Chesterfield family left heartbroken after beloved cat dies from 'poisoning'

Kirsty Johnson, who lives on Bond Street, Staveley, with her fiancé Ben Horne and three-year-old daughter Amelia Gardner, said that losing their six-year-old Bengal cat Tigger has been really hard on them.

Kirsty, who is 25, said: "My partner Ben had him since he was a kitten and they moved to Chesterfield to live with me and my little girl two years ago.

"He was the boss of the house.

“We all knew Tigger was around but he was a big soft giant.

"Everyone is obviously very upset.

“As a family we are going through a difficult time and losing such a big member of our family has been really hard.

"Our little girl is absolutely heartbroken and keeps crying and telling us she is sad.

“She doesn’t fully understand what has happened."

Kirsty said that they first knew something was wrong when Tigger came home on Saturday walking "like he was drunk".

She said: "He was sick twice and wasn’t himself so we took him to the emergency vets that evening where they told us they thought he had been poisoned. He started having seizures that night but he had appeared to have perked up a little bit. We went to see him Sunday morning and he didn’t look good, he was shaking really bad and couldn’t stand up."

The family had to put Tigger to sleep on Tuesday, May 28, at Spire Vets on St. John's Road.

Kirsty said: "The staff at the vets, especially Lindsey, were very supportive and kept us informed despite the fact it was a bank holiday weekend.

"We had no option but to have him out to sleep. We went Tuesday evening where he was put to sleep and he cuddled up on to my bump, I’m pregnant and he absolutely loved cuddling up on my belly at night. We’ve brought a tree for the garden where Amelia hung some pictures of him."

Kirsty said: "I have no idea if it was done on purpose, we never will. I know full well there are people about that dislike cats but to think someone could hurt them is awful.

"The vets told us it was an ethanol based poisoning which tends to be antifreeze - even if it was an accidental poisoning people need to know not to leave stuff like this laying around and how much damage it can do."