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An Elizabethtown woman was arrested at a veterinarian's office after they suspected she hurt her dog to get its pain medications for herself.It's a crime that veterinarians said has opened their eyes to a whole new level of animal abuse.Police said Heather Pereira's desperation to feed an addiction led her to cut her young golden retriever."Typically, as veterinarians, we see the best of people, people rescuing unwanted pets, people rescuing pets that have been hit on the street," said veterinarian Dr. Chad Bailey with Elizabethtown Animal Hospital.Bailey said he experienced the worst when Pereira, 23, came into Elizabethtown Animal Hospital with her golden retriever, which they've renamed Alice."Something like this is definitely uncharted territory," Bailey said.Vets had seen Pereira before. They said she brought in her dog with multiple lacerations that required several skin sutures twice in October.She returned on Dec. 4."This was the third time the dog had been to the clinic since Oct. 17, and all three times, it was there it was for injuries, lacerations that it received," said Elizabethtown Police Sgt. Timothy Cleary."Things didn't add up as far as the frequency of the dog's injuries, the cleanliness of the cuts," Bailey said."Looked like clean cuts instead of the jaggedness that you might see in most animal injuries," Cleary said.Each time, Pereira asked for the powerful pain medication Tamadol, a controlled narcotic for dogs.Vets at the hospital feared Pereira used a razor to injure the dog to get the pain medication. They called police."And through our investigation, it was determined she was actually taking them and using those medications for herself instead of for the dog," Cleary said.Pereira confessed to police and admitted she had also done the same at a Louisville animal clinic. Police arrested her at the animal hospital.As for Alice, Bailey said she has a foster family and is doing great."She's a great dog, wagging her tail, and, you know, I'm sure the dog has already forgiven, that's just what dogs do. They love us unconditionally, and she's a great dog and doing fine," Bailey said.At one point, police said, Pereira told vets she needed more painkillers for the dog because her child had flushed them down the toilet.Pereira doesn't have any children.Police charged her with three counts of animal torture and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. She's being held at the Hardin County Detention Center on a $5,000 bond.Pereira is no stranger to crime.She's due in court in late December on a probation revocation hearing on a theft case, which included possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.