Feijoa boxed in after being mauled by dog

Feijoa isn’t ripe for another adventure just yet. If the wandering ginger medium-haired cat was a bird he’d have had his wings clipped.

A common sight around the Christchurch Casino and the Canterbury Hebrew Congregation on Durham St North, Feijoa has been under virtual house arrest after being mauled by a dog during the second of his eight-day expeditions this year.

Feijoa suffered facial injuries and internal bleeding after he went AWOL on February 8 and on veterinary advice the four-year-old has been confined to a Glenfield Ave unit. 

“The vet said he’ll keep expanding his territory from here, he will just go off again,” said Jack Sherwell, who co-owns Feijoa with fiancée Dayna McInnes. 

So Feijoa will not be allowed out until the house-hunting couple move, possibly in November.

A former workmate of Shewell’s recognised the pet in a sorry state at the corner of Moorhouse Ave and Barbadoes St on February 16, a fair distance from his home near the casino.

“I got a video call and they said ‘I think this is your cat’. I called his name and he came and smooched around the phone,” said Shewell, who had to also retrieved Feijoa from a property in Riccarton on January 8.

On that occasion Feijoa had latched onto a group of New Year’s Eve revellers bound for the fireworks display at Hagley Park.

Feijoa scarpered when the pyrotechnics went off, and was subsequently sighted in Strowan and Papanui before making his way to a house behind Riccarton Mall.

“He showed up there and he wouldn’t leave,” Shewell said.

A police officer at the property did detective work to see if a cat matching Feijoa’s description had been reported missing.

They found an appeal on ‘Missing, Lost and Found Pets – Christchurch’ Facebook page, one of eight social media pages Shewell and McInnes had posted messages on.

Named after a hardy and robust fruit, Feijoa probably still has those same qualities, so when he is free to roam again, the apple of McInnes and Shewell’s eye will at least have an AirTag attached to his collar.