Gainesville Police arrested a man after he allegedly poisoned two of his neighbors cats Oct. 2 after threatening to kill them the day before.
Jason and Tyanna Ceglia, 28 and 26, returned to their home that day to find one of their cats, Oreo, dead in front of their house while the other, Dakota, was severely sick.
Terry Guider, a 46-year-old Gainesville man, was arrested Monday, a little over a week after the alleged incident, claiming he poisoned the cats because they entered his yard and scratched his vehicle, according to a Gainesville Police Department arrest report.
He was charged with felony animal cruelty and is being held at the Alachua County Jail, according to court records. No bail has been set yet.
Guider went to his neighbors’ home and spoke into the Ring camera Oct. 1.
“I will kill your cats if they come on my property again,” he said, according to the arrest report.
The couple wasn’t home at the time of the crime but a friend who was watching the cats was. Guider began arguing with Jason and Tyanna’s friend.
After a brief conversation with the couple's friend, Tyanna said over the Ring camera “Please leave my yard,” which Guider did, according to the arrest form.
Tyanna had to ask Guider to leave several times before he left the property, she said.
Guider then intentionally poured antifreeze inside a can of cat food and put it into his yard, which poisoned the cats, Oreo and Dakota, after they ate it, according to the arrest report.
An autopsy of Oreo’s body was performed at the UF Animal Hospital Oct. 3. The diagnosis found the cat had ethylene glycol poisoning, a common ingredient in antifreeze, according to the arrest report.
Dakota went into kidney failure on Monday and was put down, Tyanna said.
Guider admitted to police that he would kill the cats again. He also said his brother gave him the idea to put antifreeze in the cat’s food, according to the arrest report.
Contact Jordan Ramos at jramos@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @JordanR68971799.
Jordan Ramos is a fourth-year journalism major who spends his time singing in two different choirs and his a cappella group.
