A NEWPORT woman was banned from keeping pets after abandoning her dog for days without food or water.

Cheryl Denise Forster, of Christchurch Road, yesterday pleaded guilty to charges of abandoning the Staffordshire bull terrier, known as Tommy. The dog was found after five days of neglect, covered in its own faeces, shaking, cowering and dehydrated.

Abergavenny magistrates court heard how on November 8 last year the 32-year-old left the pet at her then home in Laburnum Avenue, Somerton, while she went to stay at another house ten minutes away.

Martin Prowell, representing the RSPCA, told the court that on November 10 a housing officer taped the front door of the house to check if it was being used.

He said: "She returned on November 11 and 12 and the tape had not been moved, no-one had been to the property."

When the officer returned on November 13 the dog was discovered and the RSPCA were called in.

Mr Prowell added: "Had the dog been left 48 hours longer he would have suffered dehydration that could have been fatal.

"But nobody actually returned to the house until November 16 - more than 48 hours later."

Andrew Duncan, representing Forster, told the court his client had been bed-ridden with a stomach infection.

He said: "This is not a case where the animal had been mistreated for a number of years, the dog was not skin and bone. "It was a one-off situation."

But Abergavenny magistrates yesterday deprived Forster of the ownership of the dog and disqualified her from having custody of any other animal for two years.

She was also fined £50 and ordered to pay £250 costs.