Cat has claws ripped out in suspected attack

Louisa Shearer, the owner of Bracken, a four-year-old black half-Siamese cat, from Hook Lane, Bognor Regis, believes its injuries were a deliberate act of animal cruelty, after the distressed cat was found wedged between the side of a wall and a fence, with a carrier bag wrapped round its head.

The first she and her husband Jonathan knew of the attack was when a neighbour alerted them after unsuccessfully trying to release the animal.

'Bracken managed eventually to crawl out by herself but ran off with the tangled bag still on her head,' said a distraught Mrs Shearer.

'She was screaming in pain and covered in blood.'

'I opened the patio doors and back door to allow Bracken to get in to the house and just leapt on her back and untangled the bag,' said Mrs Shearer.

'The cat was immediately rushed to a local veterinary surgery where she was treated for wounds and prescribed antibiotics and pain killers.'

'My cat is in absolute agony.

'The vet didn't see how it was possible that she could have lost 20 claws if it had been an accident, but more likely to have lost just a couple,' said Mrs Shearer.

Mrs Shearer, who often rescues unwanted animals and finds good homes for them, said that Bracken was also a rescue cat.

'We have had her three years and she was so poorly treated. It makes me very upset that the poor thing has had to go through all this.'

With two rescue cats and two rescue rabbits as well as a resident chicken, Mr and Mrs Shearer and their three young children are delighted that the animal is now recovering from its ordeal.

She has reported the matter to the RSPCA and the police who Mrs Shearer said were treating it seriously. Anyone with information should call the police on 0845 60 70 999 quoting crime number WA1/10462/07.