In a truly heartbreaking story two adorable kittens could be left with serious breathing difficulties after they were coloured in with marker pens.
The two one-month-old cats, named Smurf and Shrek, have left staff at Bradford Cat Watch Rescue in West Yorkshire extremely angry and upset after the extent of their abuse revealed that they could be set to have permanent breathing difficulties. A devoted Katie Lloyd, a care coordinator at the rescue centre, said she could not believe it when the kittens were brought in by police covered in blue and green ink.
Ms Lloyd told reporters that she was informed that the innocent cats were blue before they arrived, but was “totally shocked” to discover they had been drawn on with permanent marker.
“At first I believed I was getting cats with breathing difficulties because they were blue.” an upset Ms Lloyd said. The ink could have a long-term impact on the kittens. Ms Lloyd further explained: “It could have affected the lungs because they were having breathing difficulties when they arrived.”
“It could affect the skin, it could cause infections, irritations, it could infect anything really – the whole respiratory system. And psychologically as well, but they don’t seem overall psychologically affected.” The animal carer also revealed that the vast majority of the permanent ink on the cat’s bodies has thankfully now come off, but she and her colleagues were very cautious about washing their faces.
Ms Lloyd said: “The areas where we’re struggling is around the face and the reason for that is we don’t want it dripping into the eyes, nose or mouth because, believe me, it’s permanent,” she said, adding that washing off the ink was now turning her own skin blue and green.
“We don’t want them to get it in the eyes because its probably permanent like Sharpie or something like that, a permanent marker. We don’t want it to get into the eyes, ears, nose or mouth.”
Meanwhile in a brief statement on the rescue centre’s website, an upset Ms Lloyd wrote: “We often consider ourselves to be unshockable… We have dealt with most situations but this is a first.”