Timeline of PetSmart boarding death revealed – NBC4 Washington

New details have emerged in the investigation into three dogs who died shortly after staying at the PetSmart kennel in Alexandria.

News4 previously reported that prosecutors had not filed charges against PetSmart employees, but an attorney for the pet owners argued that while employees may not be responsible for the deaths, Petsmart employees delayed care for one of the dogs, which could have led to the dog's death.

News4 recently obtained pages of notes from the investigation under the Freedom of Information Act and found a timeline of events on the day Andrew Noles' dog Clark died.

The timeline shows a 10-hour window between when PetSmart staff noticed something was wrong with Clark and when he was finally taken to the vet.

Noles' Clark was cared for at the Alexandria PetSmart Pets Hotel on June 29 and died later that day.

After Clark's death, two employees from the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria conducted an investigation and interviewed some PetSmart employees. We also received a copy of the notes and the investigation summary.

According to the report, an employee said she saw vomit in Clark's kennel at 6:15 a.m. on June 29.

That employee told a colleague, who checked the kennel and confirmed vomiting and diarrhea, then passed it on to a manager, who in turn checked on Clark.

At 2:40 p.m., another staff member noticed that Clark appeared lethargic, had not eaten anything, and was panting heavily.

At 3 p.m., another staff member was notified of Clark's condition and at 3:50 p.m., that staff member found Clark unresponsive. Clark was taken to the animal hospital where he later died.

Investigators sought the medical opinion of the state medical examiner who performed Clark's autopsy, which is essentially an animal autopsy.

The Animal Welfare League's investigation report states, in part: “Dr. Wiseman stated that she believed Clark was already ill before his stay at the PetSmart shelter and would likely have become very ill had he been at home or in a shelter.”

“She added that Clark's chances of survival might have increased if help had been sought earlier, but only minimally.”

The summary continued: “I find it worrying that so much time has passed between the initial report of the concern and the provision of initial care. However, current animal welfare legislation does not specify how quickly initial care must be provided.”

News4 reached out to PetSmart on Monday to ask about response time, but we have not received a response.

When PetSmart employees were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing last month, the company sent News4 a statement saying, “We pride ourselves on our due diligence and are pleased that the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria has affirmed our finding that PetSmart did not commit any criminal offense in these matters.”

Noles sent News4 the following statement:

“I will never understand why PetSmart delayed providing Clarke with the medical care she needed for so long. It is heartbreaking considering Clarke's final hours were filled with suffering.

I'm even sadder that PetSmart also neglected critical medical issues with Blue and Nova. You don't have to be a trained medical professional to recognize the urgency when a dog is coughing up blood, has blood in their stool, or when their eyes are bleeding. Yet none of these dogs received the care they desperately needed, and their owners weren't even notified that their dogs were in distress.

Pet owners need to be very careful about where they put their animals. I didn't realize that these companies are unregulated and so many bad things can happen. I hope that laws are passed to stop companies like PetSmart from putting profits above the quality of care and that the Commonwealth Attorney starts prosecuting animal cruelty cases.”