CHARLOTTE, Mich. (WLNS) — A woman who discovered a cat that had been shot with a shotgun tried her best to save it.

After spending hundreds of dollars trying to save the cat, now she is determined to find the owner of the cat and ultimately figure out who shot it.

“It is no way for an animal to die, or any creature,” said Susan Fhaner.

Fhaner was making her way down Stewart Road near Vermontville Highway in Charlotte when she noticed a 4-year-old male cat limping.

“I found this cat going through a field on his elbows. [He] wasn’t using his feet at all, or his wrists. I picked the cat up; it obviously couldn’t walk on its paws. They were swollen; they looked injured,” Fhaner said.

Fhaner says the cat had no collar, so she took him into her owns to help him get better. When she took him to a vet, she got him neutered and the vets expected the cat would heal over time.

A month passed and she was hoping the kitty she named Prince would be back on his feet.

But sadly, he wasn’t getting any better.

“My vet did the x-rays and [he had] bird shot in both paws. They were fractured broke. The vet said I did have to put [him] down. It was the most humane thing to do,” Fhaner said.

She is now on a mission to find those responsible for shooting Prince, as this was not the first time Fhaner has found a cat who had been killed by people.

“We did find another cat that was caught in what I call a claw trap but it was deceased with its foot caught in that trap,” Fhaner said.

Sadly, Fhaner believes the cat may have an owner who doesn’t know their cat has died.

“I did have somebody respond to the Facebook post that the owner was a farmer near Stewart Road, or I should say on Stewart Road by the railroad tracks. I have not spoken to the owner, it was just someone who posted who knew of the cat,” Fhaner said.

Fhaner says she will not stop until the person who did this is caught because no one deserves this type of cruelty.

“If you have a feeling that you need to kill something, you probably need to go get help, or if you know somebody who is doing this to animals you should turn them in,” Fhaner said.

If you have any information about the owners of this cat or who may be responsible, you may call Eaton County Animal Control at (517) 543-5755.