Woman starved pet dog so badly it had to be put down

A woman has been banned from keeping animals for four years after starving her pet dog so badly it had to be put down.

Ashley Graham, 35, failed to provide a suitable and nutritional diet for her pet, Lola, and didn’t seek veterinary advice.

The pooch was found with no body fat or muscle, and her skin was hanging off her bones at Graham’s home in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.

Her poor treatment left her suffering from a chronic skin condition and infected wounds had taken away part of her ears.

Lola did not respond to the Scottish SPCA’s treatment and she was put to sleep.

Graham was sentenced to 100 hours’ community payback and a four-year ban from keeping animals.

Scottish SPCA inspector Fiona McKenzie described the condition of Lola as the most horrific she had seen in her 13 years of experience.

“When I first laid eyes on Lola, I was shocked. I could not believe what I was seeing. She was like a walking skeleton.”
Fiona McKenzie, Scottish SPCA inspector

Ms McKenzie said: “I had been called out to Graham’s address after a complaint was made to our animal helpline about Lola’s condition.

“When I first laid eyes on Lola, I was shocked. I could not believe what I was seeing. She was like a walking skeleton.

“She had no body fat or muscle, her skin just hung off her bones. There was no fat on Lola’s head and everything was sunken.

“Her eyes were cloudy with signs of infection and they had sunk back into her eye sockets. Lola was suffering excessive hair loss from what looked like a chronic skin condition and her skin was hot to touch.

“Her ears had infected wounds that had eaten away at the edge of her ears. She was very weak and had a depressed demeanour.

“It was clear Lola was suffering from lack of nutrition and was in need of veterinary attention.”

Ms McKenzie said a vet concluded that Lola’s condition had developed over the course of several months, causing a prolonged period of suffering.

Lola was on antibiotics and a number of treatments, while the vet also extracted her decayed teeth.

“Despite this and the best efforts made by the Scottish SPCA to save her, poor Lola didn’t respond to the treatment for her septicaemia, and the difficult decision was made that the kindest thing for Lola was to put her to sleep to end her suffering,” said Ms McKenzie.

She added: “This is a devastating end to Lola’s life which could have easily been avoided if Graham had provided an adequate diet or had asked a vet for advice sooner.

“Ultimately Graham is responsible for the death of Lola.

“Any sentence is a success but we believe that Lola’s condition should have resulted in a lifetime ban on owning animals.

“We believe this would have been an appropriate sentence for Graham.

“But we do hope this has made her think seriously about her ability to care for any animal in the future.”