Holbeach family distraught after suspected fatal poisoning of pet cat
A Holbeach mum-of-two is "heartbroken" after the fatal poisoning of one of her pets.
Nita Murphy (39), of Greenwich Avenue, lost her two-year-old cat Cookie on Friday, October 9, just two days after a vet's surgery warned it had treated "a number of very poorly cats" from the town".
Cookie, a black and white British Shorthair cat, was put to sleep at South Lincs Vet Group, in Sutterton, which had posted advice on its social media page about "a potential risk to cats" from "possible toxicity".
Nina said: "Cookie came home on Friday, October 2, not really herself as she wanted lots of attention and cuddles.
"She was climbing up onto my neck, which wasn't like her, and she did the same again on the Saturday.
"Cookie then went missing from Sunday, October 4, until the morning of Wednesday, October 7.
"But the night before she came home, my neighbour came over to say that both of her cats had been poisoned and one of them had been put to sleep.
"At this point I knew that was what had happened to my Cookie."
After finding Cookie "curled up in a ball" on her kitchen floor and her body making "jerking movements", Nina called the vet's.
"When we got to the surgery, they me that Cookie had brain damage, kidney failure, a nasty infection that was causing her body to rot from the inside and that she could no longer use her legs," Nina said.
"I was absolutely heartbroken and extremely angry that someone could do this to my baby.
"When the surgery got the results from her blood tests, they showed that she had been poisoned deliberately with antifreeze.
"She was moved onto an incubator on Friday, October 9 but she was still struggling with her breathing.
"At 8.45am on Friday, October 9, the vet rang me to say that Cookie was now completely braindead and at that point I had to make the heartbreaking decision to put her to sleep.
"The hardest part was telling my children and I'd like to see the person who did this get punished."
An RSPCA spokesman said: "Deliberately poisoning a protected animal like a cat or dog is an offence and carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
"We would urge anyone with information about this to please contact the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999."
