Sassy\u2019s Mobile Pet Grooming<\/a> on Oct. 14.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen he brought Charlie out, he was noticeably shaking and scared,\u201d Horowitz said. \u201cHe was trying to hide from me like behind me when I was paying, he didn\u2019t want to get anywhere near the guy who did the grooming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horowitz said he didn\u2019t immediately notice anything unusual. But about an hour later, he saw what he described as a severe injury on the dog\u2019s lower abdomen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until about an hour later that I noticed a huge laceration on him, it was on his lower stomach, the skin was wide open, probably the size of a quarter and I could basically see his insides, I could see burnt flesh because they cauterized him in the truck without my knowledge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Horowitz said he contacted the company and sent photos of the wound. The groomer told him \u201che never cut the dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight away I was furious about this, I was really scared for him, I was mad that they weren\u2019t taking responsibility for it, nobody in their right mind would bring their dog to a groomer with a giant hole in their stomach,\u201d Horowitz said.<\/p>\n
Horowitz rushed Charlie to Victoria Park Animal Hospital, where veterinarians confirmed the dog had a deep laceration that they believed was likely caused by a grooming tool. <\/p>\n
Veterinary staff also noted that silver nitrate appeared to have been applied, causing discoloration of the wound.<\/p>\n
The dog required stitches, antibiotics and pain medication. Horowitz said the veterinary bill came to more than $700.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys cauterized him in the truck, according to the vet. How could you burn my dog in the truck without my permission and then hide it from me and not say anything to me afterwards?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department\u2019s Animal Crimes Unit was contacted regarding a possible case of animal cruelty. <\/p>\n
Horowitz told investigators that the groomer did not notify him of any injury and did not seek permission before allegedly treating the wound.<\/p>\n
Records and photos reviewed by Local 10 show multiple grooming vans \u2014 including those branded as Tiger\u2019s Pet Grooming, Cinderella\u2019s Pet Grooming and Isabella\u2019s Pet Grooming \u2014 all linked by the same phone number. <\/p>\n
Horowitz said the van that arrived at his home did not display the Sassy\u2019s name he believed he booked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could have bled out, he could have gotten infected, he could have died,\u201d Horowitz said.<\/p>\n
Text messages show the groomer told Horowitz to take Charlie to a veterinarian in Hialeah the following day. <\/p>\n
By then, Charlie was already being treated at an emergency clinic. The dog later required additional care when stitches had to be replaced with staples.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey showed no remorse, took no responsibility, they also said I signed a contract and so if you want to, go ahead and sue but we\u2019re not going to cover any of it,\u201d Horowitz said.<\/p>\n
When contacted by phone, the business owner maintained that Charlie already had the laceration before the grooming appointment and said Horowitz should have taken the dog to the veterinarian she recommended.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would just be very cautious with who you leave your pet with,\u201d Horowitz added.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE \u2014 A Fort Lauderdale man says his 5-year-old dog suffered a deep, painful wound during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-41614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}