Dog owner charged with cruelty

INDIANA -- Seven dogs were living at the home.

Of those, two were in bad shape, a German shepherd named Rayna and a pit bull named Hanna.
Rayna would not survive efforts to rid her of her ailments.

The owner of the dogs, a 46-year-old Fort Wayne woman, was charged Friday with two counts each of cruelty to an animal and harboring a non-immunized dog.

Police arrived at the home in the 2400 block of Priscilla Lane last August after the department got a complaint about too many animals at the home, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Friday.
Aside from the seven adult dogs of various breeds and sizes, the home was cluttered and had fleas in it, police said.

The residents were given 10 days to rid the house of fleas, and in the meantime, the dogs were removed and placed in the care of Fort Wayne Animal Care & Control, according to the affidavit.
Rayna and Hanna’s conditions stood out from the other animals.

Hanna was found to have excessive fleas, hair loss and reddened skin.

Rayna was much worse.

She had loss of muscle mass, no noticeable body fat, excessive fleas, mange, reddened skin, fur loss and mites, Animal Control officer Erika Hedge observed.

A decreased range of motion in her hips, pus and debris in her ears, scabs on her head, overgrown nails, lymph nodes of an abnormal size and an elevated white blood cell count were among her other diagnoses.

The owner of Rayna and Hanna told police she hated to see her dogs suffer but could not afford to get them medical care.

Nine days after they were found, Rayna was euthanized because of the severity of her condition.

(Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - Feb 14, 2015)