Veterinarian agrees to forfeit license amid abuse claims

PINE VILLAGE, Ind. (AP) - A northwestern Indiana veterinarian who denies allegations that she kicked barking dogs and abused them in other ways has agreed to surrender her state licenses and close her practice.

Cathy Alinovi will surrender her veterinary licenses for 99 years, meaning she will never again work as a veterinarian in Indiana, Patricia Gibson, deputy attorney general in the Licensing Enforcement and Homeowner Protection Unit, wrote in an email to state witnesses against Alinovi. A state board still must approve that agreement, which was reached Wednesday.

Alinovi's former employees accused her in July of mistreating animals at the holistic veterinarian practice she operates in the Warren County town of Pine Village.

Alinovi refused to sign a settlement offered to her Jan. 28 by the attorney general's office, because she didn't agree with the allegations the state wanted her to admit to, she told the (Lafayette) Journal and Courier (http://on.jconline.com/1SP2Xz7 ).

"I will not be put into a position to live a lie," she said.

Instead, Alinovi decided to resign her license.

"I can sleep well because I didn't sign to a bunch of lies," she said.

A complaint filed by her former employees in July includes 18 allegations of abuse, including swinging dogs around on a leash and into a wall, and over-sedating dogs, causing their deaths, which she blamed on surgical complications.

Alinovi said in September that the complaints of abuse, fraud and unethical business practices stem from a disgruntled former employee, whose allegations were investigated by local authorities and dismissed in 2014. The employee then took the allegations to the state, she said.

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Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.com