COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — They paid for an animal hospital to euthanize their beloved 4-year-old pug named Cha Cha. The dog’s family says they were shocked to find out months later Cha Cha was still alive. And living with a woman who works at the hospital.
Rebecca Belote says despite the worker’s husband confirming his wife had Cha Cha, Senoia Animal Hospital Coweta County still denies it.
Belote told Action News Jax’s Atlanta station WSB-TV her 17-year-old son and Cha Cha were inseparable.
“They had matching clothes. Like matching hoodies that they would wear,” she told WSB-TV’s Tom Jones. “She hardly walked anywhere cause he carried her everywhere.”
If you saw one you saw the other, Belote said.
Then Cha Cha got really sick.
“They said that she was in organ failure and had diabetic keto acidosis,” Belote said.
The Belote’s say Senoia Animal Hospital recommended she be euthanized. She says that really affected her son and her husband.
“They both took it kind of hard,” she said. “My son was really attached to the dog.”
Now they say someone at the hospital was just as attached to Cha Cha.
So much so they say Cha Cha wasn’t euthanized back in March as they were led to believe, and a worker at the hospital took her home and kept her for months.
Rebecca Belote says she was on Facebook and saw a picture of Cha Cha.
“I knew scrolling like that’s my dog,” she said.
She says a former hospital worker confirmed a hospital employee took Cha Cha, and she said the worker had a picture of herself and Cha Cha on social media.
But Belote says when she took the matter to the hospital, managers there denied it.
“They have a lawyer,” she said. “They won’t talk about it.”
But she says she talked to the worker’s husband who confirmed his wife had Cha Cha, and he says the pug was in good health.
Rebecca Belote says the hospital eventually put Cha Cha down, she thinks to hide what happened, and that really bothers her.
“The fact that they put a healthy dog down. That’s just sick,” she said.
WSB-TV reached out to the animal hospital and is still waiting on a response.
WSB reported on another family who said their cat Annie was supposed to be euthanized at the hospital, but they later found out a worker took her home.
The hospital issued a statement that said it fell short in honoring the trust the family placed in us.
Annie was later euthanized.
Belote says the solicitor general is investigating. She has also filed a complaint with the Georgia State Board of Veterinary Medicine.
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