Family cat allegedly tortured, Community helps raise funds for medical expenses

A Las Cruces family is raising money to help their cat that was believed to be severely tortured. They tell ABC-7 the abuse is so bad, the cat’s back legs need to be amputated.

According to the Benavidez family, it happened at Las Brisas mobile home park where they used to live.

Stephan Benavidez says while they were in the process of moving, their beloved cat, Aston, got out of the house and ran away. A month later, they found him in their backyard. Both of his back legs were broken, his tail was shaved and he was nearly starved to death.

“We just broke down and cried because you don’t do that to a cat,” Ivy Benavidez, Aston’s owner, said. “I don’t care. He’s like the sweetest thing in the world, so it hurt my family’s feelings like you wouldn’t believe .”

Aston’s family says the fence to their backyard is six feet tall, and there is no way the cat could have climbed over it. They believe someone in or around the neighborhood, who knew where they lived, threw him back over the fence after torturing him.