Dr. Inayatullah Kathio and April Winkler look at Sissy, a cat shot and wounded in McAdoo.

Winkler and her mother, Barbara, raised Sissy since she was a kitten.

Kathio is offering a $1,000 reward for information about the shooter.

After being shot on Memorial Day, Sissy limped home with bleeding in her lungs and a shattered leg, which probably will be amputated.

Courtesy photo An X-ray shows the damage to the left, foreleg of Sissy, a 5-year-old cat shot on Memorial Day in McAdoo.

Barbara Winkler knew that her cat had been hurt on Memorial Day, but it took an X-ray the next day to show that Sissy had been shot. The bullet went straight through the cat's body, shattering her left leg and puncturing a lung. "It was such a shock. She was shot. How could that be? ... Of all days for something like this to happen. It was Memorial Day (with) shootings to honor the dead, our veterans. I wouldn't know one shot from another," the McAdoo resident said. A widow who, along with her daughter, April, raised 5-year-old Sissy since she was a kitten, Winkler lacked the $4,000 to $5,000 needed for the operation. "They gave me pain medicine and told me to feed her by intravenous and give her a little bit of water. That was really all I could do," she said. When Dr. Inayatullah H. Kathio heard the cat had been shot, he drove 45 miles to McAdoo on Tuesday night and took Sissy to his veterinary hospital in Pittston at no charge.

"He was so caring, it was unbelievable," Winkler said.

Kathio said Sissy couldn't walk, had a severe hemorrhage in her lungs and was in shock. He performed emergency surgery, draining an abscess where maggots had gathered on the exit wound. He also gave Sissy antibiotics, pain medication and fluids. Sissy began to breath better after being given oxygen, Kathio said.

An X-ray showed the cat's left humerus bone was fractured and severely displaced. Blood vessels and nerves had been cut off to the leg. "The bone, I can repair, but there's no nerve so that will be a burden. That leg most likely will be amputated," Kathio said. On Thursday afternoon, he said Sissy was in stable and condition. He plans to operate on her leg when the cat becomes stronger. Kathio also offered a $1,000 reward for leading to the arrest of the shooter.

Anyone who "willfully and maliciously kills, maims, mutilates, tortures or disfigures a dog or cat" faces a first-degree misdemeanor charge. Under the Pennsylvania cruelty statute, offenders can be fined $1,000 to $20,000, spend up to two years in jail and be ordered to undergo a mental evaluation. Lesser penalties apply for accidental injuries.

McAdoo Police Chief Jeff Wainwright hopes the reward will help. "We've pretty much exhausted our leads. We're waiting for feedback," Wainwright said. People with information about the shooting may call police at 929-2590 or Kathio at 655-2412. The police received no reports of shots fired on Memorial Day, and Wainwright knows of no other cases of pets being shot in the borough recently. He said a bullet, rather than BB's or shotgun pellets, hit the cat.

"It was a big bullet," Kathio said. "It hit the bone and shattered it. It was one, solid bullet. It wasn't like a BB gun. It was an adult's gun. This poor cat. She's a young cat, has 12 years ahead of her living on three legs, going through pain and suffering." Winkler said Sissy sneaks out of the house by opening a wooden door to the patio. "I didn't even know she had gone," Winkler said. Nor did she hear shots.

Despite her injuries, Sissy managed to return home from wherever the shooting occurred. At first, Winkler thought Sissy had been cut on a fence or bitten by a dog. "Not only do you fear for your animals, but your children," she said. "That's what scares the living crap out of me ... Who knows where this person came from and what they'll do another time." Sissy remains gentle despite the attack.

"The cat kisses you and is so friendly. The cat doesn't have a mean bone in the body," Kathio said. "It still shows affection. It doesn't even hiss at you."

kjackson@standardspeaker.com