A married couple have been banned from keeping animals for 12 years after one of their pets died when they left them without any care to go on a two-week holiday.

WARNING - GRAPHIC IMAGE BELOW

Zara Hicks, 37, and David James Hicks, 41, of Hemsby Road, Chessington, appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court yesterday for sentencing.

They previously admitted not making arrangements to provide adequate care and supervision for their pets, and causing unnecessary suffering to one of their cats by not providing proper and necessary veterinary care.

RSPCA inspectors visited the home in September after concern was raised to us about the brown female poodle cross called Honey, a tortoisehell male cat called Twitch and a tabby male called Dribble.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said they arrived to discover Dribble had already died and had been suffering from a tumour and associatioed illness which his owners had not provided treatment for.

Surrey Comet:

Dribble, a male tabby cat, had been left without treatment for a tumour and died while the Hicks' were on a two-week holiday

The other pets were alive but neglected and distressed, living in a kitchen covering in faeces.

RSPCA chief inspector Kerry Gabriel said: “With the Easter holidays coming up, this case is a reminder to pet owners of the importance of ensuring their animals are safe and cared for when they go away.

“It is not enough to just leave a couple of bowls of food down - dogs, cats and, indeed, all domestic animals, need proper supervision and care.

“In this case one of the cats sadly died while the couple had gone away on their holiday for two weeks, due to lack of veterinary care. This would have been a very lonely and probably painful death, poor thing.

“The other two were very neglected and distressed, and covered in fleas. This was a case of pet owners completely failing to provide the care they should have.”

Surrey Comet:

Twitch and Honey have been taken into the care of RSPCA officers 

The Hicks' were banned from keeping all animals for 12 years and made to pay £400 in costs.

Mrs Hicks was given a prison sentence of 20 weeks, suspended for two years, and a community order to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

Mr Hicks was given a 12 week prison sentence, suspended for two years, and a community order of 160 hours of unpaid work.

Honey and Twitch were taken by police and placed into RSPCA care where they remain.

The court issued a deprivation order yesterday in the hope that the charity can find the animals new homes soon.

Anyone interested in rehoming them should keep an eye on the rehoming site here.