A MOTHER and daughter starved their dog so much they have been banned from having pets.

Magistrates heard that Lillian Mitchell and her teenage daughter Jordan Andrews had failed to feed their Boxer-cross dog Tori properly for weeks.

The dog was so badly looked after that it was severely malnourished, suffered with sores on its back and had overgrown nails.

When RSPCA staff turned up to rescue Tori the found her barricaded in a kitchen at their Millbrook home and inspectors get her out through a broken window.

At Southampton Magistrates Court Mitchell, 43, and 19-year-old Andrews, who is also a mum, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the dog.

The pair, of Mardale Walk, were ordered to do 140 hours community service and pay £250 each towards of the case which cost the RSPCA £8,500.

Magistrates also banned them from keeping a pet for up to five years.

Prosecutor Christine Henson said: “The dog appeared to be very underweight, the backbone and ribs were visible. There was also diarrhoea in the middle of the room.”

She added: “PC Taylor [who visited the property at the time] described the dog as jumping up at the window in a desperate manner.”

Tori was treated by a vet, Caroline Loach, who said: “The dog had suffered inadequate nutrition which would have been going on for more than two weeks.

“Any reasonable person would have considered veterinary attention when the dog was becoming so thin.”

Miss Henson said that Mitchell had noticed the dog was not well for a couple of weeks but was unable to do anything about it because she had a “lack of time”.

Andrews did not take the dog to the vets “because she was embarrassed about how the dog had looked” after it had been unwell for three weeks, Miss Henson added.

Defending heavily-pregnant Andrews and Mitchell, Kirstie Leighton said the dog was fed twice a day by Andrews and once a week by Mitchell.

“The dog was slim but they did everything they could to look after her and feed her,” Miss Leighton said.

After a controlled diet, Tori was brought back to full health following a few weeks but was put down in the autumn of last year for being aggressive at the kennel where she was re-homed.

A second charge of failing to ensure welfare of the animal was dropped.