The veterinarian reported that the cat’s scrotum was badly infected and the smell of rotting flesh was obvious. Though the cat’s testicles were intact, the skin and supporting muscle had died and rotted. The veterinarian continued that had the cat not been brought in, he would most likely have died.

In his defense, the man told the judge that he went along with the elastic-around-the-scrotum idea after a friend told him it was “an old farmer’s trick.” (PS, that’s why farmers aren’t veterinarians.) The man was on welfare at the time and could not afford to have the cat properly neutered at a clinic. This friend (some woman he’d known for less than four hours) reassured the man that the elastic band would not cause the cat pain and would force its testicles fall off in 30 days.

During the court proceedings, veterinary professionals testified that it’s true that elastic-band castration techniques are sometimes used with livestock like sheep and cattle. However, in those cases, special elastics are used that are very strong and exert extreme pressure on the connecting tissues, veins and tubes beneath the skin. Also, that has never been a technique as it relates to cats.

The prosecuting attorney stated that the man should known his way of neutering his pet would cause it pain and distress. (Seriously, I mean he has testicles too, right?) He went on to say, “It doesn’t take an expert to know that putting an elastic around your testicles hurts. Ignorance is not a legal defense.”

The cat’s infection was treated and he was properly neutered. He declined to comment on the recent unpleasantness.