Dog Left Starving Outside For Weeks In Agra Neglect Case May Not Survive, Rescuers Say

An update to a story only on News 9 -- An Agra woman has been charged after police said she severely neglected her dog. 

They said the dog is only alive because of the kindness of school children feeding him. 

Unfortunately, the dog is much worse off than originally thought.

The dog, now named Peanut Butter, was chained up in front of his Agra home with a huge tow chain.  The ground was worn where he’s likely spent most of his life pacing back and forth.

He was brought to 1 Day Ranch Animal Rescue Friday night.

“He’s very dirty and sick and he was very cold, and his blood sugars are completely off and he’s very anemic. He has fluid around his abdomen and around what I think to be his heart. We’re currently running tests on that right now,” 1 Day Ranch Rescue founder Maeghan Olsen said.

Peanut Butter has one of the worst parasite infestations the folks at 1 Day Ranch Rescue have ever seen. 

He has a lot of skin conditions. Abscesses on his legs and likely heart worms. Investigators said his owner, 48-year-old Becky Hutchinson, hasn’t given the dog food or water for months and the dog only survived because kids at the nearby school were bringing him scraps of food from their lunches. 

“Probably the only reason he’s still alive. Because while he doesn’t look as skinny as some of the dogs that we have gotten in the past, he is that skinny. His hair covers up a lot of it.  And he also has that swelling and fluids in his abdomen.” Olsen said.

Despite that Peanut Butter has a very kind and loving personality.

“He’s just such a sweet dog. That’s why we named him Peanut Butter. He’s just goofy and sweet and he’s so friendly,” Olsen said. “He’s a little hyper but mostly because everything that’s happening is totally new for him. He doesn’t understand how to be a pet. He doesn’t understand the first time I started scratching him behind his ears he panicked and about fell on the ground and then he was like, wait, I love that.”

We don’t know whether Peanut Butter will survive. If he does, he will be given to a loving home.  If he doesn’t, his last weeks will be filled with the love he’s missed out on for most of his life. 

Hutchinson has been charged with animal cruelty. She has bonded out of the Lincoln County jail.

“It’s just something that’s hard to wrap your brain around that someone would allow an animal to live like that. To see them every day. She had to walk by this dog to get in her house,” Olsen said. “I don’t have patience for people who have just such lack of empathy and lack of care for a living creature. It’s something that I will never understand.”

The vet bills for Peanut Butter are going to be extremely expensive. If you’d like to help, click here. Or visit the 1 Day Ranch Rescue Facebook page here.