Man faces outrage for stitching up his cat’s wound with fishing line, said he was ‘too busy’ to go to the vet

A Hong Kong man has been widely criticised by netizens after he sutured his cat’s leg wound at home with fishing line because he was “too busy” to take his pet to the vet.

Apple Daily reports that the man’s cat had previously injured itself when its left hind leg got caught on an S-shaped hook at its owner’s home. At the time, the man — surnamed Hong — took the cat to the vet to be treated, but the furry feline’s stitches apparently burst open soon afterwards.

Hong, who works as an air conditioning repairman, said he didn’t have the time to take his cat back to the vet, and sewed his cat’s five-centimetre-long leg wound up at home with a needle and some fishing line.

Speaking to Apple Daily, Hong said he cut the fishing line with some nail clippers but didn’t have any anaesthesia at hand, so just “made do” with a disinfected needle.

The mechanic, who apparently just can’t tell what is and isn’t a good idea, then uploaded photos of his gruesome handiwork to Facebook.

Hong’s pictures quickly drew the ire of netizens, one of whom raged, “In the future, why don’t you stitch up all of your own wounds instead of going to the hospital?” and later added “You’re going to kill that poor cat!”

Another commenter said, “You’re obviously not suited to having pets. Please give your cats up for adoption — think of it as an act of kindness.”

Despite the widespread outrage at his misguided (to put it kindly) actions, Hong maintained that he had done nothing wrong.

In a follow-up Facebook post, the mechanic defended himself, saying, “Just going in to the vet costs HKD800. Additional checks and procedures all add up. Right now, there’s nothing wrong [with the cat] and the wound isn’t infected; should I really have to needlessly give a vet my money?” He added, “I did it for the cat’s own good.”

Veterinarian Dr. Eric Lai told Apple Daily that he believed Hong had committed an act of animal cruelty, and echoed netizens’ sentiment that Hong should be reported to the police.
 

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