Ignorance or neglect?

Last Sunday we received a very sweet Beagle mix puppy who we named Dolly. She had been abandoned at one of the regional pounds as she was too much work to train and the owners said they had enough of her. Dolly had the saddest eyes we had ever seen. She was thrilled to be picked up and loved. You could not use a loud voice around her as she would flatten on the ground and pee. If you bent over to pick her up too quickly, she would get nervous and cower. Once held tight in your arms she would relax and give tiny kisses... Why am I telling you about her? Here's why:

Dolly was given a routine dose of Interceptor as she was very thin and had a firm belly which indicates the presence of worms. 48 hours after she was given this dose, she began to violently throw up large masses of worms and blood. She was immediately taken to the Vets for a consultation. Dolly remained at the Vets to be rehydrated and monitored for blood loss. The clumps of worms and large pools of blood continued and the Vets office kept at it giving her antibiotics, medicines to coat her stomach and IV to keep her hydrated. Yesterday morning Dolly gave her tail a little wag to show her appreciation. This morning Dolly died. It is believed that the reason Dolly died was that she never received any Veterinary care prior to coming to us and that either her stomach lining had been perforated by the volume of worms and force of throwing up or she had sustained an internal injury prior to coming into our care.

So now what is the course of action? This guy has another dog in his home. Is the dog in as rough shape as Dolly? Has this dog ever seen a Vet? What I would like to do is walk up to his door and when he opens it punch his lights out. But that will not help his other dog nor will it bring Dolly back. If this were a child, he would have been arrested this morning, but it's "merely a dog". Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I truly wish to see this guy suffer as Dolly did for the last 4 days of her life. I owe that much to her.

Gosh, I'm so saddened and sickened by this. What recourse do we have when it comes to the safety of animals? None, so it seems.

Maybe there's a way of convincing him to give his other dog over to the pound and then to you? He obviously does not care enough for his animals, so convincing him may not be so hard. I wish you the best of luck with this.

Poor Dolly :sad: Did the pound give a check up before being adopted out? How long was she at the pound? Very heart wrenching to be there. :sad: Good luck in finding the answers that need to be.

Dolly was in the pound for 24 hours. It's used as a holding place prior to going to the SPCA. It's set up to handle strays really but they take owner abandonment as well. They do not seek Veterinary care for any of their animals that come in, if it is ill, it goes to the SPCA immediately, which spells euthanasia for a sick dog. Dolly was very thin but perky when we picked her up so they would have had no idea of what was to come.