A CAT owner whose pet lost its leg after failing to heed her vet’s advice has been handed a suspended jail term and banned from keeping animals for causing the animal unnecessary suffering.

Rebecca Davies of Stafford Road, Caldicot, admitted two animal welfare offences, both concerning her five-year-old tortoiseshell Mitzi when she appeared at Cwmbran Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard that RSPCA inspector Christine McNeil visited her house in May, 2020, following concerns about the cat, which had a sore on her leg and appeared to be lame,

Davies said she couldn’t get Mitzi to a vet, and funding was an issue, but the RSPCA arranged for a vet to examine the cat and prescribe painkillers, who said she had a tumour and the leg would need to to be amputated within seven to 14 days.

The court heard that while Davies later told RAPCA officers she had contacted a vet to arrange the operation, she hadn’t done so.

When challenged, Davies said she was waiting for money she was owed, denied her cat was suffering and declined the offer of transport or signing Mitzi over into the care of the RSPCA.

On June 2 Inspector McNeil and a police officer went to Davies’ house and found that Mitzi’s wound was ulcerated, with a strong smell of infection.

Inspector McNeil took Mitzi to the vet who had seen her in May and a successful operation to amputate her leg was carried out a few days later, with tests showing that the tumour had not spread.

The vet who did the operation said: "In my professional opinion the owner of this cat has failed in her duty of care to prevent suffering and to provide veterinary care for her pet, despite direct veterinary advice informing her of the needs of her pet and a timescale in which those needs needed to be met.

"By failing to seek the advised veterinary attention, this cat’s owner has allowed her pet to suffer unnecessarily for a period of 26 days.

"Even with the medication to reduce her suffering there would have been some level of pain; however the pain medication at the prescribed dose would have lasted at most 20 days with a further six days without any pain relief.

"The fact that she lost 500 grams in weight over this period of time and put on weight quickly when restarting the medication, indicates how much she was affected by this mass."

Magistrates said Davies’ lack of action amounted to "gross negligence" and had caused Mitzi serious harm.

The court was told in mitigation that Davies was isolating due to Covid and saw the cat as company.

She was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, and banned from keeping all animals for five years.

Davies, who is in her 50s, was also told to pay £400 in costs and a £122 victim surcharge.

Inspector McNeil said after the hearing: "We provided details of financial assistance, help with transportation and the offer of a new home for Mitzi on several occasions.

"Her owner was given numerous chances to rectify the situation, but failed to take the appropriate and responsible course of action, which sadly resulted in Mitzi suffering unnecessarily for many weeks."