THE new owner of a dog which RSPCA officers called the "thinnest" they had rescued has spoken out against animal cruelty.

Ria Hartland adopted then 18-month-old brindle greyhound Blacks early last year after he was found in an emaciated condition in a filthy kennel in Newport with no food, bedding or water.

He was seized shaking, timid and unsteady on his feet from his former owner by police, with every bone in his body protruding.

Vets found the severely underweight and malnourished animal weighed just 14.9kg, and had a body condition score of one out of five.

RSPCA inspector Emma Smith said: “This was one of the thinnest dogs I have ever seen.

"Every individual rib and nodule on his backbone could be counted. He had no muscle or fat coverage whatsoever and it was actually uncomfortable on the hands to try and stroke the dog due to all the angles of the bones sticking out.”

But thanks to a carefully planned diet and the love of Mrs Hartland, Blacks has made a full recovery and has been re-named Dash.

Mrs Hartland, speaking after the RSPCA revealed that more than 1,600 complaints involving cruelty of dogs and cats were made in Gwent last year, said: "It is just awful what he went through. For the first couple of months he could not have any treats because of his stomach, because he was having the runs all the time. He can have treats now though!

"He loves his walks, but he can be a bit of a couch potato too! We walk about three miles every day and he will have a run."

The animal lover first saw Dash on RSPCA Newport Animal Centre’s Facebook page.

She added: “I just fell in love. The day after I went straight down to the centre and I was there before the doors even opened.

"When they brought him out I was kneeling and he put his head on my shoulder - and that was it! He is a dream dog and he is so cwtchy.”

Last August, magistrates sentenced Dash's former owner to four weeks custody and banned him from owning animals for ten years.

Another nasty case in Newport last year saw a man and woman disqualified from keeping cats for ten years after they failed to treat their cat Furby’s abscess.

After using an RSPCA vet voucher at first, the couple did not continue with treatment and further vet visits.

Inspector Nicola Johnson said: “He is a beauty of a cat. It took a long time for him to heal, it took us months and months.

“This case is an example of where people should be made aware that if something isn’t mended they should keep on going back to the vets until it is sorted. It is the owner’s responsibility to make sure their pet is not suffering."

He has now been re-homed in Cardiff.