A WOMAN whose dogs lost their hair after suffering a flea infestation for a year has been banned from owning another pet for 10 years.

Mindy and Lucy were left with bald patches and skin disease after Elizabeth McMulkin left the mongrels clawing at their coats.

An SPCA officer found the dogs - which were also underweight - covered in lice and in distress after someone called to complain about the state the 55-year-old had left them in.

Sentencing her at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Sheriff Norman Ritchie told her: "Treating dogs in this way is simply not to be tolerated."

McMulkin, of Hawick Street, Yoker, Glasgow, admitted causing the dogs unnecessary suffering by failing to provide vet treatment between January 20, 2008, and January 20, 2009.

The court heard a Scottish SPCA officer went to McMulkin's house and found one dog distressed, scratching and with overgrown nails.

The other pet also had missing fur on her back and ears and there were live fleas all over her.

When McMulkin was quizzed by police she told them that she couldn't afford vet bills but she admitted knowing that the PDSA would have treated them for free.

Jennifer Connolly of the SSPCA said: "We welcome the sentence that has been given out the dogs were left to suffer unnecessarily which led to a severe secondary skin complaint."