Garfield the Cat from Richhill, Co Armagh, who was abducted and tortured suffering chemical burns twice within weeks, put to sleep

The little tabby cat, who was a much loved pet, was abducted and, it is believed, dipped in diesel or home heating oil on two occasions in the last three months.

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Lorraine Forde from Richhill revealed how her brother Mark’s cat returned home on Friday January 27 this year to find his family pet Garfield covered in oil, which smelled like diesel or home heating oil.

Lorraine said: “This poor wee cat was dipped either in diesel or home heating oil and after washing it and caring for it and numerous visits to the vet it returned back to normal. Or so I thought.”

Lorraine said the wee mite, who is only a year old, suffered serious chemical burns to his paws and even his eyes.

She spent weeks washing it to get the oil from his fur and applying cream to treat the chemical burns. While on a trip to Canada her father tended to Garfield and when they returned home from holiday he appeared to be very much on the mend.

However Lorraine revealed that just a few weeks ago, on Monday March 13, Garfield returned to its Upper Brentwood home looking like a ‘large black rat’ and again covered in either diesel or home heating oil.

Lorraine said this time she took Garfield to her own home. “After hours of washing it with Coconut oil and Baby bath we got it back to its own colour! He couldn't open his eyes with the fuel and had large chemical burns on its wee body.

"After a week and few visits to the vet and applying cream he was looking and doing well (on the outside). Unfortunately on Wednesday night he went down on the back legs so we took it to the out of hours vets at 10pm. It got a good check over injections and sent home.

"We had to take him back Thursday morning he got more medicine an Xray and we found out that there was nerve damage done to its spine either by swinging it by the tail or using the tail to dip it and also it had been kicked in the testicles which had started a really bad infection.

"Since Wednesday he hasn't been able to empty his bladder himself and was trailing its back legs. We had to take him back to the vets every morning to have his wee bladder emptied,” said Lorraine.

Overcome with emotion, Lorraine revealed they had to take the heart breaking decision to put wee Garfield to sleep and out of his pain last Saturday.

She said: “To the evil person or people that did this to wee Garfield I can't even say God forgive you. To think there is someone who could do that to an innocent kitten just over a year old. I can't find the words to describe you. He was so friendly and such a beautiful wee cat.”

Lorraine also urged neighbours to be vigilant with their pets in case the person who may have done this to Garfield strikes again.