The calculating 44-year-old wrapped pooch Rory in a blood-stained sheet and told the vet she had stumbled across an abandoned pet.
The bedraggled dog was so seriously ill with mange - a skin condition caused by a parasitic mite - he was bleeding from numerous open sores, barely able to stand and clumps of fur had fallen out.
Hereford Magistrates Court heard Bowley pretended she was a Good Samaritan in crude attempt to dodge paying the £600 bill for the medical treatment he so desperately needed.
She pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by failing to seek treatment and mistreating a dog.
The court heard Rory had suffered the painful skin condition of mange for at least three months - half of his young life - before Bowley, of Redhill, Hereford, finally took him to the vets.
On March 15, this year, she took him to Laurels Veterinary Surgery in Hereford, where she claimed he was a stray.
Chris Reed, defending, said Bowley was ‘in an incredibly difficult position’ because she simply could not afford a £600 vet bill.
He said: ‘It’s easy when you look back in hindsight and say what she should have done and could have done. Mrs Bowley followed the advice she was given by a vet and sought treatment. She is pleading guilty on the basis that perhaps she could have sought treatment earlier than he did.’
Bowley will be sentenced next month.
(Daily Mail UK - July 5, 2012)
