Holbeach family say they are 'lost' after death of their cats from suspected poisoning
A Holbeach family are still "lost and devastated" after the deaths of their pet cats from suspected antifreeze poisoning.
Roxanne Kent, her partner Thomas Ivatt and their three children, of Greenwich Avenue, lost eight-year-olds Fifi and Dora within two days of each other when both cats were put to sleep.
Our sister newspaper, the Spalding Guardian, reported on Thursday how Nita Murphy and her family , who live in the same Holbeach street as Roxanne, also saw their cat die from suspected antifreeze poisoning.
Roxanne said: "On Tuesday, October 6, me and my three children arrived home from my oldest child’s swimming lesson.
"A neighbour came and called me straight away because Fifi wasn’t in a good way.
"We rang Holbeach and Fleet Veterinary Clinic, where Fifi was registered, and they told me to bring her in straight away.
"The vet said that Fifi had high levels of toxin in her system and there was no pulse, so the kindest thing to do would be to put her to sleep so she would be at peace.
"It was a very hard decision to make as we'd had our two cats for about eight years, before any of our children were born."
"When we arrived home we were in complete shock and heartbroken."
Later on the same Tuesday, Roxanne feared that Dora was seriously ill as well as she showed no appetite for her food.
"My partner Thomas has gone over to another neighbour who owned cats to warn her to keep an eye on them after what had happened to Fifi.
"We thought that Dora was completely her normal self because she was really fussy, happy and purring away.
"But I knew something wasn’t right with Dora when she refused food and then she was sick on our floor.
"I started to panic and said to my partner that we needed to get her to a vet's".
This time, Roxanne took Dora to South Lincs Vet Surgery in Sutterton, the same vet seen by neighbour Nita Murphy who cat Cookie died of antifreeze poisoning on Friday, October 9.
"When we arrived at the vet's hospital in Sutterton, we explained to them what had already happened to Fifi that same evening," Roxanne said.
"Dora was extremely cold and the vet became extremely concerned, so they kept her in to run some blood tests.
"When we arrived home it just wouldn’t sink in that we'd already lost Fifi and that we might lose Dora too.
Later, the surgery confirmed to Roxanne that her cat had acute kidney failure due to high level of toxicity in her system.
Despite showing signs of improvement over two days, Dora's condition worsened quickly on Thursday, October 8, when she was struggling to breathe.
Roxanne said: "It was awful to see her not being able to breath and that's when the vets said there was nothing else they could do for her.
"The vet let us spend some time with Dora to say our goodbyes and then she was put to sleep.
"We are so lost and heartbroken. my oldest child has taken both cats' deaths really badly and we're all completely devastated as a family."
A Lincolnshire Police spokesman said: "We would urge anyone with any concerns, suspicions or information to give us a call on 101."
