AN RSPCA inspector had to feed and water a ravenous German shepherd through a cat flap at an address in Lymm.

When access was gained to Grove Avenue the following day, the dog was found to be only half its normal body weight.

Owner David Chesterson, 27, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to his dog, Bobby, when he appeared at Northwich Magistrates' Court last Thursday.

Magistrates banned him from having an animal for five years, gave him a community order with unpaid work of 120 hours and ordered him to pay £1,000 costs.

Robin Nightingale, prosecuting, said on July 25 last year, an inspector had been called to the address after reports of an abandoned dog.

He said: "The back of the house was overgrown and littered with dog faeces.

"She looked through the kitchen window and saw tins of food on the table.

"She fed and watered the dog through the cat flap. He took it ravenously and was very thirsty."

The next day the owner was contacted and told the dog's food needed to be increased, as it was seriously underweight through lack of nutrition in his diet.

Mr Nightingale added: "The dog should have weighed somewhere around 40kg and it weighed 24kg. It now weighs 44kg.

"Bobby was not cared for and was not given the right nutrients necessary for his diet. If he had been left in that state much longer it would have been extremely serious."

Chris Johnson defending said: "My client accepts that his care did fall below the standard required.

"It was mainly as a result of him going through difficulties. At the time he was moving house."