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Steamboat Springs — The Oak Creek Police Department is looking for help from anyone with information about the mutilation of a cat.

The alleged incident was first reported to Oak Creek police Chief Linda Koile on Tuesday. However, the mutilation is thought to have occurred July 26 or 27.

The cat is expected to live, but burns and injuries it suffered could result in the amputation of one of its legs.

"This is a deplorable act, and I need help with this investigation," Koile said. "It's very disturbing to me."

Koile released a statement from the cat's owner Wednesday. The owner's name was withheld.

According to Koile, the cat's owner came home from work one day last week and found the cat on the couch. It was catatonic and its breathing was raspy.

"When I picked him up, he came to and meowed loudly," the report stated.

The owner picked up the cat and discovered that the hair on its face, chest and back was burned off. The cat's whiskers, eyelashes and ears also were burnt, and there was a deep gash in its right leg.

The owner treated the leg wound with hydrogen peroxide, put the cat on a mat and went to sleep, according to the report. The cat ran away during the night and was not seen again until Saturday, when it returned to its owners couch.

"Skin had fallen off and the bones were showing," the report stated.

The owner took the cat to Mount Werner Veterinary Hospital on Monday.

Veterinarian John Rule said the injuries were consistent with abuse.

"You really have to wonder what happened to it," Rule said. "It wasn't an accident."

Rule said he treated the wounds and prescribed antibiotics for the cat.

"The cat is going to live," Rule said. "It's just a matter of whether we can save the leg or not."

He said cases of abused animals in Routt County are rare.

"We haven't seen anything like this for quite some time," Rule said. "Not to this extent."

Koile said she has told the Oak Creek community about the mutilation.

"Everybody seems to be enraged and upset," she said. "I will take this to the full extent of the law."