The kitten was not brought to the veterinarian until eight days after it fell into a bathtub of boiling water.
PALMER – A 50-year-old Depot Street woman denied an animal cruelty charge this week in Palmer District Court after her kitten had to be euthanized because it fell into a tub of boiling water and care was delayed for eight days.
Rhoda D. Hathaway was charged by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ law enforcement division, which was notified after she took the female kitten named Motley to Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society shelter in Springfield.
Court documents state the kitten was burned on approximately 30 percent of her body.
According to MSPCA officer Christine Allenberg’s investigation report in the court file, Allenberg was called on March 8 by Dakin employee Brenda Forsell, who said a kitten had been surrendered on Feb. 25, sometime after it fell into scalding water in a bathtub. The owner, Hathaway, had relinquished all ownership rights to the kitten at Dakin.
“‘Motley’ had such an incredible odor of infection, was shaking and chewing on her burned flesh that she was immediately rushed by Forsell to Northampton Animal Clinic,” Allenberg wrote.
Due to the severity of the kitten’s injuries, she had to be euthanized. Allenberg said she contacted the Northampton veterinarian who told her the kitten was 13 weeks old, in extreme pain and unable to walk normally.
Hathaway told Allenberg that what happened to the kitten was an accident, and that she was not home at the time. Hathaway was notified by her boarder, Terry Clark, who called her about it, according to Allenberg’s report.
The report stated that Hathaway bathed the kitten daily in Aussie shampoo to keep her clean because she had no money to take her to a veterinarian. Clark told Allenberg that she boiled water on the stove to fill the tub for a bath because the residence has a small hot water heater.
Hathaway, who did not return a call for comment, is scheduled to return to court on June 15 for a pretrial hearing. An animal cruelty charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in state prison or 2 ½ years in the House of Correction.
An adoption counselor at Dakin, Ashley Loehn, wrote that Hathaway left in tears when she was told the kitten likely would be euthanized.