “Nellie presented to our clinic with an acute trauma to the right eye.

“Radiographs revealed a bullet now lodged in her neck that had travelled through the eye, narrowly missing the delicate inner ear structures and is millimetres away from the wing of her cervical vertebrae.

“Nellie's eye had to be removed and she will require close monitoring to establish if the bullet will also need to be retrieved but given its location this would be a specialist procedure.

“We have had two other animals that have been shot, I have asked colleagues to find their details to see if we can establish if they are all within a similar radius.

“The is clearly a heinous purposeful act.

“Nellie is a sweet gentle natured cat and I hope you are able to find the perpetrator.”

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Police were contacted on 6 September by a woman in Rougemont Avenue, Mordon, who reported a suspected pellet gun injury to her cat.

“Officers spoke to the woman via a telephone appointment.

“The incident has been recorded and local neighbourhoods officers informed.

“There have been no arrests.”