AN INJURED cat was rescued and patched up through the collective efforts of members of the Unsworth community.

The cat, named Gary by his rescuers, was seen limping around the streets at the end of March and after a joint effort he was successfully captured and taken to Armac vets in The Rock.

Jacqui Lomas, aged 45, along with her husband Dave had heard reports of a stray, possibly missing an eye limping around Unsworth.

They took it upon themselves to track him down, having already rescued a stray cat, Parker. After a few days asking around and a glimpse of him on a garage roof, Gary was cornered in a conservatory.

Armac Vets agreed to treat Gary as an emergency case. Mrs Lomas, of Randale Drive, said: “They made sure he was comfortable and we got a phone call saying his eye needed

removing and he had an abscess on his foot.

“The operation was going to cost around £800.”

If he did not have the surgery the other option was to put Gary down.

At a loss with how to come up with the costs, they turned to their pet owning friends who suggested crowd funding.

Their friend Laura Dorrian set up the page and friend, Aileen Raynos who works at pet food company Purina, shared it around her office in Sussex.

Mrs Lomas said: “Everybody that works there has to be an animal lover and she passed it around HQ and we shared it and the donations flooded in, we were gobsmacked!

“All of the names bar a few, we didn’t recognise and within two hours we were more than half way there and we had it all by the end of the day. It was amazing.” The page, ‘Save Gary the Stray’, successfully collected more than £1,000 meaning Gary was able to have his surgery.

Purina employees were so taken with Gary’s story they have sent him a gift bag to help him feel better.

A spokesperson for Purina said: “Everyone at Purina is really passionate about pets, so when one of our people became aware of Gary’s plight, our community of animal loving employees quickly sprang into action to support the fundraising appeal.

“It was the nature of Gary’s case that really captured hearts in the office and so many people were upset to learn that not only was stray cat Gary in need of veterinary care, he was at risk of being put to sleep if he wasn’t treated.

“We are so proud that our employees helped play a part in saving Gary and everyone at Purina wishes him a speedy recovery.

“To help him get back on his paws, we’ve sent him a little box of pampering cat treats to make him purr again.”

Mr and Mrs Lomas have taken Gary in and are hoping when he recovers he will get along with their existing cat.