Owner says cat abused by groomer

  Eyewitness News

BAY RIDGE-WABC (WABC) -- One veterinarian calls it the worst case of animal abuse he's seen in 30 years.

Police say Nusha, a three-pound Burmese cat, was viciously beaten by a groomer, who now faces criminal charges and a year behind bars.

Eyewitness News reporter Michelle Charlesworth has the story from Brooklyn.

Cat owner Igor Kisil claims his groomer savagely beat his cat and gave her back bleeding in her cat carrier. That was in June. She's better now.

After seeing Nusha, his 6-year-old cat, injured, he says he was a mess.

"She was in pain," he said. "She was definitely in pain. You could see the blood on her face."

The blood had him calling police, and he says officers came an hour and a half later. He said they never saw Nusha and said it wasn't their jurisdiction.

Kisil says he had pre-paid for the grooming at $50 a pop. He never got his money back, he never got an apology and he says he had to wait four hours after he was supposed to pick Nusha up.

What is the groomer's story? We got only a question from the attorney. Why did it take eight hours for the cat's owner to get medical attention?

To that, Kisil says look at the medical records. It shows that 10:45 p.m. was her in-time for treatment, and she suffered "severe blunt traumas," plural, to her head and organs.

"She's never going to be the same cat again," he said. "She went through some type of bad psychological trauma."

He explains that five hours passed because he was waiting for police and then looking for an animal hospital open late at night.

Michelle: "So are you going to a different groomer?" Kisil: "No, we don't. I am scared."

Those days, he says, are over. The case goes to court this spring.

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