A dog found severely malnourished is being nursed back to health. Staff at the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter in Branford say this is a clear case of neglect.
“He's playful. He's happy.”
Chip the dog is playing with his favorite ball inside the animal shelter. He was found wandering in New Haven on Sunday and taken to a shelter. The state of chips at that time was dire.
“He was and still is extremely emaciated. He was bleeding from his front legs and looked very uncomfortable,” said Laura Barban, director of the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter.
She said Chip was immediately sent to an emergency veterinary hospital for treatment and care.
“They were doing everything from hydration to vitamins to obviously slowly feeding him and reintroducing it to him,” Barban said.
Barban said Chip is 3 to 5 years old and appears to be a pit bull mix. His weight is about half that of similar dogs. She says she doesn't know who Chip's previous owner was, but it's clear Chip was neglected.
“Even with the coat on, you can still see that the dog is hunched over. This is common when you see a dog in a small carrier, such as a crate or cat carrier.” she says.
After spending several days at the vet and gaining weight, Chip was returned to the shelter. Barban says he shows an incredible amount of trust in people.
“He's been playing and he's excited to be here. So it's pretty amazing to see what just a few days of love can do,” she said.
Barban said the incident is very similar to another incident in 2017 involving a dog named Hope, who was also found in a severely debilitated condition.
“We were finally able to rehabilitate her and find her a forever home,” she said.
She said Chip still needs to be vaccinated and neutered once he's back to full health, but will be up for adoption in about four to six weeks.
“There's already some light in his eyes compared to when I met him on Sunday,” Barban said.
A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for Chip's initial symptoms.
