Groningen local looking for person who spray painted her cat, raising funds for vet bill

Shira Pluim’s cat came home completely covered in spray paint on Thursday afternoon, the resident of the Paddepoel district of Groningen said on Facebook. She is looking for the perpetrator behind this act of animal cruelty and raising funds to help cover Lex’s vet bill.

“He walked in at about half past four,” Shira told RTV Noord. “Completely covered in spray paint. At first, we thought it was some kind of hair spray paint or something, but when we tried to clean it, we found it was that pink lacquer paint. Horrible stuff. I think they use it for cars.”

The paint was everywhere, Pluim said. “In his eyes, in his ears, in his nose. He also had a wound on his head. And his whiskers were also cut. The critter was completely confused when he got home.”

Pluim immediately rushed Lex to the vet, where they had to sedate him to wash the paint off with disinfectant. He also had to stay for observation and an IV. “Because he is so weakened by all the toxic substances that are in that paint,” Pluim said. “He’s not doing very well.”

The call on Facebook has not yet yielded any concrete tips, she told the broadcaster on Thursday night. “People have said: go look in the neighborhood. We did, but there was nothing to see. I really think it happened at the back of someone’s garden or on a porch or something.”

She planned to report the animal abuse to the police. Pluim also launched a fundraiser to help pay Lex’s vet bills. The fundraiser had a target of 650 euros when it went online at about 10 a.m. on Friday.

Donors had contributed over 2,000 euros by 5 p.m.