CONVICTED (2024) | cat hoarder Teresa Hawtin, born c. 1975, of Duport Road, Burbage, Hinckley LE10 – kept 58 felines in a faeces- and urine-covered flat.
Two of the 58 cats found at Hawtin’s flat were were dead when the RSPCA entered the property. A third cat was put to sleep after being transferred into the charity’s care.
Hawtin claimed to be a “caring cat lover” who had previously run a cat rescue service.
However, in the preceding six months or so, the number of cats she was looking after had “increased dramatically” due to people asking her to “take in stray cats and cats that had been abandoned”.
RSPCA Inspector Helen Smith said Hawtin’s flat in Shilton Road, in Barwell, Leicester, was “one of the worst properties” she had attended in her 25 years as an inspector. She added the smell of urine and faeces was “overpowering”, with excrement covering “every surface” in the flat except for a small sofa.
Litter trays were overflowing, she said, and there were pools of diarrhoea on the floor. There were also “hundred of flies alive and dead”, the RSPCA said.
All of the remaining cats have since been re-homed, the charity added.
Ms Smith said: “The environment was completely unsuitable, and the smell from the ammonia was overpowering.
“The defendant also claimed she had run a cat rescue, but the conditions these cats were kept in were completely inappropriate for such a large number of cats.
“The RSPCA had tried to help the defendant on a large number of occasions – but she chose to ignore any offers of support.”
Hawtin pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the needs of the majority of the cats were met, and failing to ensure they had a suitable, hygienic and safe environment. She was found not guilty of causing unnecessary suffering and of not providing timely and appropriate veterinary treatment for eight of them.
She told the court she had tried her best and felt those eight cats did not need veterinary treatment at the point at which she was looking after them, prior to the RSPCA attending. She added that she realised there were too many to look after and that was the reason she signed them over to the care of the RSPCA.
Sentencing | ordered to pay £100 in costs, a fine of £230 and a victim surcharge of £92. Banned from keeping cats for just two years (expires March 2026).
Shocking