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Veterinarian confirms injured cat was stabbed

The four-year-old tabby from Abbotsford had to be euthanized following incident on Oct. 9.
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George

An Abbotsford man wants pet owners to be aware of an incident that happened to his cat on Wednesday, Oct. 9 in the Mt. Lehman area.

Sometime that day, Bob English says his four-year-old male tabby, George, was stabbed, suffering injuries so severe that he had to be euthanized.

The nature of the wounds has been confirmed by Dr. Dilbag Rana, the veterinarian who treated George that evening at Abbotsford Valley Animal Hospital on McCallum Road.

English discovered the wound upon returning home from work on Oct. 9. He lets George and his two other cats out every day at about 6 a.m. The other two always return within an hour or so to the home – off Mt. Lehman Road on Heritage Drive – but George occasionally wanders off for a longer period.

When the tabby hadn’t returned by the time English left for work, he wasn’t concerned.

George was sitting on the doorstep when English came home that evening.

As English reached to open the door, George stood up, revealing a cut on the side of his torso.

“His whole side was wide open. I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s been hit by a car!’ “ English said.

He laid some towels in a laundry basket, placed George inside and rushed him to the emergency animal clinic.

Rana said when he first saw George, he thought the cat might have been cut by a barbed-wire fence. But after English left George in the vet’s care, Rana took a closer look at the wound.

The cut was clean on the surface – not ragged like one from barbed wire.

“It was pretty deep, so all the muscles under the spine were cut,” Rana said.

He determined the wound had come from a knife. Rana saw similar injuries last year in Langley, where he operates Apex Animal Hospital, but he said this is the first such incident he has encountered in Abbotsford.

It would have taken exploratory surgery to determine the full extent of George’s internal injuries, but in consultation with English, the decision was made to euthanize the cat.

English said he and his wife are devastated by the loss of their beloved pet and disturbed that someone would commit such an act.

“My wife is still crying … I have no idea who would have done this.”

English believes the incident occurred early in the day because the blood had dried on George by the time he saw him that evening, and there was no trail of blood on their property or in the neighbourhood.

He has reported the incident to police and wants others to be wary of letting their pets out of their sight.



Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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