A WOMAN faces a ban from owning animals after pleading guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to her dog.

Gillian Hutton, of Rydal Road, Darlington, accepted that she should have sought help from a veterinary surgeon when her pet labrador-cross, Cassie, started losing weight.

But she disputed allegations by the RSPCA that she had deliberately not fed the dog or left it to sleep outside in bad weather.

The 43-year-old mother-of-two appeared before Bishop Auckland Magistrates yesterday.

Kevin Campbell, for the RSPCA, told the court that there had been an appalling stench of urine and faeces coming from both the house and the rear yard when an inspector was called to the home.

He said that there were two other dogs in the house, which appeared to be healthy, but Cassie was in the yard when the inspector arrived.

The eight-year-old dog's weight had plummeted to 16.7kg, her coat was matted and covered in faeces, and she had a high temperature.

He said the dog should have been expected to have an ideal bodyweight of 25kg.

Mrs Hutton maintained that she fed Cassie every day and at night, but the dog continued to lose weight.

Stephen Andrews, on her behalf, said: "Why would she feed two and not the other? She accepts that there was a problem with the dog putting on and maintaining weight, and that she should have taken the dog to a vet."

Mr Andrews said that his client did not take the dog to the vet because she had money problems and already owed £300 to the vet.

He also said that his client was suffering from depression at the time and was on medication but had now put it all behind her, and she would be mortified to lose the two dogs she had left.

Chairman of the bench Eric Fell told Hutton he was inclined to ban her from keeping animals for a period of time, but adjourned the case for probation reports before deciding on a sentence.