The owners of a sausage dog which was so emaciated that it had to be put down say they have received death threats after being convicted of animal cruelty offences.
Daniel Kilty, 42, and Kelly Utting, 37, faced outrage after the RSPCA released a horrific picture of their malnourished miniature dachshund Duggy in a pitiful condition.
They were each fined £1,100 and banned from keeping animals for ten years after being convicted in their absence of failing to meet the needs of their pet.
But the couple who have seven children and still own seven other dogs insisted today that they were animal lovers and did not deliberately starve two-year-old Duggy.
They instead claimed that he had fallen sick and lost weight after suffering a mystery illness, and that they had tried in vain to get help from vets as weight dropped off him.
Utting who lives with Kilty in Lowestoft, Suffolk, said: ‘We’ve had death threats on social media over this – but I have loved dogs all my life.’
In an exclusive interview with , she added: ‘We did not set out to harm Duggy. He fell ill and we were still feeding him, but he started losing loads of weight. We tried to get help from the vets.
‘I have never mistreated an animal. My dogs are not starved. They are fed every day. Even if I have not got money for dog food myself, I borrow it from someone.’
Kilty, who works as a carer, said: ‘We may have to move house over this. It’s wrong to say that we deliberately starved Duggy. We all loved him.’
Great Yarmouth magistrates court heard how the RSPCA launched an investigation after Duggy was taken to a vet by Utting’s brother in December, 2023.
Duggy was said to be in a ‘barely conscious collapsed state with low blood pressure and was hypothermic’.
An RSPCA statement said: ‘He was also in an emaciated bodily condition with the ribs and pelvic bones showing.
‘Duggy was unaware of his surroundings and was kept warm until owner consent could be obtained for euthanasia as sadly nothing else could be done to save him.’
An expert vet who examined evidence in the case concluded in a report: ‘Duggy suffered as a consequence of his emaciated bodily condition.
‘Suffering will have been experienced by this animal via mechanisms of weakness, fatigue, general malaise, exercise intolerance and eventual collapse.
‘In my opinion the needs of Duggy have not been met to the extent required by good practice due to the person(s) responsible for the welfare of this animal failing to seek prompt veterinary advice regarding his sub-optimal bodily condition, thereby failing to protect him from suffering.’
Utting and Kilty were earlier convicted of failing to ensure Duggy’s needs were met by either not providing a suitable diet, not protecting him from pain, suffering, injury or disease or not adequately addressing his underweight condition.
The offences were alleged to have happened between November 28, 2023, and December 21, 2023.
The couple also failed to attend their sentencing hearing on February 21 where they were also each ordered to pay £1,081 in costs and a victim surcharge of £440 in addition to being fined.
RSPCA inspector Emily Astillberry said after the hearing: ‘When I started the investigation, I was sent photos and a video of poor Duggy and he was one of the thinnest dogs that I have ever seen.
‘Every rib and vertebra is clearly prominent and his hips and pelvic bones are protruding beneath his skin.
‘It was heartbreaking to see a dog in such an emaciated condition and this weight loss would not have occurred overnight.
‘He had suffered by the failure of his owners to seek veterinary attention to find out what had been causing his weight loss and it would have been clear to any responsible owner that he needed veterinary assistance.’
Furious social media users labelled the couple as ‘evil’, ‘scum bags’ and ‘wicked people’ after seeing the picture of emaciated Duggy online.
One user commented on the Lowestoft Journal’s Facebook page said: ‘Anyone that can continue to feed themselves whilst an animal in their care starves is a vile hums (sic) being with no morals!’.
Another added: ‘Absolute scum. Should have got 10 years each in prison and a lifetime ban from keeping animals.’
The RSPCA insisted that the couple’s disqualification order meant their other animals would now have to be rehomed, signed over to the charity or seized by the police.
But Utting and Kilty said today that they were still looking after their four other dachshunds, two French bulldogs and a Rottweiler/Staffordshire cross.
Utting said: ‘The RSPCA came round to inspect all our other dogs after Duggy died and they found that they were all fine.
‘I don’t know anything about any order because I have heard nothing from the court. They are all family pets and we want to keep them.’
She added that she and Kilty had missed their trial as the date clashed with a hospital appointment for one of their children.
Kilty described how Duggy had fallen ill over three weeks, saying: ‘I was feeding him, but his weight was dropping off.
‘He would eat but, and he would put weight on and then he would get sick and start losing it again.
‘I spoke to the vets twice on the phone, but they couldn’t get me in. I took him to the vets, but they turned him away because they had no vets.
‘Three days later Kelly’s brother took him in because I was at work, and I couldn’t do it. They then decided that he had to be put down.
‘The RSPCA came to look at our other dogs, but found they were fine. Why would we have decided to starve just one dog, and not the rest.’
Utting said: ‘My brother rushed Duggy to the vets because of the state he was in. He was getting worse and throwing up blood. They just put him down and handed him back to us.’
She suggested that Duggy may have died after eating rat poison which she believed had been put down by a local resident living near their home.
Utting said that another dachshund that she owned – 23-month-old Chester – had also died in December 2023, and vets believed rat poison was responsible.
But she said that no postmortem or tests were carried out on Duggy to determine whether he had eaten poison, or what had caused his illness.