My son cried himself to sleep because of this, says parent left thousands of pounds out of pocket following cruel attack
Caitlin Hodge (23) was forced to cancel her first family holiday abroad with her young son and was hit with a vet bill for over £2,000, and rising, after the incident last weekend.
A shaken Zoar at the vet
The Carrickfergus woman told Sunday Life her seven-year-old son Zachary cried himself to sleep when he learned that beloved family pet Zoar (2) had been badly injured.
“The way I explained it to Zachary was ‘We can have a holiday, but we can’t get Zoar back’,” Caitlin said.
“It’s such a shame. We were supposed to be away for a week and it was to be our first holiday together.
“The wee man doesn’t know about the break-in. I just said we’d need to stay and look after the dog. I’m trying to protect him from it all as he’s only seven.
“He’s a really sensitive boy. When I told him the dog was sick he broke down crying and cried himself to sleep that night just wanting his dog. It was terrible.
“I can’t bear to think what happened to Zoar. It makes me sick.
“He’s still not eating well and is very unsettled. He’s on a ham diet because that’s all we can get him to eat. He needs to learn to trust again. I’ll have to build up his confidence even to be able to leave the house to go to the shops because he is traumatised and cries if I leave the house now. We’ll get there eventually, I hope.”
Caitlin said booking the holiday cost £627. With vet bills for Zoar continuing to mount — currently sitting at £2,033 — the family is already £2,660 in the red.
The mum-of-one told of her horror at returning home on a Saturday morning to find that not only had the house been burgled and ransacked but also that Zoar was clinging to life in the back garden.
The two-year-old Labrador cross suffered bruising and lacerations to his stomach and legs and collapsed lungs.
Zoar and Zachary
Caitlin said: “We had been away on the Friday night, and when I got back Saturday morning I could tell something was up when he didn’t greet me at the door.
“You could see someone had been in the house because drawers had been left open and emptied and the place was torn apart.
“When I came through into the kitchen, I could see a dark shadow in the garden through the obscured glass in the back door.
“I let Zoar in and could tell he was hurt. His breathing was bad and he wasn’t very good on his feet.
“He moved very slowly, but I got him up on the sofa and noticed red marks on his stomach.
“I took him straight to the vet, and once they’d X-rayed him they could see he had two collapsed lungs. They also identified the rest of his injuries.
“There are no broken bones, which is strange. They think he was hit with a blunt object, but it’s not clear.
“He was really bad. We thought he wasn’t going to make it at one point. Luckily he has come out the other side.
The PSNI said a 21-year-old man was arrested in the Castlemara Drive area of Carrickfergus on suspicion of burglary and animal cruelty on October 7, before being released on bail, pending further enquiries.
