A cat was found dead in a cage in a rubbish-filled room without food or water, a court has heard. The RSPCA said the animal, a tortoiseshell cat named Tigger, was found in "harrowing" circumstances at a house in Barry.
Court Hearing Details
The animal suffered unnecessarily in the care of her owner Nadine Martell-Marshall, a sentencing hearing at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates' Court heard. Tigger was found in the cage by an RSPCA officer, who described her body as being "covered in fleas."
There was no food and drink available in the cage. There was a bed but it was soiled with cat faeces, flies and fleas. A vet concluded that the cat died as a result of dehydration and starvation.
The 28-year-old owner accepted that she had "failed" her pet.
RSPCA Officer's Account
In a written statement provided to the court, RSPCA animal rescue officer Lauren Perry said she attended an address in Barry on March 24 last year. Lawful access was granted for Ms Perry to enter the property to retrieve a cat which had been found inside, and she said as soon as she walked in she could smell urine.
She said: "The property was full of rubbish, and there were empty cat boxes of food everywhere, cat faeces all over the property, the cat litter trays inside the kitchen and living room area were full of faeces, lots of flies were also present, and the property also had fleas everywhere."
"I went inside the bedroom there was a crate and inside the crate was a deceased cat, the cat was a Tortoiseshell coloured cat. I could see it was already deceased and the cat was lying inside the crate surrounded by rubbish. There was a bed available but it was soiled with cat faeces, flies and fleas. Inside the crate there was no food or water available for the cat."
"I retrieved the body from the crate but there was a white item of clothing which was tied to the crate and I had to untie this and unlock the crate to retrieve the cat. I could see that the cat's left eye was partially closed, the body of the cat was solid and cold and the cat's body was covered in live fleas."
Veterinary Examination
Tigger's body was then examined by a vet who said Tigger was in a reasonable body condition, with no obvious injuries and a large number of live fleas all over her body. There was no obvious cause of death and a post-mortem was carried out.
In a written statement provided to the court, the vet said: "With the history of how she was found and the full post mortem examination, the most likely cause of death is acute and complete water and food restriction, however with the lack of major chronic food restriction as in starvation the death from dehydration with lack of access to water is the most likely as this can occur over a period of as little as three days."
"By securing the animal without water or food, the owner has failed in their duty of care to provide food and water and this has led directly to the animals death with a period of severe suffering of at least two to three days before death."
Sentencing and Disqualification
In mitigation it was heard that Martell-Marshall gave full acceptance that she failed Tigger. Martell-Marshall of Caemaen Street, Abercynon, pleaded guilty to one offence under the Animal Welfare Act. The offence was that she caused unnecessary suffering to a female tortoiseshell cat named Tigger, by failing to provide any food or any water for a period of time.
She was sentenced on June 20 to a 24-month community order with 25 days rehabilitation activity requirement and was ordered to pay £1,086 alongside a victim surcharge of £114. She was disqualified from keeping animals for five years.
RSPCA Statement
RSPCA deputy chief inspector Gemma Black, who led the investigation, said: "This case was extremely harrowing and heartbreaking and our thoughts go to Tigger. Every animal deserves to be treated with kindness and respect and if you have a pet you are responsible for making sure they are happy and healthy - with water and food being a basic provision for any animal. We would urge anyone struggling to seek help."
