A dog was left to starve and live in its own faeces at a flat in Arbroath.
The Staffordshire bull terrier named Chunky belonged to Curtis Waters (23), Keptie Street, who admitted causing the animal unnecessary suffering at his home address by failing to provide sufficient food and drink, causing its condition to deteriorate between October 14 and 28.
On Tuesday Arbroath Sheriff Court heard the animal had been discovered by Waters’ tenancy support worker who had gone to the address to locate him.
Depute fiscal Alastair Learmont said, “She had been attempting to contact Mr Waters and been leaving voicemails and posting letters through his door.
“On October 28 at 4pm she attended at Keptie Street and on looking through the letter box she could see Chunky and could clearly see the dog’s ribs and its faeces on the floor.
“Upset, she contacted the police to report her concern for Mr Waters and his dog.”
The police attended and observed that the dog was in a poor condition and that there was no food or drink left out for the animal.
SSPCA officers were called to visit the site and take photographs of the animal and the state of the property it had been abandoned in.
The dog was then taken to Abbey Vets where it was examined.
Chunky’s condition rating scored just one out of a possible five, where a normal dog would be expected to score four or above.
Mr Learmont added, “The test showed the dog had an extremely poor body condition but had not suffered any long-term damage.”
When interviewed by police, Waters was asked how often he fed his dog, responding, “Most of the time every day, but not yesterday.”
Waters’ defence agent said he was having personal difficulties at the time and added, “The animal was probably in better condition than Mr Waters.”
Sheriff Richard McFarlane branded Waters “irresponsible” before fining him £330 and disqualifying him from owning any animal for a year.
Chunky has made a full recovery and has been re-homed by the SSPCA.