The months-long medieval-style torture of a severely malnourished pit bull has one lawmaker vowing to push tougher anti-cruelty laws and prosecutors saying they’ll throw the book at the depraved sadist behind what one shaken vet called “the worst case of animal abuse” she’s ever seen.

“For me there’s no amount of punishment that’s going to assuage what’s been done to that animal, because there isn’t enough punishment,” said Martha Smith-Blackmore, the Animal Rescue League veterinarian who performed the necropsy on the dog known as “Puppy Doe,” found abandoned in Quincy late last month.

“Whoever was doing this wasn’t thinking about punishment,” Smith-Blackmore said. “They were a sicko who was getting their jollies, whether it was a sexual perversion, a pain perversion or a power perversion.”

The vet called it “unquestionably … hands down” the worst case of animal abuse she has ever seen. The dog’s tongue had been crudely cut to make it forked. “She was a rack of beaten bones. Her joints were pulled apart like medieval times,” Smith-Blackmore said. “She was beaten, stabbed, burned over weeks to months and maybe her whole life. And could not walk. When I saw how vulnerable she was … my heart collapsed.”

State Rep. Louis Kafka (D-Stoughton) called the abuse “sickening” and said he will file a bill to toughen punishment of animal abuse, which now draws a maximum five years in prison and a $2,500 fine.

“It’s obvious that what’s on the books now, they really don’t know or care what the laws are,” said Kafka, who already is pushing a bill toughening other parts of the animal abuse laws. “I think we have to look at existing penalties, and where they can be increased, increase them.”

Authorities issued a plea for the public’s help to find who tortured the 1- to 2-year-old dog, which was euthanized at a Weymouth animal hospital because it “would never live a normal life free of pain,” Smith-Blackmore said.

Quincy City Councilor Brian Palmucci said he would support increasing prison time and fines for animal cruelty.

“I think anyone who shows the depravity to abuse an animal in such a way should face significant penalties,” Palmucci said. “Those people deserve to be behind bars for a long time. It’s not that great of a leap to go from abusing a dog in a serious way to harming people.”

“Given the severity of the conduct here, we would be asking a judge to impose substantial time,” Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said. “It is highly unlikely this level of sadistic cruelty could be shown to one animal and not be part of a pattern involving other animals or perhaps vulnerable people.”

A Quincy resident who saw the beaten dog was stunned. “It’s a wrong thing to do to an animal that can’t defend himself,” said James Burke, who came upon the dog after his neighbor found it walking on their street Aug. 31. “The dog looked awful. It looked like a nice dog. It was looking up at the two of us, wasn’t growling.”

Anyone with information should call the ARL’s Law Enforcement Department at 617-226-5610 or Quincy police at 617-745-5774.