I think my cat was shot

Well said FleabagsMom! She sounds an amazing young lady, her parents should be proud of her!

So glad your kitty is going to be okay!! 

Hello everybody. Thank you for a ll of your support through this very tough time for me. I couldn't have done it without you. Oreo is recovering wonderfully today he ate and drank water on his own! He even used the litter box! I didn't think that the recovery would go this fast. Thank you again every body for everything you have done!

Sincerely,
OJB


P.S. I am a boy

What did the small round ball look like?  It sounds like possibly a BB from a BB gun.  They are usually 4.5mm or 0.177" in diameter and often copper or zinc plated.

It's unlikely that this was from any kind of "real" firearm like a shotgun as it would be much more powerful and the ball would have gone deeper.  The only way it wouldn't is if they fired at random from a long distance and just happened to hit your cat.

It was more likely targeted, and therefore was just a BB gun.  Probably one of your neighbors doesn't like your cat in their yard.  It would be hard to prove who did it, unless you could catch them in the act.

A picture from today of him kneading on my bed :3  

Awwww, what a wonderful site that is. Thank you for sharing that. 

Awww glad to see he is happy.

I'm so glad that he is doing better and way to go for not giving up on getting him help. My cat Tigger was shot with a bb gun when I was a kid and took quite a bit of time to recover. Glad your kitty is going to be indoors now.

I'm glad to hear your cat is doing better. But, this is why it's not safe to let cats wander outside alone. Indoor cats are much safer. But, I'm very glad to hear he is doing better. This site is okay. Thanks for keeping us updated.

So happy that you pursued getting this kitty some help, even though it was angering your parents. You're an example to follow for sure. That kitty will forever be grateful to you knowing you saved his life by taking the bullet for him, no pun intended.

I'm glad you got your cat some help. I'm not sure why my other post was deleted, though. But, your cat is lucky to be alive. I'm so glad to hear he is doing better. Please keep him indoors from now on. The outdoors are dangerous for domesticated animals.

OreoJumblesBear said:

yeah we aren't going to let them out anymore.

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Glad to hear it, and glad your kitty is now OK.

Give him a hug for me and thanks for caring for your kitty.

Yes, I'm very glad your cat is okay! Give him a few extra pets for me. I'm overjoyed that you got your cat the help he needed! Anybody have any idea why my first post got deleted? Your cat is so lucky to be alive! I'm so happy to hear he is feeling better!

Hi. New here, and don't want to overstep, but thought I'd comment. Just wondered if anyone pondered the possible consequences of advising a 14 yr old to defy his parents or do an end run, even in circumstances that might be construed to be an animal rescue? For one thing, a 14 yr old's perspective isn't always correct. We only have his story, and having raised 3 kids to adulthood, I can tell you that at that age, perspectives are quite interesting and often colored with immature, self-serving judgement or other motivating factors. The OP could even be a fabrication entirely.

Or perhaps his parents' priority is to decide weather to spend money on the cat or keep a roof over their child's head! We don't know what the reality is!

The valid advice here is to continue to appeal to his parents, not defy them. Or give him possible methods of free assistance that he could submit to his parents.

I'm glad that, reportedly, the cat is OK, but the consequences of encouraged defiance could be serious, most of all for the child. What if he comes from an abusive family and you've just sent him to defy a parent that may injure or kill him for his efforts?? Or, of lesser importance, but still considerable, what about liability? This site and or the posters here could, under certain circumstances, be held legally liable for negative consequences arising from the advice given here.

This all seems to have turned out well, and the heart of this community is clearly compassionate and caring, exactly what I was looking for.  I truly hope that I haven't offended or alienated anyone here!

I understand what you're saying and you're certainly entitled to your opinion. However I am positive that none of us posted our advice lightly and considered everything you already stated there. This young man came here looking for help and was desperate to help his cat. He truly wanted to help his pet and we know how tense everything was at his home. What would you have us do? Tell him to just sit there and let his cat die in front of him? I don't think he would be posting right now that his cat is safe and better and he's happy about that. This is a forum to HELP not ignore. I know for myself I thought of all those things but in reality there wasn't much I could do other than to advise to help the poor suffering animal. And as you'll see, the poster has thanked us for standing by him. Our concern was that whoever shot his cat is still out there and could very well start shooting at children next. Something had to be done and actually more should have been done by the parents by calling the police for the safety of the neighborhood. But that's up to them. We gave the advice we thought was right for the situation. 

Does your school have a school resource officer (police officer for schools)? That might be a safe way to report this.

I thought the young chap came over as mature actually considering he was scared for his cat and he also came over as very caring.   I do not think that you can label all 14 year old's as immature, I think it does some of them an disservice!

While we can only wonder about his personal life (and I do not wish to pry at all) I would say that at the end of the day, his parent's had the last say-so in the cat's health. What was the alternative? We say nothing? I do hear you too and understand your opinion but I am less an alarmist.  He was a frustrated young man because his voice and concerns were not being heard and I for one, am glad that he had the courage to try again to get help.  He was brave, no matter his personal circumstances and I am glad the folk here listened and tried to help the best they could.    I think that young man was correct getting help and going beyond his comfort zone - like so many things that really matter to us, sometimes not accepting 'No' is a valuable life lesson too.

The fact remains, the cat had been in pain for over 24 hours, wasn't eating or drinking and in general distress. If you're going to talk about breaking the law, it's a criminal offence to knowingly let an animal suffer with heavy penalties costing more than a vets bill!
Of course we advised what was going to be best for the cat. My husband is disabled and we don't have a lot of money but never hesitate to take our animals to a vet when required. That's a responsibility that you take on. My cat needed two operations and a two hour car journey to my vet during the summer and we didn't hesitate for a moment!

Thank you.