CALGARY - A man argued before an Edmonton court he had no choice but to viciously execute a hard-to-kill "Terminator" cat when it went up against his own elderly pet, which he described as his life-long buddy and only family.

Vernon Blandin had admitted smashing the feisty feline over the head with a flashlight, shooting it in the head with a pellet gun, striking it again with the flashlight, dropping it on cement, then stomping it and putting in a garbage bag before it died.

He was handed a six-month conditional sentence Wednesday for killing the animal and causing it unnecessary pain and suffering.

"I killed that damn cat," the 49-year-old told the judge. "I have to live with that.

"I did it to save my cat's life."

Court had been told that Blandin, an apartment building caretaker, was having a nap in his inner-city home when he woke up to hear his own cat screeching. He found the pet cornered in the kitchen by her food dish, battling it out with another cat that had climbed in through an open window.

Blandin had earlier testified that he feared his cat was going to die and he was only trying to protect it.

Blandin first hissed and lunged at the culprit cat but it wasn't scared away. So he "swung for the fences" with the flashlight and struck the animal. It darted out the window but stopped on the back deck.

Blandin said that's when he fired his pellet gun at the cat and "it went down like a water buffalo."

But when Blandin went into his backyard, he found the animal still alive, bleeding and walking around in circles. He said he wanted to help it by putting it out of its misery, so he bashed it again with the flashlight.

When that didn't work, he dropped it on a cement pad and stomped on it with his foot.

Crown prosecutor Christian Lim told court that Blandin went overboard trying to save his pet.

The offending cat, weighing four kilograms, wasn't a huge cougar or puma, but someone else's pet, said Lim, adding it suffered a "horrible, painful death."

Lim had asked that Blandin serve 15 to 20 months in jail.

Provincial court Judge Fred Day said Blandin is not a monster and believed he was doing the right thing.

Day ruled Blandin can serve his six months under house arrest. The judge refused to ban the man from owning pets in the future.

Blandin's cat survived the attack and didn't require medical attention.

Despite his effort to protect his cat, Blandin said he had to give her up after he was charged — she went to new owners on a farm somewhere.

"She's not my cat anymore."

News from © The Canadian Press, 2016