Woman from Chester banned from owning animals after failing to treat kitten which had leg amputated

A woman from Chester has been banned from owning animals after she failed to get her kitten treatment for a leg injury.

Sophia Flynn only made matters worse for her pet after her attempts to treat Auburn led to its limb being amputated.

Auburn suffered a broken leg after being trapped under a pile of boxes and items in Flynn's flat.

The cat was trapped for approximately 45 minutes to an hour before being bandaged by the owner.

Avoiding the proper process of treatment, the bandages acted as a tourniquet and cut off the blood supply, resulting in necrosis - which is the death of living tissue or cells in an organ due to injury, disease, or lack of blood supply.

With the kitten’s leg suffering from the break, Flynn attempted to treat Auburn with an anti-inflammatory drug called Meloxicam, a medication that was prescribed to her other cat to help the ‘wobbly’ leg.

Flynn, 25, of Sherbourne Avenue, Chester, chose to avoid the help of the vets, as she told magistrates court that she couldn’t afford the operation, which has since been paid for by the RSPCA.

However, the choice to medicate the kitten was also another dangerous step in the unnecessary suffering of the feline.

With the medication being strong enough to overdose Auburn, weighing in at 1.7kg at the time - which would have led to a serious case of vomiting, diarrhoea, and blood and renal failure.

After conditions worsened following the poor treatment that was meant for her other adult cat, Flynn eventually decided to seek treatment on Monday 9 October.

The vets found the cat with a high temperature and a large amount of puss in his leg that needed to be extracted.

The vet said: “Although the administration of pain relief would have reduced some of the pain experienced by Auburn, the treatment was inadequate to treat a hind limb fracture.

“The administration of the bandage or the inadequate level of pain relief, Auburn began chewing at his leg leading to extensive skin damage and a well-established bacterial infection which was unlikely to have occurred if appropriate veterinary advice and treatment had been sought promptly,” the vet added.

Written evidence in court shared that another vet had reviewed x-rays of the kitten, and said that the findings pointed to a fracture of between four to five days old.

The negligence to treat the cat, and the severity of the injuries unfortunately resulted in Auburn’s leg having to be amputated.

With the vet adding: “In my opinion Auburn was caused to suffer as a consequence of Sophia Flynn failing to seek prompt veterinary advice at the time of the injury.

“Suffering will have been experienced by this animal via a mechanism of pain for a period of at least 48 hours, possibly longer.”

Flynn has been banned from owning animals for five years, with the severity of the punishment reduced in mitigation, after the court was told she had mental health issues as well as autism, ADHD and a borderline personality disorder.

The RSPCA has since taken care of Auburn, being looked after by the RSPCA Wirral & Chester Branch.

The charity hope to rehome him after a confiscation order was also imposed by the court.