DFW News App

A 51-year-old Alton man was arrested last Friday on charges that he acted as a veterinarian after his friend’s pit bull escaped and brutally attacked a neighbor’s cat, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Carlos Alberto Gutierrez is charged with practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

The charge stems from an incident that happened on Aug. 1, 2025 at about 8:35 p.m. when Mission police were dispatched to the 3000 block of Hackberry Avenue in reference to the attack.

The reporting party told an officer that he was asleep “when all of a sudden, he heard his cat screaming very loudly.”

The man said he went outside and saw a white pit bull with patches fleeing from his property. While looking for his cat, he made contact with the dog’s owner as she was walking by with a leash. She told the man she was looking for her dog that had escaped from her backyard, according to the affidavit.

The pit bull’s owner offered to pay for medical treatment for the cat, which was found injured with its rear legs not moving.

The officer determined the dog had escaped from a small opening in a backyard fence and its owner told the officer that she had a friend — Gutierrez — “who was a veterinarian and that he would be checking the cat.”

The officer and pet owners then waited for Gutierrez to arrive, according to the affidavit.

“Once Carlos arrived, he picked up the cat and said that it did not have any broken bones and proceeded to move the cat’s legs,” the affidavit stated.

The reporting party’s mother then asked Gutierrez whether the cat might have internal injuries or internal bleeding because it had been spayed on July 22.

“He said that there was nothing wrong with the cat and that the cat was in shock, and that it would be fine,” the affidavit stated.

The woman and her son asked Gutierrez how he could know that without conducting an X-ray. The affidavit said that Gutierrez agreed to do an X-ray and bring medication to treat the cat the next morning.

As Gutierrez continued to assess the cat, its owner, his mother and his girlfriend asked him if he was a licensed veterinarian. Gutierrez and his friend both replied “yes,” the affidavit stated.

The next day, the cat’s owner sent Gutierrez a text saying that the cat’s condition had worsened.

Gutierrez never showed up and the cat was taken to the McAllen Urgent Vet Clinic where an X-ray revealed it had a traumatic internal injury.

“The cat was euthanized,” the affidavit stated.

On Aug. 5, 2025, an investigator with the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners interviewed all of the parties with the exception of Gutierrez and his friend who “refused to provide a statement.”

The case was handed over to the Mission Police Department who attempted to make contact with the pit bull’s owner, but was unable to. An investigator reviewed body worn camera footage from the day of the attack and confirmed that Gutierrez “said he was a ‘Vet.’”

On Dec. 3, the investigator made contact with Gutierrez at the McAllen Convention Center where he agreed to talk about the incident.

The affidavit said that Gutierrez admitted he went and checked on the injured cat, “but never said he was a veterinarian.”

“He also stated that he has never performed any veterinarian services for the Sharyland ISD FFA,” the affidavit stated.

The investigator told Gutierrez that the body worn camera footage “would be reviewed frame by frame and that if he did say he was a ‘Vet,’ he would be arrested,” the affidavit stated.

Gutierrez bailed out of the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center Friday on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond, records show.

The post Alton man arrested for claiming to be vet after friend’s pit bull attacks cat appeared first on MyRGV.com.