Woman shocked after dog she took to shelter to be euthanized was up for adoption again a year later

Exhausted and out of options after consulting two veterinary clinics, Kristie Pereira made the gut-wrenching decision last year to take her desperately ill puppy to a Maryland shelter to be euthanized.

So she was surprised last week to find the dog up for adoption at the same pet rescue organization where she bought him.

“I have a lot of questions, but first and foremost, I want him back with me,” Pereira told the Associated Press on Friday.

Pereira, who now lives in San Antonio, said she was working from home in Maryland when she paid $450 in late 2022 to adopt a two-month-old dog mix from a local group, Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation.

She named the puppy Beau and the two quickly became inseparable. Beau cuddled up next to her while she worked, slept in her bed and even accompanied her when Pereira left the house. But within a few weeks it became clear that something was wrong with the little dog, Pereira said.

A veterinarian concluded that the problem was likely neurological. Blood tests showed the dog might have a liver problem, so Pereira was sent home with liver enzymes and told she would “see very rapid improvement” if the problem was Beau’s liver.

The dog’s condition only worsened. The dog’s veterinarian, the veterinarian in charge of the clinic and an emergency room veterinarian all agreed that the dog’s inability to control his bowels and lift his hind legs pointed to a serious neurological problem, Pereira said.

The cost of running a series of tests to find out, she said, was estimated at $12,000. Despite the sticker shock, Pereira, 32, who works in digital marketing, said she would have found a way to pay if it would have saved Beau.

Instead, she was told that “there is a very small chance of finding out what is wrong,” she recalled. “And even if we do, there’s an even smaller chance of it being something we can fix.”

It was then that they began to suggest that it might be more humane to euthanize the calf. She wasn’t ready to consider that option, she said, and held on for another month.

Through it all, Pereira said, she consulted with the team at Lost Dog & Cat Rescue.

“Honestly, I mean, after talking to them that’s when I felt, you know, I would be doing the right thing by demoting him,” Pereira said. “They really gave me that support and that encouragement that, even though it’s hard, sometimes it’s the best thing to do.”

After several sleepless nights with Beau clearly in pain, Pereira said she took Beau to Montgomery County Animal Services in Derwood, Maryland, in late March 2023 and paid $15 to have him euthanized. She was told that shelter policy does not allow people to keep their pets while they are euthanized.

It was during a visit to see her mother in Maryland last week that curiosity led her to the rescue’s website to check out dogs for adoption — and saw Beau’s photo. The puppy was bigger, but had the same markings and bore the name the rescue gave him before adopting him: Amos Hart, based on a character from the musical “Chicago”.

Calls to the shelter confirmed that her dog had not been euthanized after veterinarians felt he did not need it. The shelter instead called Lost Dog & Cat Rescue and returned the puppy to them.

The rescue confirmed that Friday in a written statement, providing an extensive timeline showing that its veterinarians found no neurological problems in the dog. After tests that diagnosed a liver problem and a $7,000 surgery – paid for through a GoFundMe campaign – the dog was declared healthy.

None of this was shared with Pereira, who said Friday he would pay the $7,000 cost to get Beau back. It took several days for anyone from rescue to return her calls, she said, and when they did, it was no one Pereira had spoken to before.

“The person who called me was so rude and disrespectful and was very nasty to me,” she said, beginning to cry. “I’m just saying, you know, that I abandoned him and that I let him die. That I never cared about him.”

Pereira was told the dog “will never come back to you.” Then the person hung up.

Rescue spokeswoman Chloe Floyd did not respond to questions about whether anyone in the rescue said these things to Pereira. But she defended the decision not to return the dog.

“LDCRF does not rehome an owner-surrendered dog with its previous adopter/owner,” Floyd said in his written statement. “Our mission is to save safe, adoptable dogs for the community from euthanasia.”

The rescue acknowledged speaking with Pereira during its deliberation over whether to euthanize the puppy, but said it made clear to her the importance of taking the dog to a veterinarian who would allow her to be with the animal when it was euthanized. . If she couldn’t do that, she emphasized, the rescue would take the dog back.

The rescue and shelter blamed Pereira for not consenting to extensive testing to see if he was suffering from neurological problems.

Caroline Hairfield, executive director of Montgomery County Animal Services, said she is contractually obligated to return surrendered animals to the rescue and her hands are tied.

Hairfield said of Pereira that “everyone feels sorry for her,” but that it is up to the rescue to decide whether to return the dog to her.

“This is a civil matter between the two of them,” she said. “We haven’t had the animal in our care for a year.”

The dog remained available for adoption Friday on the rescue’s website.