BOULDER, Colo. A Boulder woman has been arrested for allegedly killing a cat by blowing heroin smoke into its face, according to Boulder Police.

21-year-old Danielle Blankenship was arrested Tuesday around 11:30 a.m. on charges of cruelty to animals, third degree assault, and domestic violence. She is being held in the Boulder County Jail on $1,500 bond.

Police say they were responding to a domestic violence call in the 1100 block of 30th St. Tuesday morning after Blankenships boyfriend called police to report that she hit him in the face.

Officers say the woman admitted hitting her boyfriend with her fist because he wouldn't let her use his phone to call for a ride. An officer noticed the cat lying on the steps to the downstairs area of the home while the pair was being interviewed.

The cat appeared to be unresponsive, and the cat did not move when the officer touched it, wrote Officer Gregory Perry in a statement. It could not seem to get up.

Blankenships boyfriend claims she was smoking heroin and blew it in the cats face, an allegation the woman denies.

Police asked if the cat, named Muffin, had been hit or kicked accidently, to which Blankenship told officers that she would never hurt the cat.

Animal control then took the animal to get help at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley where vets began treating it for poisoning.

"The vet clinic called the Poison Control Center to try to find out if there were some specific things they could do to revive the cat. They gave it some IVs, and the cat rallied at one point, says Boulder Police Spokeswoman Kim Kobel. They thought it was going to make it, but then it crashed soon after that and it died about 6:30 last night.

Police say they rarely investigate cases like this.

Our animal control officers have seen poisoning before. They have responded to cases where animals get into household cleaners, bleaches, and things like that. This is an unusual case, if it actually is indeed a drug poisoning like this, a heroin poisoning," Kobel says.

Blankenship could felony charges depending on the results of a necropsy on the cat that will be performed Thursday or Friday.


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