'Walking skeleton': Woman avoids jail despite 'worst animal cruelty' case

This is how Charlie looked when RSPCA officers took him in 2016. Photo / 7 News

A South Australian woman has escaped jail time despite starving her dog to the point where it was just "skin and bone" and looking like a "walking skeleton".

Nancy Thomson pleaded guilty to two counts of ill-treating an animal in what is being described as one of the worst animal cruelty cases in Australian court history.

Charlie, an 18-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier, was so malnourished his ribs and spine were horrifically visible and his overgrown nails were so long that they had curled up all the way around and were embedded into his feet pads.

The 18-year-old struggled to stand and was suffering from significant pain.

Charlie was just skin and bone by the time RSPCA investigators discovered him. Photo / 7News

"I'm not sure having sat for a number of years now and dealt with a number of these cases that I've seen an animal in poorer condition than this one," Magistrate Paul Foley said in court.

"I regard this as one of the most serious examples of neglect that I have seen."

Outside court, RSPCA Inspector Cheryl Doudle said when Charlie was seized he looked like a "walking skeleton".

"The dog was in a horrendous condition, it was the skinniest dog I have ever seen, I was surprised it was still alive," she said.

"It was just like a walking skeleton, he had no hair, you could see every single bone in his body.

The neglect was so severe, Charlie's nails were embedded into his pad. Photo / 7News

When RSPCA inspectors first showed up at Thomson's home, she presented two other dogs instead of the abused Charlie.

But it wasn't until a second visit that RSPCA inspectors pounced on Thomson.

"When I seized him I wasn't even sure of what breed he was because he was so thin," RSPCA inspector Cheryl Doudle told 7 News.

Thomson tried to blame her mother-in-law, who has since died, for the neglect but the magistrate dismissed those claims.

"It defies reason to conclude you weren't aware of the condition the dog was in," Magistrate Paul Foley said.

After just a few weeks of proper care and feeding at the RSPCA, Charlie gained 37 per cent of his body weight.

Charlie now lives with a foster family. Photo / RSPCA

The dog returned to full health and now lives with a foster family.

Thomson's three-month jail term was suspended, instead given a good behaviour bond.

She is also allowed to keep her other pets.