THE number of animal cruelty complaints has increased for the second year in Merseyside according to the RSPCA.

Inspectors investigated 3,826 complaints and looked into 10 new welfare concerns every day.

The figure places Merseyside in the top 10 'cruellest' counties in England with Greater London topping the table with 11,259 complaints last year.

In the charity's annual cruelty statistics 141,760 complaints about the welfare of animals were investigated nationally in 2017.

Among the cruelty cases investigated in Merseyside last year, inspector Anthony Joynes attended a house in Wallasey after welfare concerns over an elderly dog named Timmy who had a facial tumour the size of an orange.

16-year-old Timmy was discovered by fire crews at a house who forced entry after becoming concerned about the state of the home.

They found Timmy lying on a sofa in the living room which was covered in rubbish, faeces and mouldy food.

Anthony told the Globe: "The house was in squalor - every room was full of faeces. It was very hard to not stand in faeces as the carpet was full of it.

"It was one of the worst environments I have been in. The ammonia smell from the urine was very strong and there was mouldy food and rubbish on the floor.

"There was no evidence to suggest someone had been living there - there was no food in the fridge and there was no electricity.

"Timmy was essentially using the house as his kennel and as his toilet.

"If he hadn’t have been found when he was, we could have been dealing with a dog on the brink of death, or even the body of a dog.

"I went home that night quite upset and shocked, just thinking about what Timmy went through.

"He is an elderly dog and should have been relaxing on a sofa in a lovely home, not living as he was, in a lonely, dirty environment."

Timmy was treated by a vet and his owner was interviewed by the RSPCA.

Timmy's owner pleaded guilty and was disqualified from keeping all animals for 10 years, received a six-week prison sentence suspended for six months and ordered to pay costs.

He has now been adopted and is living in a farm in Cheshire.

In 2017, the charity received the most calls relating to dogs (2,721), followed by cats (798) and then equines (128).

These figures have made the RSPCA put a 'spotlight' on the increasing number of welfare cases involving horses.

Officers are routinely called out to abandoned horses every day up and down the country, with many of the horses being extremely sick, dead or dying on the arrival of inspectors.

In Merseyside in 2017, the RSPCA received 128 complaints about 113 horses.

The RSPCA’s inspectorate national equine co-ordinator Christine McNeil said: “Up and down England and Wales, horses are being found sick, dying or sometimes dead.

"It is frequently the case that they have been abandoned and left to die.

"This is upsettingly very common and it’s a massive issue - a very sad one at that.

“We are constantly receiving calls to our cruelty line - on average 80 per day about horses alone across England and Wales - as well as messages every day on social media from very concerned and upset people asking for our help.”

For concerns about an animal’s welfare report this to the RSPCA’s cruelty line on 0300 1234 999.