Mutilated puppy and its mom reunite in Huntington

Miss Harper, the 10-month-old pit bull puppy found with its ears and hind right leg cut off last September, was reunited with its mother at My Pet’s Vet in Huntington on Thursday.

Her mother Missy, 7, was a victim of overbreeding, and Miss Harper was in one of her litters.

Missy was surrendered by her owners Wednesday and taken by the Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, according to Donna Kramer, practice manager at My Pet’s Vet. She and SPCA representatives held a news conference Thursday that was part of the reunion.

“Her ears are infected and she has mastitis, which is an infection of breast tissue,” said Kramer of Missy. “We’re thinking she’s been bred quite a bit and hasn’t been taken care of, so we’re going to put her on antibiotics. She is a great dog with a wonderful personality. She’s sweet.”

Nassau County SPCA spokesman Gary Rogers said the former owners of both dogs, Lee Hughes, 30, of Westbury, and Shawanna Hughes, 37, of Oyster Bay, surrendered Missy as part of guilty pleas involving a separate case concerning a pit-bull mix named Snowball. They currently face charges related to Miss Harper’s injuries.

Bob Sowers, a detective with the Nassau County SPCA, picked Miss Harper up from an emergency veterinary center in Nassau on Sept. 3 and brought her to My Pet’s Vet to receive surgery to open up her ears, which were closed over, and be fitted for a prosthetic leg.

“Due to the overwhelming generosity of the public and local organizations, we’ve raised plenty of money to give Harper the care she needs and enough to take care of her mother,” said Sowers, 71. “I don’t believe Missy has ever been to a vet before, so they’re going to take care of her. We want a nice loving home for Missy. She deserves it.”

So far, Sowers has narrowed down hundreds of adoptive owners for Miss Harper to six.

Kramer said Miss Harper will be ready for adoption after she’s fitted for her prosthetic leg, which should be within this month, and her mother will be ready for adoption in two weeks. They will be put up for adoption separately.

“They were a little tentative,” Kramer said of the mother-daughter reunion. “They’ve been separated for months, so we’re taking it slow. We’ll take them for walks together and hopefully they’ll bond. I’m happy that Missy was finally taken out of that home and reunited with her daughter even if it is temporary. I’m happy to know that these dogs will find loving homes.”