RIP Ryan
10-year-old Ryan was killed in the back garden of his family home(Image: Stephen Stirland)
A family have been left ‘heartbroken’ after their beloved cat was savagely killed by two dogs in the back garden of their home. Sarah Stirland, 62, witnessed the attack unfold at her Packmoor home.
Two ‘terrier-type’ dogs were seen mauling black-and-white Ryan after getting into the family’s back garden. One dog was described as having a tan coat while the other was grey. The dogs’ owner was nowhere to be seen.
Husband Stephen Stirland, aged 65, told StokeonTrentLive: “My wife was ironing in the bedroom when she heard a noise outside. She ran downstairs to the kitchen when she spotted two dogs attacking our cat in the back garden. One of them had its mouth clamped around his rear quarters. She ran outside to help. One dog fled as soon as she came outside, but the other carried on clamping down with its teeth.
“Sarah grabbed its collar and managed to wrench the dog away. Then she dragged it into the drive and closed the gate. Unfortunately, Ryan was already very injured. He was bleeding quite a bit and there was damage to his back leg and groin.
“I came straight home and we took Ryan straight to the vets. They had to place him on oxygen and pump him full of painkillers and antibiotics for his wounds. They did an x-ray which seemed to show that he was fine.”
Sadly, the £450 vet trip wasn’t enough to save Ryan’s life and he died the following day.
Stephen continued: “I went back to collect him at 6pm. When we got back, Ryan drank a bit of water and lied down. He didn’t have any energy and he wasn’t moving much. My son came home to visit a bit later the next morning. He went over to check on the cat and saw that he had died.”
Ryan pictured after the attack(Image: Stephen Stirland)
Stephen says Ryan’s loss was ‘devastating’.
“We’ve had Ryan for about nine years,” he explained. “We adopted him from his previous owner when he was a one-year-old. He lived a happy life in Kidsgrove until we moved here about a year ago. Now this has happened.
“Sarah has been left very shocked and traumatised by it because she had to witness it first-hand. But we’ve all been really affected by it. Ryan was a much-loved family member and to have him killed in such a violent manner is just terrible. Sarah said she would rather he got hit by a car than have to go through that. It must have been really scary and painful for him. It’s devastating to lose a pet that way.”
Now the family are appealing for justice.
Stephen added: “We reported the incident to the police. They gave us a crime reference number. Apparently the police have had issues with these dogs before.
“But obviously having two violent dogs on the loose is very concerning. There are lots of young children in the area, so if the dogs are savagely attacking other animals like that you just don’t know what else could happen.
“It’s not for me to say what should happen. But if there have been issues with these dogs before then the owners need to be taken to task. Any dog can be nice or nasty depending on how they’re brought up. These ones are clearly a bit out of control.”
Staffordshire Police have launched an investigation. The attack happened on Midhurst Close, in Packmoor, at 11am on Thursday 19 March.
A force spokesperson said: “We are appealing for information after a cat was killed in Stoke-on-Trent. We were told that a cat had been killed by two terrier-type dogs in the back garden of a home in Packmoor. One dog is described as grey and the other as tan.”
Police are appealing for witnesses or anyone who recognises the description of the dogs. They should call the police on 101, quoting incident number 277 of 19 March, or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
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