Purring and persevering: Neighborhood cat survives bullet wound

A Fort Myers woman found Tommy and rushed him to the vet. An X-ray showed how a bullet shattered his leg.

• RELATED: Lee County Domestic Animal Services asks residents to ‘wait until 8’

Purring and persevering through the pain, Tommy survived being shot in the leg.

“Friday morning, we admitted him here,” said Rachel Rodriguez, who rescued Tommy. “He’s really injured, and so I talked to Heal Rescue, and she’s like, do you think you’d be more comfortable if he had 24-hour care?”

Rodriguez is not Tommy’s owner on paper, but they’re buddies for sure.

“I started feeding him, like six months ago,” said Rodriguez. “I went on vacation a couple weeks ago, and my cat sitter sent me a thing where she was like, hey, Tommy came. He’s holding his arm in a weird angle. He’s dragging it. Something’s clearly wrong.”

Rodriguez said she later found out Tommy had a serious injury.

“I had that visual, but it wasn’t until I checked him in on Friday, and I was with Dr. Kroll, and he mentioned something about like a gunshot,” said Rodriguez.

She said Tommy’s X-ray showed a significant amount of damage.

“I thought he just had a broken leg, and he the way he described it, was no like, imagine dropping a glass onto a floor and its just shatters,” said Rodriguez. “It’s definitely done more damage than a BB, and there is metal inside of him, just without surgically removing it, which at this point they’re not planning to do.”

But this isn’t the end for 8-year-old Tommy

“He’s so tough,” said Rodriguez.

Tommy is undergoing care in Cape Coral. Heal Rescue is footing his vet bill for his paw. He’s on the road to recovery with a lot of love to give along the way.

All he needs now is a fur-ever home.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office wants to find the person who did this.

If you would like to help Tommy out, click here.