Apollo had been walking around for days with a 30cm arrow through his head

He then spent 3 weeks recovering in our hospital, before going to foster care

SPCA Auckland Vet Debbie Jones performed life saving surgery on Apollo

“I remember feeling shocked and thinking to myself – that cat has an arrow though its head” Debbie Jones, SPCA Auckland Vet

We see a lot of emergency cases here at the SPCA Auckland Animal Hospital. You never know what is going to come through the doors. It had been a fairly routine day when our driver Lexi walked through the doors with Apollo. I remember feeling shocked and thinking to myself – that cat has an arrow through its head.

I’ve never seen anything like it. There he was sitting up in the cage, looking straight at me. I could immediately tell that it wasn’t a fresh injury. The skin was trying to heal around the arrow shaft and infection had set in.

This poor cat had literally been walking around with a 30cm arrow through his head for the past 5 or 6 days. Sadly the shock didn’t stop there. We knew it wasn’t an accident as soon as the x-rays came up. He had also been shot multiple times. A piece of bone in his front right leg had been shattered by a pellet. Another sat lodged in his chest behind his heart.

At that stage your training just kicks in. You don’t think about what has happened, you don’t get angry, or sad, you just think about how you can fix it. You just start getting him well.

As you can imagine, there was a lot of damage. There were tiny flecks of paint that had come off the arrow and it took a long time to get everything cleaned out. When I was stitching him back up I broke 3 needles. We joked then that it was because he was such a tough cat.

Apollo is a survivor. He survived the attack. He made it through the first surgery, and the second. Often an animal that has undergone a massive trauma is very placid. We were all a little nervous that he would turn out to be a feral cat.

For the first week Apollo would hiss once when the cage door opened, but he would still let you pat him. After everything he had gone through, he still trusted us to help.

He stayed in the hospital for 3 weeks before going out to foster with one of our locum vets Sarah. She tells me he is ruling the household – keeping her dachshund in check. He has been to see an orthopedic specialist about putting a plate in his leg, however he is not well enough to make any decisions just yet.

Apollo’s journey is far from over, but thanks to our supporters, he will get a second chance. Please support the SPCA Auckland Hospital Fund and donate today to help animals get the life-saving medical care they need.