From Palatka Daily News:
‘Emaciated’ dogs found living in waste-covered home
Eric Milton Kitzweger, 65
(Photo: Putnam County Sheriff’s Office)
A Palatka resident was arrested this week after sanitation workers found a shoebox in the trash that contained a dead puppy and a sickly puppy that eventually died, according to authorities.
On Monday, the Palatka Police Department arrested Eric Milton Kitzweger, 65, and charged him with four counts of felony aggravated animal abuse and four counts of misdemeanor animal abuse, according to Putnam County Jail records.
Nine dogs had lived in the Husson Avenue home, but all of the surviving dogs were signed over to the Putnam County Animal Services Department, according to an incident report from the Palatka Police Department.
Shortly before 10:30 a.m. Monday, the police were notified of two dogs found in the trash. When Officer Ean Roberts arrived at the scene, he met with an Animal Services employee and Detective Jennifer Mullins from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the report, Mullins informed the officer that employees from Palatka’s Sanitation Division were running their residential trash route when they noticed two puppies in a shoebox that had been thrown away.
One of the puppies, referred to in the report as Puppy 1, was alive but “appeared extremely emaciated, with its ribs exposed,” Roberts said in the report. Puppy 2 was already dead, and Puppy 1 was taken to a nearby animal veterinarian clinic but died later, according to the report.
Because Puppy 2 was dead when city workers found it, it was placed in the sanitation truck and disposed of, the police reported.
Kitzweger, the dogs’ owner, informed authorities his dog, Nala, gave birth to five puppies about three weeks prior to the two being found in the trash, the report stated. Yappers, another of Kitzweger’s dogs, fathered the puppies, authorities reported.
Law enforcement vehicles can be seen in front of the Husson Avenue home in Palatka, where, according to authorities, nine dogs were kept in unsanitary living conditions. (Submitted photo)
According to the incident report, the dogs’ owner said Puppy 1 and Puppy 2 were born “sickly,” and he tried to keep them separated from the other three puppies in the litter. The suspect believed both puppies had died because they weren’t moving, the police reported, so he put them in the box and disposed of it in the trash.
“It should be noted while speaking with Kitzweger, the overwhelming odor of animal feces was detected from a nearby window, which was open, leading to the inside of the residence,” Roberts wrote in the report. “Additionally, two other dogs, later identified as Yappers and Duchess, were seen sticking their heads out of the window and appeared to also be underweight.”
Kitzweger showed authorities Puppies 3, 4 and 5, all of which “appeared small for being 3 weeks old” and displayed signs of worm and flea infestations, according to the police. Puppy 3’s health was severe to the point that it also was taken to a veterinarian hospital, officials said.
The police reported Nala, who was also emaciated, appeared to have all of her ribs and both hip bones showing on both sides, was stumbling while trying to walk and had a flea infestation.
Despite being frustrated that law enforcement had been called, Kitzweger allowed authorities and Animal Services workers to enter the home, the report stated. Immediately, Roberts reported, officials noticed the deplorable, unsanitary conditions of the home.
“The immediate room upon entering the residence from the front door was covered in animal feces,” Roberts wrote in the incident report. “Both old and new dog feces were so prevalent it had left a permanent stain on the floor. Additionally, two nearby dog beds were completely soaked (in) presumptively dog urine.”
That was the room where Nala and the litter of puppies were kept, authorities said, and behind a broken door was the living room where Yappers and Duchess lived.
Roberts reported Yappers and Duchess approached law enforcement and Animal Services employees due to being “in a state of desperation,” not out of aggression. The living room showed signs of the same conditions as the front room, but there were also ripped-up sofa cushions that became matted with the animal waste to create a “slippery, sticky texture,” Roberts reported.
Like the other dogs, Yappers and Duches also looked underweight and had exposed ribs, authorities said. There was only one food bowl and one water bowl in the entire house, Roberts wrote, and both bowls were “bone dry and had no evidence of food or water being in them recently.”
Pictured is the Husson Avenue home in Palatka, where nine dogs were kept in unsanitary living conditions, authorities alleged. (BRANDON D. OLIVER/Palatka Daily News)
A ninth dog, Daisy, was found in the kitchen areas, but it belonged to a woman who lived at the house, authorities said. Although Daisy’s living area looked similar to the other rooms in the house, officials reported, the dog looked better fed and to be in better health.
The woman said she also lived in the kitchen area and didn’t go to the other areas of the house on a day-to-day basis, authorities said. Therefore, according to the report, she claimed not to know how bad the rest of the home looked.
“(The woman) stated she was only slightly aware that Nala had recently had puppies and was completely unaware that two puppies had passed,” Roberts wrote in the report. “Based on (her) statements and the fact that Daisy was only marginally better (off) than … the other animals in terms of health condition, (she) was not charged with animal abuse.”
Kitzweger informed authorities neither the puppies nor Nala had been to the vet recently, according to the police. While he “routinely” let the adult dogs out to play in a fenced-in area, the puppies had been locked inside the house and had never been outside, the report stated.
“Kitzweger attempted to explain the mess inside the house, stating it only occurred yesterday on 08/02/2026 despite the overwhelming evidence that it had been an ongoing issue,” Roberts wrote.
All of Kitzweger’s dogs, as well as Daisy, were taken from the home. Kitzweger was booked into the Putnam County Jail on Monday and was still in custody Tuesday night on $14,500 bond.
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