NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — A pet owner said he left his pooch at a local kennel only to find it with life-threatening injuries at a veterinarian hospital.
The dog’s owners say they’re not sure the dog is going to live. The kennel owner calls it a “horrible, horrible” accident.
Past Richmond, outside the Veterinary Critical Care Center, Jason Fox waited for good news. His family dog, Fenway, suffered brutal injuries over the weekend.
“We sat down with them [the veterinarians] and they can’t guarantee anything at this point,” he sighed.
Fox said Saturday, he dropped off the 10-month-old Australian Shepard at Coastal Dog Services in Newport News to board him.
On Saturday night, the kennel called Fox to tell him they had to rush Fenway to the vet.
“Our dog had a small abrasion on his eye and it appeared he had been stuck into a fence,” he recalled being told.
But what he saw at the vet was a different story.
“He had bite abrasions. They had to shave a lot of the hair off of him and he had to go into surgery Saturday night,” Fox said.
Doctors told Fox it looks like other dogs at the kennel tore into Fenway and he is not healing properly. On Monday, Fox took him to a critical care center outside of Richmond.
“The infection is spreading and now, they are afraid of kidney failure and he has to go through another round of surgery right now,” Fox said.
WAVY went to Coastal Dog Services. The owner, Rick Tvelia, approached the WAVY crew to talk about what happened.
He wasn’t working Saturday night, but here’s what his employees told him: “They saw Fenway. They saw the gash over his eye, they were looking for Fenway’s collar and it was attached very firmly to the fence,” Tvelia said.
Tvelia said his workers didn’t see the bite marks and regardless, he said they took the dog to get help.
“We took the dog to vet,” he said. “We didn’t tie the dog to door and ring the doorbell and run away.”
Tvelia said he is horrified by what happened.
“I already told them I’m going to pay the bills,” Tvelia said.
Jason Fox is still holding out hope that Fenway will make it.
Newport News Animal Control said they are investigating the incident.
A spokesperson for the City of Newport News said the manager — not the owner — of the kennel already faces an animal cruelty charge related to a June incident.WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON:
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