RSPCA urge pet owners to seek help with vet bills

The RSPCA have requested that dog owners seek help if they find their vet bills too expensive, rather than staying quiet and allowing their dogs to suffer. This warning has come after the RSPCA found two dogs dead in a shed in Carmarthenshire. The dogs’ owner, Elizabeth Evans, have received a 26-week suspended sentence for animal cruelty.

The bodies of the dogs were found in a bag in the shed of Mrs Evans’ home by an RSPCA inspector. She has now been banned for life from keeping any animals, has to pay £1,000 in costs and carry out 200 hours of community service.

Nic De Celis, the RSPCA inspector, found the bodies of the dogs after responding to a complaint. He said the bodies of the dogs were so decomposed that their breeds could not be identified. The dogs were in fact a Jack Russell cross (6 years old) named Huggie and a 2 year old bichon frise named Sweetpea.

According to the RSPCA, Evans admitted the dogs had been unwell for some time but as she couldn’t afford vet’s bills she locked them in the shed. She didn’t even know which dog had died first.

Nic De Celis stated:

This was a truly tragic case where two young animals suffered immensely for a long period of time yet the suffering was entirely preventable.

I would urge anyone in a similar situation, struggling to cope with an animal, to seek help before things get completely out of hand as they did in this case.

No one should ever be embarrassed about asking for help – it is the right thing to do.

There are numerous animal welfare charities that are on-hand to give advice and support. Sitting back and allowing animals to suffer is simply not an option.

Similarly I would urge anyone who has suspicions of animals suffering silently in their area to please contact the RSPCA.

If we had received a call earlier it is possible we could have prevented the death of these dogs.

Darren Jamieson