ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A dog that was nothing but skin and bones and found tied to a tree is now in a foster home.
Channel 2 Action News was there when Odysseus left a Sandy Springs animal hospital Tuesday evening.
The boxer mix has been nicknamed Ody. Channel 2's Berndt Petersen was there Tuesday as Ody left the hospital. Petersen said he appeared to be very weak.
Fulton County Animal Services officials said they are investigating whether Ody was intentionally starved.
Ody weighed 26 pounds when he arrived Monday at the GVS Blue Pearl Animal Hospital on Abernathy Road in Sandy Springs.
"Look, I knew there was somebody in our neighborhood or we heard there was somebody out there doing this to these dogs. There could be more than one," Luann Farrell, from Angels Among Us Pet Rescue, told Petersen.
Farrell hopes someone will come forward and tell police what they know about Ody.
The dog was found Sunday tied to a tree outside a church in northwest Atlanta. He received emergency veterinary care just in time.
"He can't tell us what happened. But my suspicion is at some point he obviously wasn't getting enough food. Whether that was because they couldn't afford to give him food or they couldn't take care of him, or they just decided to neglect him, it's hard to know," said veterinarian Dr. Derek Duval.
https://twitter.com/BPetersenWSB/status/641343909889576960
Duval said Ody is not out of the woods yet, but he believes Ody will pull through. At first, he'll be fed in small amounts. Too much food too quickly could actually kill him.
Meantime, the investigation into how it happened is underway.
"We just had one recently in Clayton County where they prosecuted people that were abusing a dog. So we're hopeful we can keep this momentum going and actually bring somebody to justice," Farrell said.
Ody needs to gain 40 pounds to be back to his old self. The vet said that will take months.