Day 1 - Friday 9th April

I am starting this mainly as a means of keeping some people updated on Jack's condition, as the news spreads. I am sure that people will understand that it is quite painful at the moment constantly repeating the same sad story. We do, however, greatly appreciate your comments and support. I will try to update this two or three times a day with any news on Jack. I think that writing this will also be a bit cathartic for me as well.

Who is Jack? Jack is our 7 1/2 month old kitten. He is quite large for his age, very boisterous and perhaps just a bit thick! On his second outing into the big wide world (a few weeks ago) he got stuck up a tree. He has gone on to do that about four times now. We have now formed a system where I climb up the tree, Jack climbs onto my shoulder, and I climb back down with him wrapped around my neck. Is this teaching him not to climb trees that he can't get down from - or just that I will always rescue him?

What happened? Last Friday Jack went out at around 9am and was still out by lunchtime, which is unusual. I was beginning to worry a bit as we have had bad luck in the past with two cats being killed, supposedly by cars in the last year and a half (it was almost 18 months to the day since our first cat was killed). Jack then suddenly appeared at about 2pm, crawling through his cat-flap, clearly distressed and injured. He was covered in cobwebs, and bleeding from the nose. He could hardly move and then slumped on the floor.

We rushed him to the vet, thinking that he must have been trapped somewhere, or had fallen off a beam in a barn or something. One of the first things the vet said was that she would check for air-gun shots. I was amazed and said that that would not be possible, he couldn't have been shot. We live in a lovely rural area and have got to know most of our neighbours quite well. Everyone has been delightful and friendly since we first arrived here. We left Jack with the vets and went home.

At around 5pm the vet rang us to say that Jack had been shot with an air-gun. I felt sick. He is a 7 month old kitten with dopey big black eyes.

The pellet is apparently clearly visible on the x-ray, embedded in his head. The vets were doing what they could for him and feared trying to remove the pellet in case the process did more damage.

We slept badly that night.