A 53-YEAR-OLD has been banned from keeping animals for two years after he neglected his dog so badly she had to be put down.

Mohammed Ebnereza, of Harold Road, Eastbourne, thought German Shepherd Mischa’s poor condition was acceptable because she was old, the RSPCA said.

But he was prosecuted by the animal welfare charity after inspectors found Mischa, pictured above, in a “very poor bodily condition”, including overgrown claws, an infected mouth, and she was very thin.

An RSPCA spokesman said a vet who examined the elderly female estimated she had suffered for about six months before police found her in November 2013 and called them in.

RSPCA inspector Liz Wheeler said: “This poor dog had simply been left to deteriorate and suffer just because she was old. Her poor condition could easily have been prevented if she had been taken to a vet previously.”

Ebnereza was convicted of two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to Mischa, by failing to investigate and treat the cause of weight loss and mobility problems.

He was sentenced by Eastbourne magistrates on Tuesday.