Stripy the feral cat who recovered after being shot in the head

by Rowena Hover
(New Port Richey, FL, USA)

Sometime between Sunday 3/22/09 and Monday 3/23/09, in the Missouri Ave/Jefferson St area of downtown New Port Richey, FL, a timid little feral cat was shot in the head with a rifle. Miraculously, "Stripy" survived; but he was left seriously injured. The bullet destroyed part of his tongue, leaving him unable to eat or drink.

It is thought that the person who shot Stripy was using a .22 rifle, though this is not certain. The bullet entered Stripy's face from under his chin, traveled through his tongue and exited his cheek, shattering some teeth but luckily not breaking his jaw. From the trajectory of the entry and exit wounds, it is likely that the person who shot Stripy was aiming upwards at him (as would be the case if, for example, Stripy was standing on top of a fence or building at the time.) Bleeding and infected, Stripy lived like this for three days before we were able to catch him and race him to a veterinarian.

Stripy needed to be hospitalized for nine days. He couldn't eat due to the injuries to his mouth, and had to be fed via a feeding tube which allowed food to be delivered directly into his stomach. It took more than a week for Stripy’s injuries to heal enough that he was able to start to eat and drink on his own again.

Almost 4 weeks after Stripy was shot, he was finally well enough to be placed with his forever family!

Read all about Stripy on his website:
http://mysite.verizon.net/res73ch8/stripy/

His story was written about in both the St. Peterburg Times and The Tampa Tribune, as well as being featured on TV channels Bay News 9 and Fox 13 News. Stripy is quite the celebrity here in Florida!

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