KENT CITY, Mich. -- Two families in Kent County believe someone has tried to poison their dogs. One of the families said that they were able to find the poison before their dogs got to it, but another family wasn't so lucky. Their dog died on Sunday.
"He came home yesterday morning around 9 a.m., and he noticed a meatball in our yard," said Athena Karr.
Karr said that when her fiance came home from work on Sunday morning, he found chunks of raw meat in their yard, a yard shared by their two dogs.
"We took it apart, and there was d-CON in it," said Karr. "He like looked around the yard to see if there was anything else, and there was two more meatballs spread across the yard."
Karr called the Kent County Sheriff's Department and they took a sample with them to test, she said.
"I just started crying and freaking out, wondering why somebody would want to try to kill my dogs," said Karr.
Just a quick drive southwest of there a two-year-old beagle mix named Serevi was fighting for his life at about the same time on Sunday morning.
Marguerite Teliczan said that the family first noticed little Serevi acting different on Friday night. By Saturday night, he took a turn for the worse.
"He was fully lethargic," said Teliczan. "It looked like he had been sedated. He had his whole jaw line was swelled up."
Teliczan said that she asked around and became convinced the dog was showing signs of rat poisoning. The family tried to make him comfortable during the last moments of his life.
"Rest of the evening was just keeping him comfortable and just slowly watching him just pass away in our arms at that point," said Teliczan.
Serevi passed away Sunday morning.
"If it could happen to us, where we've got a family of five there and two other pets, it can happen to anybody who has animals," said Teliczan.
Teliczan said that since Serevi was such a sweet dog, he was allowed to roam free on their three-acre property, where it's possible he got into something else that may have made him sick.
However, they said, they will now take extra precautions with their other dogs.
"Part of the joy of having a pet in the country is allowing them freedom, but right now that's not really an option," said Teliczan.
The Kent County Sheriff's Department isn't saying much, other than they did in fact go to Karr's home in Kent City to take a report.
There is no conclusive evidence that someone deliberately placed poison with intentions of sickening any dogs.
