Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

“Owner Charged With Cruelty for Failing to Treat Cat’s Ailments”

Visit the vet, or else? “A cat owner who did not seek treatment for his pet’s serious ailments during the cat’s last year of life can be charged with animal cruelty, a Manhattan judge has ruled. Allegations that the defendant left a ‘swollen and bleeding’ paw and other conditions untreated ‘sufficiently demonstrate that the animal was subjected to unjustifiable physical pain,’ Criminal Court Judge ShawnDya L. Simpson wrote. The owner allegedly admitted that he had owned the cat for 15 years and never took him to the veterinarian.” (Noeleen G. Walder, New York Law Journal, Mar. 24).

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6 Comments

  • So if my cat gets cancer and I choose not to spend thousands on chemo and radiation I can be charged with a crime?

  • Animals are property – these kind of laws are stupid. How many kids were beaten in NYC last year, and they are spending how many resources on this BS case?

    I have always said that if animals want rights, they should just ask.

  • What about if I (and/or my pet) belong to a religion that prohibits or otherwise discourages the use of medical science, preferring faith-based healing?

    Perhaps painless euthanasia is the answer?

  • Even I don’t dislike cats enough to give people those kinds of incentives…

    “Shoot, shovel, and shutup – urban edition” (which probably involves a less immediate and more prolonged-suffering sort of death, as firearms discharge is usually illegal in city limits and would be a giveaway, anyway)

    • By Deoxy

  • I don’t consider myself a hard-core animal-rights proponent, but if the cat had an obvious physical injury and the owner knowingly chose not to seek treatment, then it’s pretty clear he was negligent.
    As for Bob Smith’s facetious remark about a cat with cancer, there is another perfectly acceptable “humane” option, which is to have the cat painlessly euthanized and not allow it to suffer.

    • By Sandy T

  • No, but if you allow the cat to suffer in pain, or allow obvious injuries to go untreated, you can be. If you cannot afford to treat the animal, the humane alternative is to pay the small fee to have the animal euthanized. As a last (and in my mind, callous) alternative, you can surrender the animal to the local pound or shelter and they will euthanize it for you. Allowing an animal you own to suffer interminably is cruel, and yes, illegal. If you can’t afford basic care, the answer is simple – don’t own a pet.

    • By Jen