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‘Cruel end’ to life of rescued moggy
Upset: Michelle Isherwood is devastated at the death of Sabbath the cat she rescued two years ago
A mum has spoken of her heartache after a cat she rescued two years ago was killed by a dog.
Michelle Isherwood, 50, of Hawkhurst Road, Lower Penwortham, near Preston, took Sabbath the cat into her home after he was abandoned by his owner.
The mum-of-two appeared in the Evening Post in 2011, telling of Sabbath’s plight.
She had spotted him in the upstairs window of a house and after tracking down the landlord of the property to let the moggy out of the house, she rescued him.
Sabbath became a permanent fixture in the Isherwood family but at the weekend the story turned to tragedy when Sabbath was mauled by a dog, thought to be a dogue de bordeaux.
Today, Michelle, a nurse at the Royal Preston Hospital, wants to alert other cat owners. Michelle had been working on a night shift and when she got home on Saturday morning, she let Sabbath out for a short while.
She usually lets him back in but she had fallen asleep after a busy shift.
She said: “When I got up I thought why is Sabbath not here. He is always here. He is an indoor cat.
“A lady came from next door and said a dog had had a cat in his mouth.
“I said, ‘Well, it must be him because he’s not here. He’s not come home.’”
Sabbath had been taken to the vet by what is believed to be the owner of the dog but he was already dead on arrival.
Michelle said: “I have a concern for safety. There’s a lot of cats around here. I have already tried to alert a few people.”
She added: “I’m very upset. I haven’t stopped crying, I haven’t slept even thought I was up all night because I work nights.
“I am gutted. If I am like this with my cat, what will I be like with my family? I am an animal lover.
“She said: “Everybody kept saying we had given him such a good home.
“He was ruined here but to end his life in such a cruel way is so sad.”
Michelle, who also has two dogs, Smeagol and Tia, said because Sabbath was very much an indoor cat she wants to warn others with indoor cats to keep an eye out if they don’t come home.
She said: “Be very aware, if your cat has gone missing and you’re used to it coming home all the time then it could have been killed.”
Sabbath suffered puncture wounds to his insides and now Michelle is planning to have him cremated. Michelle said the owner of the dog had apologised and she did not report the matter to police.
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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