Cat Survives Wounds After Arrow Pierces Its Body

Authorities on Friday were asking the public for help to learn how a cat wound up with an arrow through it. Fortunately the cat has nine lives.

The Riverside County Animal Services veterinary team performed emergency care Friday morning on the cat, officials said in a news release. An animal control officer brought the cat in to the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus.

The 2-year-old male domestic shorthair was alert, meowing and obviously suffering, officials said.

"He was alert, vocal and in pain," Dr. Sara Strongin said.

Strongin and her team safely removed the arrow. She said she and her colleagues are cautiously optimistic the cat will make a recovery.

"The arrow entered in his left shoulder and traveled through his muscles and exited in his lower chest area, near his sternum," Strongin said.

Had the arrow entered his chest cavity, the animal would have been in much more distress, she said.

"The question now is whether there is any internal damage that we cannot see on the initial X-ray," she said.

The cat's front leg is fractured above its elbow.

Anyone with information is asked to call Perris Animal Control at 951-657-4134.