Family demanding answers after their dog escaped from at Canyon Lakes Veterinary Clinic, later found dead
HUMBLE, Texas - All pet owners expect the same thing when taking their pet to a veterinary clinic, your dog or cat will be safe and return home. But, that's not what happened to the Bacon family.
"At this point, we really don't know the truth," said Danittza Bacon. "We only know that she is dead."
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The Bacon's took their 7-month-old teacup Chihuahua, named Akina, to Canyon Lakes Veterinary Clinic in Humble to get spayed.
Justin Bacon says the vet called him at around noon on surgery day.
"He said, basically, we've had an incident and Akina chewed through her leash and got away from us," Justin said. "The first question in my mind, how did she chew through the leash?"
Justin and his daughter rushed to Canyon Lakes Veterinary Clinic to search for the dog.
He says the vet admitted the 4.5-pound Chihuahua didn't chew through the leash.
"Actually, that's not what happened, she bit my tech and got away. So we had been lied to, the story changed," Justin said. "So we asked to speak to the tech as well, and her response was well, there's no marks left on my hand."
Justin says Akina had been missing for more than an hour before the clinic called.
He and his daughter knocked on nearby apartment doors hoping to find their pup.
"While her boyfriend was on the way to see her between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m., he had seen a dead animal on Beltway 8 and Wilson exit," said Justin.
He would be the one to find her with the leash and a catheter still attached.
"We expected her to come back fine from a spay operation," Ashley Bacon said. "We got pieces of her."
The Bacons wanted to see surveillance video.
"You can see Akina struggling with the leash and the vet trying to grab her, and then all of a sudden it cut off," said Danittza.
Justin says he became angry when the vet called it an accident .
"I said, can you please stop calling it an accident," he said. "Our dog is dead. It's not an accident."
The family questioned why the clinic doesn't have any kind of fenced area outside for dogs.
We wanted to hear what Canyon Lakes Veterinary Clinic in Humble had to say, but I was told to leave my contact information on Monday.
However, we received a statement on Tuesday evening saying, "Our deepest condolences and prayers are with everyone involved with this tragic incident, especially the Bacon Family. We acknowledge that an incident occurred and we understand that there are no words that will ever be enough to bring back what they have lost with Akina. Unfortunately, due to patient-client confidentiality and the advice of legal counsel, we cannot comment further."
"We trusted our little one to them, and came out devastated," Justin said.