The cocker spaniel’s fur was so matted that the dog had trouble walking under the weight of the clumps of fur.
Employees at the Connecticut Humane Society location in Quaker Hill discovered the dog in an outdoor fenced area at 9 a.m. Saturday when they opened the shelter, according to Yuchniuk. He said he believed the dog had been left there in the middle of night — a night when temperatures dropped below freezing.
Yuchniuk posted photos of the dog on the Waterford/East Lyme Animal Control Facebook page Monday morning. He called the condition of the dog “deplorable.”
“I am so incredibly disgusted with the human race,” he opened in his post.
He went on to describe how the dog, estimated to be between 5 and 6 years old, had been found with “huge mats of fur soaked with urine and packed with feces.”
“I cannot remember having a dog in the animal shelter in more neglected condition,” he wrote.
Animal Control is seeking to find whoever neglected the animal and abandoned it, both illegal acts, the officer said in a phone interview Monday. He said he would charge the perpetrator with cruelty to an animal.
About an hour after the Facebook post went up, Gina Garreffi responded with a comment offering free grooming for the dog at her dog spa Oliver’s Tails in Old Lyme. She said early Monday afternoon that it ultimately took three hours for her and groomer Caitlan Nadolny, who owns The Diesel Dog grooming business in Hamden, to shave and bathe the animal.
Normally, Garreffi said, grooming for a cocker spaniel would take not much more than an hour. A sedative shot administered by Old Lyme veterinarian Cathy Clark helped the dog stay calm through the process, according to Garreffi.
“I’m guessing that this dog was just left in a crate and just sat in its own urine and feces,” Garreffi said on the phone Monday from Oliver’s Tails.
She said that in her 14 years grooming animals, she had never seen a dog in such a state. She said one of the dog’s legs thumped against the floor as the animal walked, hair matted thick like a cast.
“To describe the stench of the dog and the condition that the dog was in,” she said, pausing momentarily, “the dog had fleas, but they were all dead.”
The dog did not show signs of illness and behaved with friendliness on Monday, according to Yuchniuk. He said Animal Control would post an ad in the newspaper seeking the owners and that the dog did not have a microchip indicating ownership. Assuming no one comes forward, the dog will be available for adoption next week.
Garreffi said she nicknamed the dog Pilgrim since he was found so close to Thanksgiving Day. She said that with the weight of the matted fur removed — Yuchniuk said the chunks weighed in at 7.6 pounds — Pilgrim “pranced like a reindeer” as he left the groomer to return to the animal control office located in Waterford.
(TheDay.com - Nov 24, 2014)
Facebook postings:
"I am so incredibly disgusted with the human race, very, VERY hard this morning to stay positive, but i am going to try. on Friday night, under cover of darkness, while the temperatures dipped down to the teens, someone abandoned a female cocker spaniel in an outside fenced area at the Connecticut Humane Society. This poor dog is in deplorable condition, huge mats of fur soaked with urine and packed with feces, This poor animal can hardly walk in its condition. She cannot go to the bathroom without completely soiling her matted fur, I cannot remember having a dog in the animal shelter in more neglected condition. how on earth does someone let a dog get in this condition? and how does anyone who sees the condition of this dog not report it to the authorities? then after YEARS of neglect, to simply dump the dog and drive away??? I will be needing the assistance of a decent dog groomer to get this dog cleaned up ASAP, please contact me if you can help, and Please for the love of god, if anyone has any idea who was previously responsible for this dog, Please let me know, if i can positively identify the person who did this to this poor dog I WILL ARREST THEM. please lets keep our comments constructive and positive and lets pray for this dogs speedy recovery while she is in our care."
"Ok, turns out our little girl cocker spaniel is in fact a boy! thanks to Gina Garreffi of Olivers Tails LLC and Caitlan Nadolny of The Diesel Dog groomers LLC donating almost three hours of their time, and shaving this pup free of 7.6 pounds of urine and feces soaked hair mats, he now looks and feels 1000% better. I also want to thank Doctor Cathy Clark for administering a sedative shot to make the painful grooming process bearable for this guy. He did wonderful and is now back at the shelter smelling like shampoo!
In the Thanksgiving spirit, we have named him PILGRIM, because, like the original pilgrims, he is now searching for a new home! my thanks to everyone who offered their positive thoughts and prayers, the offers to assist this pup have poured in, but right now he is resting comfortably and will be assessed. hopefully by the middle of the week, he will be ready to start receiving visitors and screening potential new families"
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