A Carlstadt woman says a stray pitbull sprang out of nowhere Monday to attack her 5-year-old, mixed-breed pup, requiring an emergency visit to the vet and stitches to close up a nasty wound.

What's even more infuriating, says Doreen Curreri, is that surveillance video shows the attacking dog was abandoned in front of her home earlier that day.

"The dog just charged at my dog," Curreri said Thursday. "He just bolted. He grabbed and bit my dog's hind leg."

Now Curreri says Carlstadt police officers have opened an investigation to find the heartless people who abandoned the pitbull.

Doreen Curreri's dog, Gavin, is wearing a plastic medical cone to keep him from gnawing at stitches he received after he was attacked by an abandoned pitbull in Carlstadt on Monday. (Photo courtesy of Doreen Curreri)

After the attack on her dog, "Gavin," Curreri's husband, Brian, reviewed their surveillance video. It shows a dark-colored car pulling up outside the couple's home and dropping off the pitbull.

"That somebody would do that to an animal is beyond belief," Curreri said.

A neighbor helped corral the abandoned dog after the attack and animal control officers took the dog away, Curreri said.

Carlstadt police did not immediately comment on the case, but Curreri said detectives are reviewing videos of the attack and of the dog being abandoned.

"I think whoever did this should be arrested," Curreri said, adding that she has not been able to sleep since Monday.

"Every time I close my eyes I can see the attack happening again and again," she said.

Curreri said her dog will require several more visits to an animal hospital and that the bill could run as high as $900.

But she refuses to blame the pitbull for the attack.

"I feel bad for the other dog," she said. "He didn't know what was going on. He was just dumped."

Gavin, a mixed-breed dog, was attacked by a pitbull that had been abandoned in Carlstadt on Monday. (Photo courtesy of Doreen Curreri)

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.