A cat brought to the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine Friday with a crossbow arrow lodged in its head went home with minor injuries on Tuesday.
“I was in shock. I didn’t know it was possible that it didn’t penetrate the brain,” Molly Fee, an intern at the school, said.
The arrow narrowly missed Stewie’s brain and eye, Fee said.
Stewie has a ruptured eardrum and will most likely lose some of his hearing, she said, but other than that, the cat should fully recover.
The owner, who chose not to be interviewed, filed a report with the Auburn Police Division. The investigation is still under way.
The arrow was removed at 10 a.m. Friday morning, about 8 hours after the cat was brought in.
“Once they saw it wasn’t going through his brain they just pulled it out,” Lenore Bacek, another intern, said. The surgery took “about two seconds.”
Fee said the case was unique.
“I haven’t seen anything this blatant,” Fee said. “It’s the worst I’ve seen.”
Both interns said the incident happened in Gentilly Trailer Park. The owner fed Stewie at about 10 p.m. Three hours later, she heard a tapping on the side of her home.
“It was the cat trying to get under her trailer,” Fee said. The arrow was hitting the outside of the house.
APD Assistant Chief Tommy Dawson said that Auburn does not have many animal cruelty cases, but the few it does are taken seriously.
“Anytime anyone would do something that cruel, we take it seriously,” he said.
The case in Gentilly Park is the only one from that community that has been reported, he said.
Animal cruelty can be a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the severity.
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