A pensioner spent four nights in hospital after she was attacked in her garden by a "large cat".
Retiree Gaby Beaumont was enjoying the spring weather and feeding the birds in her back yard with daughter Alison when the huge stray feline pounced, sinking its teeth into her arm.
The attack, she said, left her needing an operation and having to spend four nights in hospital to recover.
Breast cancer survivor Gaby, 76, required seven stitches and the fluid drained from her arm after the vicious attack on Sunday, March 26.
Now Gaby, from Perthshire, has warned others to be aware of how aggressive feral cats can be, revealing she thought she was "going to pass out" during the attack.
"I was feeding the wild birds in the garden and heard a loud hissing noise from behind me," she told the Daily Record.
"I turned to see what was obviously a large wild cat and it just attacked and bit me unprovoked and ran off. There was a lot of blood.
"It was a shock and I thought I was going to pass out. Thank God the dogs were not in the garden at the time.
"From years of living in the countryside I can tell you it was a wild cat. It must have been ill to behave like that."
Daughter Alison took Gaby to the GP the following day to get her nasty wound checked out, and was given antibiotics in case of infection.
But the day after, her injury had gotten so bad the two decided instead to go to A&E at Perth Royal Infirmary.
“They took one look at it and told me to go to Ninewells (Hospital), they knew it was so serious," she said.
Doctors there x-rayed Gaby's arms to check there were no cat teeth left embedded inside.
"It was infected as there was pus coming out of it," she said.
"I had to undergo an operation and was under general anaesthetic. They drained the wound. They then put me on strong painkillers - it was hellish and I was constantly ill.
“I was told cat bites are worse than dog bites. Apparently they had one woman in before and it was fatal because it was infected.
"Thankfully they got to mine early or I would have been in real trouble."
Gaby believes the feline may have been the same cat which attacked her son’s cat, Buffy, about six months ago, and fears it may be still prowling her neighbourhood.
"[Buffy] had a bad wound on her back and had to go to the vet, but she recovered," she added.
"I love every animal so I think something bad may have happened to it to make it like that. I have not seen it before or since."
