Pakistani court orders autopsy of a pet cat

In a one-of-a-kind judgment on Tuesday, the Lahore High Court in Pakistan ordered the post-mortem examination of a pet cat in a case filed by a woman who claimed that her veterinarian had "murdered my cat".

Moon, a male cat, was buried in the petitioner's Karachi residence, and Justice Anwarul Haq on Tuesday ordered that the pet's body be exhumed and a post-mortem be carried out under the supervision of a judicial magistrate to determine its cause of death, Dawn reported.

In May this year, petitioner Atia Masood Chaudhry requested that the court register a case under Section 429 of the Pakistan Penal Code for the alleged murder of her pet by vet Owais Anees.

Section 429 criminalises "mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees or more".

Masood, an assistant professor at the Punjab University, said her 18-month-old pet cat fell ill on January 18, after which she requested the vet to pay a house call to conduct a check-up for the feline.

Masood alleged that she paid Anees Rs.6,000 per visit, but the vet charged Rs. 25,000 for this particular visit. She said she paid him Rs.10,000, but Dr Anees insisted that she pay the additional Rs.15,000 during the check-up.

She alleged that after her refusal to pay the amount, he gave her cat five injections of Zintac and put the cat on a drip, after which the cat died.