I sent my 2 small dogs to Darling Dogs for 17 days while I was on a family vacation. When I picked them up, it was very obvious my dog Sophie had lost enough weight that her ribs and backbone were clearly protruding. Once I got home, I tried to feed her and she wouldn't eat, seemed depressed, and was clearly not herself. Although she looked emaciated, her belly was extremely distended. Both dogs were drinking water excessively. At this point, I was very worried about Sophie and took her to the vet who was quite concerned over her body condition and weight loss, dehydration and bloated stomach. She was put on an IV for 2 hours to rehydrate and had to go through sedation. Worried that Sophie may have a blockage, my vet did x-rays which showed her stomach was expanded three times the normal size and was full of food. It's a mystery how she could be emaciated yet somehow, she had gorged herself with food... The owner of Darling Dogs said she had no idea what happened, but said it's possible that Sophie got into another dog's food. The only other explanation that I can think of is that, once they went to get Sophie ready for me to pick her up, they finally noticed how skinny she was and overfed her in hopes it would be less noticeable. Both of these ideas are very upsetting to me. Whatever the case, I can't believe that the staff could have not noticed how much weight she was losing in their care. Obviously, for whatever reason, Sophie was not eating or getting food, and no one noticed what was happening. I contacted the owner at least 3 times while I was gone to see how my dogs were doing, and each time I was told they were doing very well or "amazing." This was obviously not true because I came home to a dog that was emaciated.
My veterinarian was almost as upset as I was about the state of Sophie. X-rays, IV, blood work and urine analysis were done, and I was sent home with two kinds of medication and special food. I spent over $800 to make sure she was okay. I explained to the owner about what happened and sent her the x-rays, pictures of Sophie, and a copy of the vet's report and bill. She did not take any responsibility for what happened, never offered to compensate, never apologized, and never even asked how Sophie was doing. Her attitude was "everyone makes mistakes." I understand that mistakes can happen, but there is just absolutely no way that it should be possible for a dog to become visibly emaciated with no one noticing. That's not a mistake - that's negligence.
A picture is worth a thousand words and you can be the judge of what happened to Sophie. read more