A couple have been convicted of animal cruelty after their pet Persian cat Oscar (pictured) had his leg amputated without anaesthetic by one of them.
An Australian couple have been convicted of animal cruelty after hacking their pet cat Oscar's leg off without anaesthetic.
The Persian cat suffered a broken right leg after he was struck by a car leaving flesh and blood exposed.
But it was the injuries inflicted by his owners that brought the RSPCA in.
Owners Dharme Kinsey and Amy Matthews, of Queensland, failed to take Oscar to the vet following the collision.
His mangled leg worsened as the days went by.
Kinsey then picked up a knife and cut Oscar's dead leg off without anaesthetic or pain relief.
Text messages from Matthews suggested the couple had worried about the RSPCA stepping in and didn't "have money for vets".
"There is flesh and bone exposed and [the] smell is bad," Matthews wrote in one message.
While in another she stated: "Dad just cut cat's leg off with a tommy hawk knife, didn't hurt him cause it was dead, now the dead legs on neighbours roof looking at me ha ha."
An RSPCA inspector found Oscar in a dog kennel with blood on his open shoulder wound.
Oscar was taken to the vet and found to be underweight and anaemic.
RSPCA prosecutor Nicole McEldowney said Matthews denied chopping Oscar's leg off, saying it "may have fallen off".
In a text message the couple also admit to throwing Oscar's hacked leg on to the neighbour's roof.
Matthews was fined A$1000 ($1093) and ordered to pay another A$1100 in costs to the RSPCA, while Kinsey was also fined $1000, ordered to pay A$2800 in vet fees and handed a three-month suspended jail sentence for his animal cruelty charge.
Speaking in court he said: "I worked with race horses. I am remorseful. I considered it humane what I did. It's a one-off thing."
The couple, who own another cat and two dogs, will have the animals seized after being banned from keeping pets until the end of 2025.