A DOG carrying less than half its normal body weight was so hungry it started chewing the furniture, a court heard. German Shepherd Sacha weighed just 29lbs when RSPCA inspectors were called in.

Her bones were showing through her coat, she had become snappy with a seven-year-old boy who lived in the same house and was constantly going to the toilet.

The dog's owner, Spencer Vidler, of Maida Road, Chatham, was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. He denied the offence.

Vidler himself called the RSPCA to his home, in Fisher Road, Chatham, last September. He was desperate to rehouse the dog because it had been chewing his furniture and had become aggressive. He told Medway magistrates the dog had been emaciated and nervous when he brought it at nine-months-old in January last year.

Martin Hobbs, of Meopham Veterinary Surgery described the dog’s condition when the RSPCA took the dog in. He said: “It was extremely emaciated. Because of the severity of the emaciation the likely cause would be the reduction of feeding or starvation.”

Since buying the dog for £65 from an animal sanctuary, Vidler said he had tried to look after the animal the best he could. However the 30-year-old admitted he had not sought advice from a vet. Instead he had called the RSPCA who had told him they would pick up the dog within eight weeks. He was kept waiting more than 16 weeks.

Once the dog was taken in by the RSPCA, it gained 60 per cent of its body weight in just eight weeks, leading to suggestions by prosecuting solicitor Andrew Wiles that had Vidler sought adequate advice, he would have been able to build up Sacha’s weight.

Vidler was given a 50 hours community punishment order and banned from owning or having custody of a dog for three years. He was ordered to pay £360.50 vet’s fees.