Failure to provide vet care for cat with abscess
Watsonville, CA (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008
County: Santa Cruz

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: Angelina Martinez

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

A cat euthanized on Feb 12 morning because she wasn't responding to treatment for an infected sore and recently developed cancer, according to Animal Services coordinator Tricia Geisreiter. The cat's owner, Angela Martinez, 43, of Watsonville was cited for a failure to provide care to an injured animal, a misdemeanor. Martinez is due in court March 10.

The unnamed cat had been neglected and denied veterinary treatment - even after an Animal Services officer contacted Martinez in January - according to Geisreiter.

"The tragic thing is ... this was entirely preventable," she said.

Although Animal Services officers conduct dozens of abuse and neglect investigations annually, it's rare an animal rescued from a troubled living environment is so injured it must be put down. The cat was the first abused or neglected pet in the county to be euthanized in a year, Geisreiter said.

Animal Services officers who first inquired about the sick cat in January didn't think the situation was dire. A mail carrier notified Animal Services about the injured cat at a house of Airport Boulevard in January and an officer went to the residence on Jan. 15, according to Geisreiter. The cat had an abscess on its face.

"At that time, we told her this is extremely serious and this cat could be dying," Geisreiter said, explaining why the cat wasn't immediately taken from the home.

"We want to believe people when they say they're going to do the right thing," she said.

Martinez was given 10 days to get the cat to a vet, but failed to do so. When an officer returned, the abscess was oozing and bleeding. The cat just curled in a ball, according to Animal Services officers.

"She was clearly miserable," Geisreiter said.

Martinez had decided the cat wasn't hers and that she wasn't responsible for getting her medical treatment, so Animal Services officers confiscated the cat. They took the cat to an emergency vet service on Feb. 1 and brought her to the Scotts Valley shelter three days later. Friends of the Watsonville Animal Shelter offered to pay all of the vet costs.

But a vet determined the infection was eating the cat's brain and the prognosis was dim.

"We tried to relieve her suffering and see if there would be any improvement," Geisreiter said. "It was to the point where she wasn't treatable."

Case Updates

References

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