A Texas State University student said she was forced to flush her emotional support animal down an airport toilet after Spirit Airlines blocked her from bringing the pet on her flight.

Belen Aldecosea, 21, told the Miami Herald that she verified twice with Spirit Airlines that she could bring Pebbles — a pet dwarf hamster certified by her doctor as an emotional support animal — before she arrived at the Baltimore airport to fly to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Ms. Aldecosea, who was flying home to have a golf-ball size growth removed from her neck, said Spirit told her it was OK to bring the hamster, which the airline confirmed.

“Our reservation representative, unfortunately, did misinform the guest that a hamster was permitted to fly as an emotional support animal on Spirit Airlines,” airline spokesman Dombrowski told The Herald.

But when Ms. Aldecosea tried to board her flight, Spirit employees informed her that rodents were not allowed and could not be stored in cargo. She said she accepted a flight later that day to try to figure out what to do with Pebbles, but didn’t know anyone who could come and pick her up. She said that’s when a Spirit employee advised her to release the animal outside or flush it down the toilet — a claim the airline denies.

“To be clear, at no point did any of our agents suggest this guest — or any other for that matter — should flush or otherwise injure an animal,” Mr. Dombrowski told The Herald.

Ms. Aldecosea said she fretted for hours on what to do with Pebbles and tried to book a rental car with six different agencies to no avail. She finally decided that ending the hamster’s life quickly by flushing her would be the most humane.

“I didn’t have any other options,” she told The Herald. “She was scared. I was scared. It was horrifying trying to put her in the toilet.

“I was emotional. I was crying. I sat there for a good 10 minutes crying in the stall,” she said.

Ms. Aldecosea is now considering filing a lawsuit against Spirit over conflicting instructions she was given regarding emotional support animals.

She said Spirit offered her a voucher for a free flight to certain cities, but she declined.

“It is incredibly disheartening to hear this guest reportedly decided to end her own pet’s life,” the airline said in a statement Thursday.

Animal rights organization PETA said Thursday that Ms. Belen should face charges for animal cruelty.

“One phone call could have saved this animal, or some kind person at the airport could have helped,” Daphna Nachminovitch, senior vice president of PETA’s Cruelty Investigations Department, told Life & Style magazine. “Flushing a living being down a toilet is not only cruel but also illegal, and both the person who killed this animal and Spirit Airlines — if an employee did, in fact, advise the woman to drown the hamster — should be charged. This must have been a horrific, terrifying death.”