Kreig was shocked at the length of the nail the vets removed and impressed Ivy had survived.
Pet cat Ivy was shot with a nail gun and left with a nail embedded in her back.“She would have had to held down, I imagine, for it to get the angle it went in,” Kreig said.
Ivy is a 3-year-old, small and shy rescue cat who doesn’t usually go far from home.
Kreig said her daughter, who is closest to Ivy, had been traumatised by the incident.
She warned other pet owners about the incident on Facebook, prompting locals to rally around with funds to pay the vet bill.
The cat went through surgery to remove the nail.The full $600 surgery to remove the nail safely was covered by the community.
“We’re not rich people and I know there are a lot of people out there struggling too. But it was just so humbling to have people wanting to help.”
Kreig wanted to raise awareness about the dangers and consequences of cruelty towards pets.
“It would just be a shame to see that somebody’s cat actually has the opposite and gets killed.”
Ivy is a small and shy cat, mostly sticking by her beloved owners. SPCA inspectorate regional manager Ben Lakomy said no contractors in the area were responsible for the harm to the cat.
He said builders had been working nearby during the day, but the timeframe of the incident did not line up with the projects.
“No contractors in the immediate area were responsible for shooting the cat.”
Lakomy said the nail was most likely lodged with a nail gun and it was a “definite possibility that it was a deliberate act”.
In New Zealand, penalties for deliberately causing pain and suffering to an animal can be up to $100,000 or five years in prison.
Ivy's owner Karen Kreig is worried incidents like the one involving her cat could kill another pet.Lakomy said some locals dislike cats but he urged against any acts of cruelty.
“The SPCA encourages anybody having issues with cats on their property or nuisance cats to deal with them in a humane way.”
The vet believed the nail could have been in Ivy’s back for about two days, an SPCA spokeswoman told the Herald.
The SPCA agreed the nail was likely shot from a nail gun given the type of nail and how it was embedded in the pet’s back.
“The nail ran along under the skin, right next to the spine – so it could have been a very different outcome,” said the spokeswoman.
Sammy Carter is a journalist for the New Zealand Herald covering news in the Wellington region. She has previously worked at the Rotorua Daily Post.
