Owner ignored cat with broken pelvis
AN OWNER left his cat crying in pain and in clear distress after it suffered a broken pelvis.
Orrin Lloyd was charged with inflicting blunt force trauma on Puss the tabby cat, but was cleared following a trial.
The 31-year-old was convicted, however, of causing unnecessary suffering when he didn’t seek help while it was clearly in distress.
Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard vets considered putting the cat down due to the severity of the injuries, but after spending 15 days in an animal hospital it is now “doing well”.
Kyra Badman, prosecuting, said medical evidence stated the injury had been sustained by “blunt force trauma” but clarified Lloyd was found not guilty of inflicting the injury after a trial.
Ms Badman said Lloyd’s mum, Tracy Lloyd, went to his home with a cat basket after she “received a call from her son who said the cat was injured”.
Ms Lloyd said when she arrived the cat was “crying, in pain and barely moving”.
She took it to the vets the next morning where they discovered “multiple pelvic fractures” and her “heart and respiratory rates were elevated”.
The cat was also unable to stand on her hind legs and needed pain relief.
Ms Badman said there was a fracture where the pelvis attached to the cat’s spine and in the cat’s pubic bone adding “the animal was clearly suffering” which was “extended by the defendant’s failure to provide proper care”.
An expert said it was likely the injury was caused between 48 and 72 hours before being brought to the vet.
A vet said the cat was “clearly in distress” and in a “painful condition”.
Ms Badman said: “The veterinary team were discussing euthanasia at one point, such was the severity of the injuries.”
Lloyd had claimed he thought the cat was “in heat” rather than in severe pain.
Making an application to have Lloyd banned from keeping any kind of animal, Ms Badman said: “There was some concern in a statement of the defendant’s mother, in relation to other animals.
“In her statement his mother talks about concerns, on one occasion he had thrown a mouse down the stairs.”
She said he had also kept a rat in a cupboard and his mum had found it without food.
Ms Lloyd said he also kept a pet rabbit in a flat in Southport “without food or water” and “she was concerned in relation to a pet budgie which she described as being extremely thin”.
She said there had also been another cat which was “extremely nervy” and was found with “no food or water”.
Lloyd, 31, has previous convictions including criminal damage and battery, and was last in court in 2017 for failing to pay a travel fare.
Nick Archer, defending, said in general the cat had been “well-looked after”.
He said: “It hadn’t been eating because of the injuries but prior to that if anything it was slightly over fed.
“In terms of general looking after there had been no neglect.”
Mr Archer said Lloyd eventually called his mum as he had “realised there’s a problem and taken steps”.
He said Lloyd works part time as a maintenance worker in Liverpool.
Mr Archer added that for some of the period the cat was suffering it was with Lloyd’s mum.
He said during his cross examination of an expert at the trial they said it “wasn’t uncommon for inexperienced owners to think an animal was in heat” and couldn’t “clearly differentiate”.
Mr Archer said the expert had also told a court it wouldn’t be possible to determine if the cat was in heat.
Lloyd, of Scarisbrick Avenue, Southport, was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
District Judge Duncan Birrell, sentencing, said: “It’s unclear precisely how those injuries came about but this is your cat and was in your possession at the relevant time.”
Lloyd was handed a 12-month community order and must complete 30 Rehabilitation Activity Requirements and 80 hours of unpaid work.
He was banned from keeping any animal for 10 years and must pay costs of £500 and a victim surcharge of £95.