Putney mum warns residents of danger

The mother of two young daughters from Putney is warning other families to be vigilant after their kitten was shot in their back garden at 4.00 pm, minutes before her children, six years old Bonnie and nine years old Lois went out to play.


Truffles reunited with Bonnie & Lois

Mrs Sarah Robinson and her family, who live on Clarendon Drive, own two 11 month old kittens, Truffle and her brother Tizer. On Tuesday 7 June, when she got home from school Bonnie went out into the garden and, minutes later, Sarah heard her scream. “I rushed outside and saw that Bonnie had found Truffle with a terrible injury to her eye. I took the girls to a neighbour and rushed Truffle to Goddard Vet Group in Putney where vet Ruth Gloster examined her straight away and gave her pain relief.

“From the condition of her injury, Ruth told me that her eye could not be saved and we had to take her to the Stone Lion Veterinary Hospital in Wimbledon to have it removed. At this stage I was assuming that she’d somehow injured herself – but while they were operating on her, the vets at Stone Lion found air gun pellets in her jaw. This is what had caused the injury to her eye. I was shocked and upset for Truffle but I was also horrified that someone was using an air rifle in the middle of the afternoon in a residential part of Putney where lots of children play.”

She continued: “Truffle is now safely at home recovering with us and we hope that, once she’s better, she’ll manage fine with one eye – but it’s still a terrible thing to happen to a young cat and I’m very concerned at the risk to other animals and, more importantly, to children. I appeal to anyone who knows anything or who heard the shooting to contact the police. We all need to look out for each other and make sure nothing like this happens again.”

Ruth Gloster, vet at Goddard Veterinary Group, said: “Truffle’s injury was very serious and she would have been in terrible pain. Fortunately, she’s making a good recovery and should quickly adapt to having only one eye. We are appalled that someone is targeting cats in this way, however, and share Sarah’s concern about the risk to local people. If anyone has any information, we ask them to contact the police.”

The Goddard Veterinary Group has been providing veterinary care for animals across Greater London for 60 years through its network of 46 branches and three veterinary hospitals. Its Putney branch is based at 153 Lower Richmond Road and can be reached on 0208 788 8224.