“Iam happy to tell you that Max is recovering very well. He can walk now, albeit unsteadily on his back legs. He is sometimes firm, but most of the time he is a bit wobbly. He has not got bladder and bowel control fully back, but he is well past the stage of doubt about his long-term future.

All of our family are overjoyed that he has, not only survived, but getting back to a ¿sort-of¿ normality for a cat. He may never have the strength in his back legs to jump, but he has adjusted well to his two-dimensional life of being confined to the garden, where he sits in the sunshine whenever possible.

My daughter has taken the plunge and now has her own cat and my son has taken on two rescue cats after the recent death of 16 year old Ebby, who was born in our house and was very much my son¿s cat, going with him when he moved from the family home.



I have been approached by strangers, who recognized me from my picture in the Post, asking about Max and it is a pleasure to report his good progress.”

“The good news is that Max is back home. The really good news is that day by day function is returning. He has a long way to go, but he is getting better. He will be confined to cage rest for about 6 weeks and he has to be attended to constantly.

His vets bill is around the £2,000 mark, but at least it hasn,t cost him his life.

Thanks for all the kind comments.”

“Quite right Steve but the sad thing is that the people who shoot cats with air guns are most likely the same ones who shoot swans or indeed any other form of wild life they can get in their sights. They are not bothered in the least about how much distress they cause. It is not the air guns that are the problem it is the people that misuse them and they are just mindless idiots.”

“Who knows or cares what is going through the the mind of some of the people on this thread like Bruce.

Some of the comments mocking Bruce are quite funny though. I had to laugh at Chairman Meow's post. I'd rather be crying with laughter at some wally whose only talent seems to be getting people's backs up than shedding a tear over a someone paralysing a cat.

And I think it is a fair point that it isn't about the right to roam it's about the right not not have your pets shot at.”

“Hayley, I do apologise for my careless error. I realised that I misspelled Mr Townshend's name too.”

“Liz, thanks for your kind words also, but just to correct you, the cat is called Max. Bruce is the cat hater who's comments have been ruining this thread.

Like Sarah said, and like I would like to point out again. This story has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with whether cats should or shouldnt be allowed to enter your garden. This story is about the maiming of an animal. Simple as.

I don't like it when a dog owner lets their dog use my garden as their toilet but I would never in a million years think it was acceptable to shoot it!

People are forgetting that Max might not have been shot at because he was sat in someones garden. He could (and most probably) was shot at for the fun of it, by someone who has no value for life”

“Thanks Sarah - well said!”

“I am genuinely appalled by some of the comments on here, not just disturbing but missing the point entirely. Clearly the news report is an issue of animal cruelty and not about how much you like cats, or prefer dogs for example, and certainly not an appropriate forum to express whether you approve of feline behaviour. Its very clear cut in that animal cruelty of any form is unacceptable and deply upsetting. Psychopathy is characterised by an abnormal lack of empathy combined with abnormally immoral conduct, and the point's already been made that animal cruelty may just be the start. Whichever, it's our responsibility to act honourably to other people and to animals. As Ghandi said "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Wishing Max makes a full recovery from his trauma so he can enjoy the rest of his life happily, and my best wishes to his owners.”

“Mr Townsend, thank you for giving us an update on Bruce's condition. I'm glad he's improving a little, but you will have some difficult times ahead and possibly hard decisions to make. I'd just like to suggest an excellent pet forum where you can talk with other people who care about cats and have possibly even had similar, awful experiences. It's called petforums.co.uk and it's very helpful when your pet is ill. There are of course no sick idiots making jokes and you can talk with people who are very understanding. (My only connection with this forum is as a member, I wouldn't like you to think I'm spamming in any way because I'm not, it just helped me a lot last year when my young cat became very sick and died suddenly.)”

“Whoa! My cat is actually called Bruce - this is totally messing with my mind!!!

I don't let him out into other people's gardens though ...no I mean I don't let him contribute to online forums.

Oh I don't know. I'm confused!”