A local family is heartbroken after discovering the dog they adopted from the Humane Society had a preexisting health condition that they did not know about.
Buddy was one of many dogs rescued from a Korean meat farm, and he was adopted to become a service dog.
"He was such a kind heart and such a wonderful companion, and he misses him terribly and so does the other dog we have," said Jo Logman.
"He was eating real well in the beginning, but after a while he wouldn't eat, and then he wasn't drinking, so we knew there was something wrong with him," Logman added.
Buddy, a mastiff, was being trained to be Paul Elder's service dog.
Elder, a Navy combat medic in Iraq and Afghanistan, needed Buddy to deal with PTSD and a brain injury caused by a bomb blast.
Buddy's medical records from the Humane Society were cleared and he passed all standard exams.
However, the only thing that caught the family's eye was a tense abdomen.
Logman said that last week "we noticed he was shaking, just majorly shaking so they took him into the vet and they found that his intestines had grown to the walls and that he was not passing the food."
Hours after finding out about Buddy's preexisting condition, he had to be put down.
"Why does anybody else need to go through that?" said Logman.
Humane Society officials said Buddy passed all checkups. Without any symptoms, officials said they would not have known that there was a need to examine him internally.
Every family is offered a complimentary veterinarian exam as an option, officials added.
However, Logman said that even though that is the case, "if they know the dog came from Korea in one of those dog farms, then they need to go and have the dog checked out, period."
The family said they don't think Buddy is the only dog rescued from Korea that needs to be thoroughly examined.
The family hopes their story can save another family from heartbreak.
