SINGAPORE – Pet owners should leave their companion animals at licensed boarding facilities when they are away, the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS) said.
The service advisory was in response to a query by The Straits Times on the death of a dog at an unlicensed pet boarding facility, which AVS is viewing as a case of alleged animal neglect.
Miso, a four-year-old Singapore special, was pronounced dead on January 2 by a vet after the dog was found unresponsive while at an unlicensed boarding service in Serangoon Gardens, which Miso’s owners have not named.
The owners, Ms Jazsica Law and her husband, Mr Steven Phua, boarded the dog there on December 27, 2023, expecting to pick it up on January 5 after they returned from their holiday in Taiwan.
Halfway through the trip on January 2, Ms Law said she received a call from the owner of the boarding facility about Miso’s death.
According to the veterinarian’s report, Miso had no heartbeat and was not breathing when he arrived at the vet clinic.
Vets were also unable to perform resuscitation because rigor mortis had set in Miso’s corpse by then, the report added.
Rigor mortis is the stiffness of the joints and muscles when a person or animal dies, and occurs between two and six hours in dogs after death.
Ms Law, a photographer in her 30s, put up a series of posts on Instagram about the matter from January 6.
He told The Straits Times: “His sudden and untimely death at the boarding place was something we never expected in a million years. His death has left an irreplaceable void in our hearts.”
Ms Law said she knew the boarding facility was unlicensed when she first used its services in 2021 on a friend’s recommendation as the business was operating out of a Housing Board flat in Tampines at the time.
He said: “He was only taking a few dogs and we felt more secure because there were people in the house almost around the clock.”
Following its move to a shophouse at the end of 2022, Ms Law said she assumed the business would be licensed as a pet boarding facility as it already occupied a commercial space.
He said: “We trusted that the owner went through the correct route (in applying for a licence), and that’s on us for not double-checking it.”
The boarding facility declined ST’s request for comment, citing an ongoing investigation.
AVS said licensing for such services is in place to safeguard animal welfare and encourages pet owners to place their pets in the care of these service providers.
