A severely emaciated poodle with fur so matted that it took a team of two people an hour to shave it off would have suffered in agony for months, a court heard.
The 19-year-old pet named Trigger was put through an “unimaginable level of neglect” and had to be put down.
His ‘stubborn” owner Imelda Speed carried him around in a blanket for weeks after he lost his ability to walk and had never registered him with a vet.
The 68-year-old, of Withens Road in Batley, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal between November 24 last year and January 24 this year.
She was branded an “incompetent owner” by Kirklees magistrates, who handed her a suspended jail term and banned her from keeping pets for the rest of her life.
The Huddersfield court heard that when vet Laura Smith examined Trigger he was completely collapsed with a strong smell of faeces and urine.
Philip Brown, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said the pet had very few teeth remaining and abnormal holes to his upper jaw.
He felt cold, his heart rate was slow and his entire body was covered in thick, matted fur.
Mr Brown said: “The vet concluded that the only humane approach was immediate euthanasia.
“This had to be done with an injection straight into the heart because she was unable to get to any veins in his legs because the matting was so severe.”
Mr Brown told magistrates that Trigger weighed half the expected body weight of an animal of his type and age.
His eyes were closed and sunken, covered in a thick layer of infected discharge.
Mr Brown added: “Trigger was shaved to make an accurate assessment of his bodily condition and it took two people an hour to carry that out.
“His legs couldn’t be shaved because of the damage this caused to the shears.”
Magistrates were told that the dog was “completely devoid of any fat or muscle” and would have got into this state over a “substantial period of time.”
Mr Brown said: “The level of neglect is unimaginable and the vet concluded that any responsible owner would have taken action to alleviate suffering at a much earlier stage.”
Speed admitted that she was stubborn and knew that Trigger would have been put down had she taken him to the vet.
She said she carried him around for three weeks in a blanket and tried to get water into him using a syringe as he wasn’t eating.
Trigger last visited a professional groomer in 2005 and had never seen a vet prior to being put down.
Andy Day, mitigating, said that his client’s daughter called the RSPCA as a last resort.
He told magistrates: “The dog was her sole companion and she was in denial.
“The line well-intentioned but incompetent sums it up quite well – she tried ineffectually to care for him.”
Magistrates sentenced Speed to 18 weeks in prison suspended for a year.
They banned her from keeping animals indefinitely and ordered her to pay £300 costs plus £115 victim surcharge.
