A woman who took her severely emaciated dog to the vet, not knowing it was already dead, has been banned from owning another canine for five years.

Not only did Abby suffer, but so did two other dogs, which ended with heavy penalties for owner Wei Liu, including 250 hours of community work.

The SPCA brought charges under the Animal Welfare Act after it was alerted in September 2020 when Liu took mixed-breed Abby to an Auckland veterinary clinic.

The dog was severely emaciated, with her bones clearly visible.

She told a nurse at the clinic that she used to own Abby, but had given her to a friend and had "unexpectedly found the dog" on her property that morning. When vet staff examined the dog, they discovered she had recently died.

When Liu was told that Abby was dead, she became upset and left the clinic.

SPCA chief executive Andrea Midgen said a dog's condition, and the fact no one reported it, is shocking. Photo / Doug Sherring New Zealand Herald

An autopsy revealed Abby weighed just 6.9kg. The pathologist concluded that Abby had been suffering from the effects of what was likely starvation for a period of weeks to months.

Less than a month after being alerted to Abby's case, the SPCA responded to complaints about underweight dogs being kept in dirty living conditions at Liu's Auckland address.

SPCA inspectors found a male poodle-cross named Arthur, and a male husky named Amber. Both animals were removed from the property immediately because of concerns about their condition and dirty environment.

A vet found both animals to be severely underweight, with their bones visible. Amber also had overgrown nails, a matted undercoat and Fanconi Syndrome - a type of kidney disease that can be either congenital or induced by being fed poor-quality jerky-type treats.

The vet said inadequate nutrition was a significant contributing factor to Amber's poor body condition.

Liu admitted to the SPCA she owned all three dogs and despite saying she had given Abby to a friend she was unable to provide details of who that was.

She said she had been feeding the dogs raw meat and dog food, and although Arthur and Amber were showing clear signs of emaciation, she did not seek vet treatment.

SPCA chief executive Andrea Midgen said it was not only appalling that the dog was left to starve for such a significant period of time, but that no one intervened or reported Abby's condition until it was too late.

"It's hard to imagine just how much this dog would have suffered in the final weeks of her life, while she was wasting away because her owner, or the person caring for her, had neglected her so severely."

Midgen said feeding a pet a balanced and nutritional diet was one of the most basic responsibilities of being a pet owner. She said not only was the defendant making her dogs sick by feeding them the wrong food, she wasn't feeding them enough to a point they were starving.

Liu was sentenced in the Auckland District Court yesterday to 250 hours community work, ordered to pay $1000 reparation and disqualified from owning dogs for five years on charges that included the ill-treatment of an animal causing it to suffer unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress.

-  Tracy Neal, Open Justice