TITUSVILLE, Fla. – The Brevard County Sheriff's Office Tuesday released video of the dog found abandoned and chained to a stop sign in Titusville walking hours after having a hind leg amputated.
The dog nicknamed "PD" or Petey had to have his hind leg amputated Monday after suffering a severe fracture, authorities said.
"He's in great spirits. It was a shame we had to remove his leg but he had a severe fracture of the leg that had been there for at least several weeks," said Joe Hellebrand with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Animal Services Unit. "And he also had a fracture in his hip. So we had no choice but to amputate the leg."
Police said they found Petey chained to a stop sign with a package of bottled water Friday morning at the intersection of Cheney Highway and Deep Marsh Road. The search for his owners is ongoing.
The dog was placed with Animal Services off Eau Gallie Boulevard, where veterinarian Dr. Robert Edwards found Petey had a broken back leg.
He said the break was not new.
"Whoever had him when it was broken, or if he was a stray, it just never got aligned correctly," he said. "The two ends of the bone never got a chance to fuse together, and so the body does what it always does when I can't fix something. It walls it off with scar tissue."
Animal Services said that they decided to amputate PD's right leg, which was untreated for several weeks, because it was unable to bare functional weight and was a source of chronic pain.
"We are very happy to report that PD came through the surgery with no complications and is resting comfortably," Animal Services said in an email to News 6.
Petey was woozy from pain medication when News 6 visited him Friday evening at Brevard County Animal Services.
Edwards said he believes the dog is a Shih-Tzu mix and is about 3 years old. He said the owners have five days to claim him before Petey is available for adoption. He said if his owners do come forward, they will be questioned about why he was chained to that stop sign.
"We would want to know and try to get to the bottom of what happened," Edwards said. "We're the sheriff's office, so we're going to pursue any potential animal cruelty."
After a few days of being monitored at the shelter, PD will be in a foster home with an experienced volunteer while he recovers. PD will then be available for adoption.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Titusville Police Department at 321-264-7800.