Animal welfare inspectors found one cat eating another’s body after their owner abandoned them.
Leanne McConnell, 31, had left the cats, who she named “Fat S***” and “Tilly”, alone in her home for so long that one of them died of thirst and starvation. The other cat and a dog, whom she called “Chunks”, were found emaciated and distressed inside a house in Norris Green last year.
A vet said the animals had been allowed to suffer after McConnell left them without enough food or water.
READ MORE: Woman's pets ate her dead cat after leaving them in house to starve
Sefton Magistrates’ Court heard earlier this week that RSPCA animal inspector Anthony Joynes went round to McConnell’s house with police after members of the public voiced concern for the animals' welfare. When he arrived at the home on Hollingbourne Road on November 14 a neighbour told him they had not seen her for weeks.
He managed to call the 31 year-old and she came round to the house to let him in. Once inside, Inspector Joynes was faced with rubbish and animal faeces littering the home and a strong smell of urine.
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He then found one of McConnell’s cats in a filthy downstairs bathroom eating the cat that had died. The cat that had survived, the one McConnell had labelled "Fat S***", had a matted coat and protruding bones.
Inspector Joynes said: “All of the bones of the male tabby cat were easily palpable through his skin. He also had a marked skin tent and was clearly distressed being found actively feeding on a deceased black and white cat.
“The dead cat appeared to have had her rear legs and pelvic region stripped of the soft tissues leaving exposed bone. The rest of the carcass was in very poor condition with very little muscle and all bones easily palpable through the skin.”
A photo from the home, which the ECHO has chosen not to publish, shows the cat's body lying on the bathroom floor surrounded by dirt and an empty food tray.
Veterinary surgeon Vanessa Whitfield told the court a post-mortem proved inconclusive, but the court heard the most likely cause of death was inadequate nutrition or malnutrition, although she said disease within the missing organs could not be ruled out.
The examination found that a large proportion of the cat’s abdominal organs, muscle tissue and skin were missing and the medic said several of her internal organs had been eaten by the surviving cat.
Dr Whitfield said: “The two cats and dogs were allowed to suffer due to a lack of accessible, clean and fresh water leading to thirst, dehydration and contributing to the death of one of the cats.”
McConnell had admitted three charges of causing unnecessary suffering to protected animals and a fourth charge of failing to meet animal’s needs at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court earlier this year.
When she pleaded guilty the court heard McConnell was suffering with mental health issues when she abandoned the animals and her case was sent to the Complex Case Court for sentencing on Tuesday.
McConnell, now Andrew Street, Walton, was handed a six month jail term suspended for a year and banned for keeping animals for twelve years. She must also pay a £200 fine, £400 in court costs and £447 in RSPCA medical costs.
