Cat impaled by arrow recovering, investigation ongoing

Quiver recovering at the Washington Family Veterinary Clinic, St. George, Utah, Feb. 7, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

WASHINGTON CITY – A stray cat is recovering at a veterinary clinic after being shot in the face with an arrow and discovered along a park trail Wednesday. Police have asked the public to report any information related to the incident.

Quiver when first brought to the veterinary clinic, St. George, Utah, Feb. 5, 2014 | Photo Courtesy of the  Washington Family Veterinary Clinic
Quiver when first brought to the veterinary clinic, St. George, Utah, Feb. 5, 2014 | Photo Courtesy of the Washington Family Veterinary Clinic

Washington City Animal Control was alerted to the presence of an injured female cat found under a bush along a city park trail Wednesday morning. The cat had been impaled with an arrow that had entered on the side of her nose and exited through her left shoulder blade.

The injured cat was originally found by a volunteer who feeds a feral cat colony in the area, said Kris Neal, who heads One More Chance, a nonprofit that supports and promotes non-lethal alternatives to homeless cat management. The volunteer noticed the cat, who was a fairly recent arrival to the colony, had been missing for three-to-four days until she was found in her injured state.

The cat was taken to the Washington Family Veterinary Clinic for emergency care and the arrow was removed. When she was first brought in, it was uncertain if she would survive.

“She was touch-and-go Wednesday,” Neal said. The cat has since been named Quiver and is doing very well, she said.

Shanna Faapuna, a veterinary technician who has aided in Quiver’s recovery at the clinic, said the arrow split the back of the cat’s tongue, left a hole in the top of her mouth, lacerated her esophagus, and went right through the shoulder blade without breaking it. The arrow completely missed the brain and other vital areas.

Thursday, Quiver had surgery to repair the damage to her tongue and mouth and is expected to recover. However, due to the injuries that recovery will take time, during which time Quiver will need special attention.

Kris Neal with Quiver, St. George, Utah, Feb. 7, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Kris Neal, St. George News
Kris Neal with Quiver, St. George, Utah, Feb. 7, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Kris Neal, St. George News

“The only concern the doctor has at the moment is that because she has a lacerated esophagus from the arrow,” Faapuna said. “When it heals, will it heal with scar tissue making it thinner than it should and unable to contract properly, making it hard to for her to pass food?”

Quiver will likely need to be fed soft foods in small increments as the esophagus heals, Faapuna said. For this and other reasons Quiver is being treated as a special needs cat and be placed in Neal’s care.

“I have ample facility for Quiver,” Neal said. She added that Quiver is quite loving, and was possibly abandoned or left behind by her previous owners. “She seems to be very adoptable.”

Many people have expressed interest in adopting Quiver, Faapuna said. Despite inquiries from prospective adopters, Quiver will not be available for adoption until she has completely recovered.

No other surgeries are planned for Quiver for the immediate future, Faapuna said. Any future surgeries will depend upon how the cat heals.

Ed Kantor, Washington City Police public information officer, said the police are investigating the matter but have no suspects as of Friday morning. Anyone with information concerning the incident is asked to contact the Washington City Animal Shelter at 435-673-7194.

“This just isn’t acceptable,” Neal said of the apparent animal cruelty experienced by Quiver, adding that animal cruelty laws in the state need to be more severe. “Animal abuse isn’t acceptable,” she said.

Faapuna said people who want to donate to Quiver’s medical expenses can contact the Washington Family Veterinary Clinic through its Facebook page and website, or call the clinic at 435-627-1300. The clinic is located at 969 North 3050 #B1-A in St. George.

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Twitter: @MoriKessler

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

Quiver recovering at the Washington Family Veterinary Clinic, St. George, Utah, Feb. 7, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Quiver recovering at the Washington Family Veterinary Clinic, St. George, Utah, Feb. 7, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

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13 Comments

  • Bub February 7, 2014 at 4:29 pm

    Cruelty is just one reason feral cat colonies should not be encouraged. PETA thinks the best method is eradication of colonies for the cats’ own good.

    • Tsuya February 7, 2014 at 8:05 pm

      PETA is also known for running a high kill shelter and putting down over a thousand healthy animals last year alone. Society needs to pay attention to animal abuse cases and parents especially need to take note as this sort of thing is an early warning sign of mental illness that needs to be dealt with asap.

    • joan February 8, 2014 at 1:44 am

      Or maybe people shouldn’t be cruel to animals. Don’t blame the do good PETA folks. Blame the degenerates who thought it would be fun to hunt a poor cat! This is what happens here in the sick hunting culture of Southern Utah.

    • Nonbeliever February 8, 2014 at 1:59 pm

      We would not need managed feral and stray colonies if human beings were not dumping and abandoning cats every single day.
      Unfortunately people are lazy, cruel and irresponsible.
      They think nothing of leaving behind their pets, dumping them in neighborhoods they think might take pity on them and allowing them to breed indiscriminately because they “wan’t their children to see the miracle of birth” , they are too lazy to get them fixed and many more lame reasons.

      So should we just walk in and “eradicate” these victims? Each year round them up and slaughter them?
      Do you really think that will stop human beings from being irresponsible? No it won’t.

      Quiver was not feral. She had obviously been recently dumped by some local idiot.
      Had her owners cared enough they could have contacted one of the many hard working rescues to get her placed in a family or at the least put in foster care of one of the volunteers.
      Sadly there is an enormous lack of respect for life in this county. We need stiffer fines and penalties for abuse and neglect of companion animals. Back yard breeders need to be shut down. We do not need pet stores when we have so many cats and dogs sitting in rescues and shelters.

      People need to teach their children to respect animals. You don’t like them, leave them alone.
      Do not buy or adopt an animal if you think someone might have an allergy. Finances irregular, don’t bring an animal into that uncertainty. Obtain permission from your landlord before bringing home a pet.
      Companion animals are not fashion statements, they are not impulse buys. Cats are not objects to be abused and used as target practice. I hope the people that do these horrible things rot in hell. I think abusers are disgusting and evil.
      I have read many reports on the correlation between abusing animals and violence against human beings. This needs to stop.

      http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/qa/cruelty_violence_connection_faq.html
      http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/report-animal-cruelty/domestic-violence-and-animal-cruelty
      http://www.domesticviolenceroundtable.org/animal-abuse-and-dv.html
      http://www.stopvaw.org/animal_abuse_and_domestic_violence_2

      I look forward to the day when we do not have to have managed colonies. When every cat has a safe and responsible home. Until that time we need to work together to humanely stop this problem. Resorting to mass killings is not one of them.

      • Bub February 8, 2014 at 3:00 pm

        Yes, as a bird enthusiast I believe in eradicating colonies. Feral cat’s being human fed are nothing more than human subsidized predators. I advocate that it’s done as humanely as possible. I put more value to vulnerable native species than feral domestic cats. That’s just how it is…

        • Nonbeliever February 8, 2014 at 5:18 pm

          You think yearly round ups of these cats to be killed will solve the problem.
          It’s a temporary fix at best.
          We have to address and fix the ROOT of the problem which are lazy human beings.
          Every facet of life has shown us that when we don’t fix the root issue we do not solve the problem. It’s only put off temporarily.
          Cat lovers have no desire to see birds killed or diminished in anyway. Unfortunately some of those cats will kill birds when they are left outdoors.
          Ideally we would all like to see cats safely in catteries and homes.
          But with so many ignorant and lazy human beings it is impossible today to do that.
          We are however working very hard to stop the abandonment and neglect and get cats adopted into homes while people just sit around and complain without lifting a hand to help in a proactive manner.

          • Bub February 8, 2014 at 9:23 pm

            Yes we would like to see root causes addressed to lessen suffering of domestic cats, dogs, etc

  • Real Life February 7, 2014 at 8:10 pm

    Don’t twist this case into PETA is out of control, or why do we have more compassion for animals than humans. What was done to this cat was wrong. And whoever did it needs to be punished HARSHLY. They obviously have on regard for life as a whole and are very disturbed with many skeletons in their closet. That is a fact. And I don’t even like cats.

    • Bub February 8, 2014 at 1:13 pm

      It was probably done by a juvenile, so not much could be done. It’s just part of a larger culture of animal cruelty .

  • Jace February 7, 2014 at 8:37 pm

    There is far less cruelty in a colony than in the home. Allowing cruel people to walk the streets is what should not be encouraged. For both animals and people

  • Bub February 7, 2014 at 10:59 pm

    True in some cases but sometimes the best option is to humanely euthanize the animals. Feral cats are very destructive to native wildlife. I have to side with PETA on this one.

  • Louise Excell February 8, 2014 at 3:05 pm

    It’s been pretty well documented scientifically that people who torture and abuse animals–especially if they begin as children–are more likely than others to move on to commit crimes of abuse, torture, and murder on their fellow humans. We should all be aware and alert to animal abuse, first of all because it is immoral for us humans to abuse sentient creatures, but secondly, because when we see our fellow humans commit atrocities against helpless creatures, we may expect that their perverse behavior may likely be transferred to their fellow humans in the future.

  • Char February 8, 2014 at 10:42 pm

    Bub, you side with an organization that was documented taking animals out of shelters nd telling he staff that they had good homes waiting. These animals were killed in the van in the parking lot then dumped into dumpsters. I have no use for an organization like that.

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