Stray cat’s ‘pencil-sized’ wound didn’t worry the vet at first — until a gut feeling revealed what was inside his chest and left everyone in disbelief
A woman who regularly fed a small colony of cats in her neighborhood stumbled upon a hungry orange cat. She, with the help of another rescuer, caught three cats and noticed a strange "pencil-sized" wound on the orange tabby. Though the injury seemed minor, a tragic reality was hidden underneath. The vet was not worried, noting the size of the wound, but decided to trust his "gut feeling" and did an X-ray on the cat to be safe. However, no one was prepared for what the results would unveil.
Fabian saw that one of the cats in the colony was limping and teamed up with Megan Luszczynski from Critters Inc. to catch it. However, they ended up catching a pair of cats that were always together, along with the hungry orange cat. “We got to looking at the cat in the crate, and we could see that it had a wound on its side. So, Megan took all of the cats, three at the time, to her vet in Newcastle,” Fabian said, as reported by Cowboy State Daily, on November 6, 2025. The wound was about the size of a pencil and was already healing when the cat was found. They were content until the X-ray revealed a large, arrow-shaped piece of metal lodged in the cat’s rib cage. It had broken the feline’s ribs but barely missed the heart and lungs. It was a miracle the cat had survived the deep wound.
“This thing was about five inches long. And I don’t know how that cat was functioning,” Fabian explained. Yet, that was not it. The vet also discovered that the cat had been shot in the shoulder. Someone had targeted the cat with their blow dart and almost killed the poor animal, if not for its persistence to live. The vet informed Fabian and Luszczynski that the orange cat would not survive the surgery. It was a tough one, removing a five-inch arrow from inside his chest cavity without impairing more of his internal organs. Realizing that the cat was going to die one way or another, Fabian felt it best to give the cat another shot at life. The vet then led a complicated surgery, puncturing the cat’s diaphragm and making two incisions to pull out the metal.
The surgery lasted an hour and was marked as a success. They decided to leave the bullet in his shoulder, considering the risks of removal. “Much to our surprise, this guy not only pulled through, but he was sitting up wanting to eat by the time we left the clinic,” said the rescuer. They marveled at the cat’s will to live and were thrilled for his recovery journey. Now named Lucky, the orange tabby is still at the Critters before he finds a safe and loving forever home. Luszczynski later informed that the cat seemed “pissed off” and kept growling and hissing at others. There were no worries about his health, though, as he was eating and resting well.
Speaking of the culprit, Fabian reported to the police and was eventually informed of a particular individual suspected of the inhumane act. However, since they had already moved by then, she decided to move on and focus on Lucky’s recovery.