JOHNSTON — A 20-year-old woman pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty charges this morning after authorities accused her of muzzling her two pit bulls and abandoning them in an apartment before she went to a hospital to give birth.

Judge Jeanne E. LaFazia in District Court, Warwick, ordered Diana Tetrault to have a mental-health screening and released her on $2,000 personal recognizance, according to a clerk.

Tetrault is scheduled to return to District Court on Oct. 24 for a pretrial conference.

Johnston’s animal control officer found one of the pit bulls leashed to a closet door in Tetrault’s second-floor apartment on Sept. 26, according to police Maj. Ralph Bubar III. At the time Tetrault was in Women & Infants Hospital after having given birth.

The other pit bull was caged in the kitchen at 28 Osgood Ave., he said. Neither animal had food or water, he said.

At the time, residents in the apartment house said they hadn’t seen anyone visit the second-floor apartment since the morning of Sept. 23.

The two dogs remain in the custody of the Johnston Police Department, which placed them at the Providence Animal Rescue League.

The Department of Children Youth and Families received notification of Tetrault’s arrest and the alleged abuse.

mreynold@projo.com