A year’s pet ban... for trying to cure cat with manuka honey
A WOMAN has been banned from owning animals after using manuka honey to try to heal her cat’s cancer.
Denise Smith, from Northampton, used the natural product to treat her pet Blacky’s cancerous leg wound, according to the RSPCA.
Manuka honey is often sold as an alternative medicine – including on the RSPCA website – but Smith was found guilty at a court in Northamptonshire of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Blacky’s leg was amputated as a result of the cancerous wound and it was rehomed, but the cancer returned and the cat had to be put to sleep. On Wednesday, Smith, 58, was banned from keeping animals for 12 months and fined £615.
During the hearing at Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court, the court heard the RSPCA had been contacted on August 30 after a member of public expressed concern about the animal’s wellbeing. Inspector Michelle Hare said: ‘When we took the bandages off I could see that Blacky had a large and cancerous wound on her leg which was so deep it had gone down to her tendons. It looked incredibly painful and infected.
‘I took her to a vet, who decided that the best thing to do would be to amputate the leg.
‘It turned out that Smith had been treating the wound with manuka honey, after reading online that it had microbial properties – but it certainly isn’t something which should have been used on a wound like Blacky had. Blacky should have been to see a vet at the earliest opportunity’.
On an official RSPCA website, a manuka honey ointment is advertised for sale at £5.17. It says the product can be added to wounds to ‘ provide a moist wound environment conductive to healing’.
It adds that the ointment can be ‘useful for minor abrasions and lacerations, pressure sores, cavity wounds including abscesses’. Manuka honey, which costs up to £20 for 500g at health food shops, is made from the nectar of the manuka bush, which mainly grows in New Zealand. It is said to contain an anti-bacterial compound called methyl-glyoxal (MGO).
Levels of the chemicals vary according to whether the nectar is collected from only manuka bushes or from a variety of plants, or whether the manuka is mixed with other honeys.
The NHS website warns: ‘Honey has long been known to have antibacterial properties and is sometimes included in licensed wound- care products. However, researchers discussing its use at a scientific conference have said it is not widely used because the way it works is not understood.
‘People should not try using honey bought from supermarkets to treat wounds at home.’