A Bronx woman who left her pitbull puppy behind to starve to death after being evicted from her apartment admitted today that she “should have checked” on the dog “but never did.”

Instead, Cherika Alvarez, 30, allowed 18-month-old pup Alize to go weeks without food and clean water, according to ASPCA officials, who found the dog’s badly malnourished corpse stuck to the floorboards of the abandoned Beaumont Avenue basement apartment.

Alvarez is on trial in Bronx Supreme Court, where she faces up to a $1,000 fine and a year in jail if found guilty on animal cruelty charges.

An autopsy showed Alize had two razorblades, ketchup packs and small, sharp pieces of wood in her stomach when she was discovered Jan. 5, 2010. The puppy had no body fat, was found amid a trail of bloody feces and had suffered 4 to 6 weeks of “complete starvation,” authorities said.

On the stand, Alvarez testified she left the dog with a bag of food and a bathtub full of water in November 2009, and had arranged for a man she’d met out walking to take Alize. Alvarez, who has small kids. said she gave the guy her house key and “didn’t check” to see if he’d picked up the dog.

“I didn’t know him from a hole in the wall,” testified Alvarez. “I didn’t get any information from him. I should have been more smart.

“This is what happened when i trusted someone for the first time in my life and gave him the benefit of the doubt. “