Wood Village family finds cat doused with gasoline

WOOD VILLAGE, Ore. — The smell was unmistakable.

“It’s hard to miss,” David Addison said.

Earlier this week, the Addisons found Rooney, the family cat, covered in gasoline.

“I grabbed him, and he was completely soaked and freaking reeked. He came inside covered in gas,” Addison said.

At first Addison and his family wanted to believe it was an accident.

“I thought maybe one of our cars was leaking, so I came out here and checked the yard and our cars to make sure nothing was leaking,” he said.

To be safe the family took Rooney to Stark Street Pet Hospital, where they realized just how dangerous gasoline is to a cat.

“The very next thing that happens after they are doused or dunked is that they try to clean themselves, which can cause ulcers in the stomach, esophagus, and cause pain for that pet,” Dr. Cherice Roth, lead doctor at Stark Street Pet Hospital, said.

And she says if they absorb too much of the gasoline, it can kill them.

Roth says to her it's clear this was malicious.

From time to time, she says, they see animals come into the hospital that people targeted.

“I will tell people if something like that happens, where a large volume of anything gets on a pet that’s not supposed to be there, take them to a vet,” Roth said.

Luckily for Rooney, medication and rest has him on the road to recovery.

Addison and his family are left wondering why anyone would do such a thing.

“I think it’s gross, just why? What’s the purpose to it? I’m just pissed I didn’t see the guy who did it,” Addison said.

The Addison family filed a police report, which is something police say you should do if an animal is targeted.