12 dogs found inside Paterson home without food or water

PATERSON — Crammed inside three cages and reeking of urine, 12 dogs were found in a city home Tuesday without having had food or water for at least three days, officials said.

The dogs, which included poodles and Chihuahuas, could be heard barking as they were brought out of a home on 17th Avenue just after 1 p.m., said Paterson Chief Animal Control Officer John DeCando. One window was open when the officers arrived at the scene. The dogs were found in the dining room, malnourished, with their paws covered in their own feces.

“They’re infested with urine,” DeCando said as the dogs were taken out of the home. “No food, no water, no nothing. They were all crammed in that one room.”

No one had been in the home since at least Sunday, officials said. Inside the home, clothes littered furniture and there was a scent of dog urine in the living room.

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Rick Huften and Yaxira Lopez, officers from the Passaic County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, arrived at the home Sunday night after they received a complaint that the dogs could be heard from outside.

Lopez said she put a note on the door Sunday night instructing the homeowner to contact the SPCA.

“We just heard the dogs barking,” said Lopez, an animal control officer. “We came again and still nothing.”

She arrived for the third time Tuesday with DeCando and other officers to see the note left in the same place it was Sunday. Police got into the home through an open window.

“They were always crying,” said neighbor Maria, who declined to give her full name. “It’s bad. These poor dogs are indefensible. They should be loved. They’re like kids.”

Property records list the owner of the home as Vivian Dominguez. A phone number listed for her was no longer in service. Police at the scene Tuesday said bills for the home were paid as of last month.

The dogs will undergo veterinary exams and be groomed, DeCando said.

Whoever left the animals in the cages, DeCando said, could be handed up to 48 summonses citing abuse and a lack of veterinary care. Each summons could carry up to $1,000, six months in jail or both.

It was not known whether the dogs will be put up for adoption.

In Bergen County, two people in November were handed animal cruelty convictions after they tried to sell 26 bulldogs out of a minivan behind a Walmart in Garfield.

Staff Writer Kaitlyn Kanzler contributed to this article.