A Calgary family has been reunited with their cat that went missing two years ago, but its life as a stray came at a serious cost.
Lexi’s bones were shattered by a bullet, forcing staff at a local veterinary clinic to amputate a hind leg.
“You can see all the shrapnel in there,” Shelby Kimura of the McKnight 24 Hour Veterinary Hospital told CTV Calgary, pointing to an x-ray of the tabby’s wounded limb. “The best thing to do was to have her leg amputated.”
Lexi’s implanted microchip provided the critical information that led to the cat’s reunion with its owner Shannon Stevenson. She said she is thrilled to bring Lexi home, but the abuse her family pet suffered came as a shock.
“It made me feel awful. I’m a cat owner, a cat lover,” she said. “If somebody is out there harming animals, I need to bring this to the attention of people.”
Lexi was a birthday gift for Stevenson’s son five years ago.
“He is a very loving child and this is his family member. So he is very, very happy,” Stevenson said.
Kimura said Lexi is not the first pet to arrive at her clinic with a gunshot wound. She advises owners to keep their cats indoors.
“They don’t have any chance against a car or a bullet,” she said. “Indoor cats can have a great life.”
With a report from CTV Calgary’s Alesia Fieldberg
