Tiger left "depressed" three weeks after hot water attack

FIRST Tiger the cat had boiling water poured over him – a sickening attack which left him with third-degree burns.

Now, to compound his misery, the poor moggie is suffering from depression.

Leckhampton resident Amanda Hall, who owns the six-year-old, said he was moping about the house as he recovered from his injuries and was far from his usual perky self.

It is three weeks since the hot water attack, which left animal lovers in the town enraged.

Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk

myprint-247

View details

Print voucher

Our heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.

Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk

Contact: 01858 468192

Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013

So far the person responsible has not been caught.

Amanda, 38, said although the Bengal Siamese cross was making steady progress in his recovery, he was down in the dumps.

She said: "He is definitely not himself at the moment.

"He has been through a lot and is obviously still in some physical discomfort.

"I think he's depressed. He is certainly showing all the signs of it. He doesn't want to be in the house, he just wants to get out. There's not much I can do to help him at the moment.

"Sometimes he comes up to me and wants me to scratch around the sides of his injuries to soothe them a little bit.

"His physical injuries are so bad they may never fully recover but I think he has been mentally affected by what happened too."

Animal lover Amanda, who works at Cotswold Farm Park, reported the incident to the RSPCA, which has launched an investigation.

She has also put posters up in Moorend Crescent, where she lives, in the hope of catching the attackers.

She said she did not know if Tiger would be left with a bald spot where he was burned.

"Fingers crossed his recovery is going okay. I think it will be at least three weeks until he is all right but he is making steady progress.

"I'm still absolutely livid about what happened and we still don't know who is responsible for it. My main fear is that he'll wander off and something like this will happen again."

Animal experts said it was possible for cats, dogs and other animals to suffer from depression in extreme cases of maltreatment.

A spokeswoman for Vets on the Park said: "In some instances animals can suffer long-term psychological effects when particularly nasty things happen to them."