PASCO COUNTY, Fla. -- Over the past six months, three dogs were found in Pasco County on the verge of death.
“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Rick Chaboudy, the Executive Director of Suncoast Animal League, said. “These guys aren’t a little thin. They were basically almost starved to death. They are big dogs. It’s taken a really long time to get to this. And, somebody had to notice, and I just wish they would’ve have noticed a long time ago.”
Since March, Chaboudy says “Chance,” “Lucy” and “Denny” were picked up in Pasco County. Each dog was so sick, it took weeks for them to start putting weight on.
“In every case, at some point, they vomited up something that was in their stomach,” Chaboudy said. “In Chance’s situation, it was two latex gloves that were almost petrified, you couldn’t even hardly tell what they were, and there was a beauty applicator. Lucy vomited up a bungee cord. It was about this long, and the ends were completely rusted, so they’d been in there a while.”
On Oct. 1, Chaboudy said Denny was found walking along U.S. 19 in Pasco County. Denny has a microchip, and Chaboudy says that was out they found out Denny’s owner had recently died. Somehow, Denny ended up on the streets, a 10-year-old lab mix without a home.
“[Denny] topped all of that,” Chaboudy said. “A mayo packet, Brillo pad, two shoe strings and two big pieces of plastic like a meat wrapper. Probably, what happened is he got into some garbage. He smelled that meat smell the meat wrapper was probably mixed into that stuff may be put off that smell to everything, and he just ate it cause he was starving.”
Denny weighed 52 pounds and is slowly getting back to where he should be. He weighs 78 pounds now and needs to get back up to 95 pounds. Denny is a sweet dog that is house trained and follows commands.
“We will put him up for adoption in the next couple of weeks,” Chaboudy said.
In the meantime, Denny’s story of survival has gone viral. The local community was spotted lining up at Suncoast Animal League’s Thrift Shop at 1454 U.S. 19 Alternate in Palm Harbor, to give Denny some love.
“It’s his story of survival people are drawn to,” Chaboudy said. “He’s going to be OK.”
