Lynx The Miracle Cat - Shot with a .22 rifle and lived to tell the tale.

Lynx my male Ragdoll has been my prince since the day he arrived in my life nearly 5 years ago as a kitten. He has been through many ups and downs with me, moving house, towns, jobs. He always makes me smile when I get home and wake up in the morning. I love him like a son. He is family to us.

Recently he went missing....(30th May 2019)

My daughter - Ari (8) and I walked our streets and delivered flyers trying to find our boy. Checking garage doors for meows in case he was locked in a holiday house as we live in a quiet area south of Taupo and many homes are empty holiday homes.

As time went on our hope was fading, it had been over a week... and we were due to move house very soon.

(7th May 2019) Just on dark, I heard a faint meow out the gate. I went running, knowing it was him, slid across the bonnet of the car over to where he was hiding in an open empty animal house as he couldn't jump our 6ft fences because he was injured! We initially thought he may have been attacked by a dog and had a broken left front leg.

Typically it was a Friday evening after all the vets had gone home so we arranged for the after-hours vet to meet us at the Taupo Vet Centre. All in tears that our boy was hurt we arrived at Taupo Vet Centre and took him in for x-rays. The vet came to us with a worried look on his face as if to say it wasn't as simple as a broken leg. He took us in and showed us the x-rays which revealed he had been intentionally shot with a .22 into his right side and went through his body and lodged in the opposite shoulder, shattering his left shoulder and breaking his sternum on the way through. Fragments of shrapnel scattered all through his chest.

We were advised he would be staying at the vet's for some time for monitoring and possible amputation of his leg and for observation. He was given pain relief and fluids. Lynx lay on the table purring and cuddling even after this dreadful event - he had made it home to us. Not phased by the bullet being removed from his broken shoulder by the vet.

I need your help to save his life and if he survives help with the costs that are quickly stacking up ensuring he comes home with us even if it means he comes home with 3 legs instead of four. There is a possibility of a 3D printed shoulder but funds have limited this option significantly.

Whoever has done this is cold and heartless and were going for a kill-shot. Luckily by a hairs breath, the bullet missed his heart. I am trying to find out who is responsible for this and am so saddened someone would do this to my boy. The police and RNZSPCA have been notified but very difficult without solid proof. The scary part is my daughter's tortoiseshell cat "Tinky Torty" also went missing over a month ago and we feel she has been shot too but hasn't had the same lucky fate of coming home like Lynx has. =(