A Leigh woman has been banned from keeping animals after she left her dog with a tumour the size of a football to die alone in her flat.

Ashleigh Tolley, 28, was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to her labrador called Roo.

Roo was found by inspectors collapsed in the hallway of a flat in Richmond Drive, Leigh, surrounded by her own faeces.

She couldn’t even lift her head due to being so weak and had to be carried out of the property.

Tragically, her health deteriorated rapidly and the decision was made to put her to sleep.

Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court heard how concerned neighbours alerted the RSPCA to Tolley’s flat as they were concerned her dog had been left unattended in the property for some time.

They said they had not seen Tolley for days.

Inspector Emma Dingley was sent to the address on September 7 and knocked on the door. When she got no reply, she looked through the letterbox and could see Roo collapsed on the hallway floor in her own faeces.

She was in an emaciated state and Ms Dingley could see a large tumour on her front leg.

She called the police for assistance so she could enter the property and rescue Roo.

The poor dog was extremely cold and too weak to stand so she was carried out of the property and rushed to the RSPCA’s Greater Manchester Animal Hospital.

Staff at the centre placed heat pads on Roo as she was suffering from hypothermia and gave her fluids as she was severely dehydrated.

The veins were very collapsed, which made placement of a catheter for fluid replacement very difficult.

Vets said the ulcerated tumour, measuring approximately 12cm by 20cm, would have caused Roo suffering for weeks.

Inspector Dingley said: “Roo was in an awful state when I went to rescue her. She was laid in her only faeces and couldn’t stand as she was so weak and in poor health.

“She was freezing as there was no heating in the property so I wrapped her in a blanket and comforted her.

“She was clearly starved and as I cradled her in my arms to carry her to the van she knew I was trying to help her and she tried to wag her tail. It was heart-breaking.

“Staff at the animal hospital were doing all they could to save her but she was basically dying in front of our eyes and there was nothing we could do. She refused to eat even though she was starving.

“Sadly the following day she had deteriorated further so the vet made the decision to put Roo to sleep to end her suffering.

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