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'Serial killer in the making': Cat found near death after being tortured

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Animal rescuers have been left sickened and outraged after a young cat was found so badly tortured he needed his entire leg amputated.

The black and white feline named Muffin was found on Tuesday afternoon with his hind leg tied with a whipper snipper cord so tightly it had ripped into his flesh and cut off circulation to his leg and foot.

Muffin was found limp and "near death" under a car in western Sydney. Source: Alexus De Latora
Muffin was found limp and "near death" under a car in western Sydney. Source: Alexus De Latora

Alexus De Latora, who found the cat hiding under a car near his work in the western Sydney suburb of Lidcombe, described the attack on the young cat as “evil beyond evil”.

He said neither the cat rescue group who had been assisting him since finding Muffin, nor the veterinarians who treated the injured animal had ever seen cruelty to such an extent.

“When I saw what had happened [after] I pulled him out [from under the car] I instantly knew this was a serial killer or sociopath in the making,” Mr De Latora told Yahoo News Australia.

“What they did.. they got the whipper snipper cord and knotted it five times around his leg. With fishing line you expect that to happen but with whipper snipper cord, it’s so thick and stiff [it couldn’t] happen unless you did it [on purpose].”

The whipper snipper cord was knotted five times around Muffin's hind leg. Source: Alexus De Latora
The whipper snipper cord was knotted five times around Muffin's hind leg. Source: Alexus De Latora

The cord had been bound so tightly and so many times around Muffin’s hind leg, it had cut into his flesh and become infected, while the entire leg itself had gone “dead” because the circulation had been cut off.

His assailant’s had also tried to tape the cat’s front leg with packaging tape.

Mr De Latora had rushed Muffin “near death” to the local vet but from early on it was looking likely that his leg would need to be amputated.

Once there, vets would uncover even more of the horror they believed Muffin had been subjected to.

Muffin after having his leg amputated on Wednesday. Source: Alexus De Latora
Muffin after having his leg amputated on Wednesday. Source: Alexus De Latora

“He had cuts and bruises on his stomach. The vet thought he had been burnt with cigarettes,” Muffin’s rescuer said.

“Another 12 hours [without treatment] and he would have died.”

As for the whipper snipper cord knotted around his leg, the vet who treated Muffin suspected it had been tied there for at least a week.

The almost unconscious animal was put on painkillers and fluids overnight, and on Wednesday morning he went in for surgery to have his leg cut off.

Vets told Mr De Latora that while they had seen plenty of cruelty cases before, “they had never seen anything like this”.

What was done to Muffin was “on another level”, he said, adding that he plans to report the shocking incident to NSW Police.

Muffin is still in a lot of pain after his ordeal. Source: Alexus De Latora
Muffin is still in a lot of pain after his ordeal. Source: Alexus De Latora

On Wednesday evening, Mr De Latora returned to the vet surgery where Muffin was still recovering and hooked up to “heavy antibiotics and heavy painkillers”.

“He’s very sore,” he said, but also reported the traumatised cat was still able to appreciate the whole BBQ chicken Mr De Latora brought him from Woolworths.

Muffin is expected to need at least another three days at the vet clinic and so far his fees have amounted to over $1,600 which local rescue charity, Cat Rescue 901, has stepped in to help cover.

The Sydney-based group expressed horror and disbelief over the sickening cruelty, and predicted the cat would have a long recovery ahead.

“He is in the best place at the moment where he can be given good pain relief and be closely monitored for infection,” Jenny from Cat Rescue 901 said on the charity’s Facebook page, thanking those who had assisted with Muffin’s vet costs so far.

Readers wishing to assist Cat Rescue 901 with their mission to help Muffin can do so through their website.

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