Neutering a dog at home is illegal, irresponsible and flat-out cruel. But that didn’t stop 19-year-old Michael Williams of Wayne County, NY for allegedly attempting to neuter the family dog, Toby. As you can imagine, the “procedure” ended up a bloody mess.

Williams brought Toby to the Macedon Veterinary Care hospital Friday claiming he had tried to castrate the dog himself and things had gone wrong. But when the vet told Williams that Toby would need surgery, Williams refused the treatment. He instead opted to take the gravely wounded animal and drive off in his truck.

Thankfully, the animal hospital notified the authorities, and District Attorney Rick Healy had the good sense to order police to pull Williams over, seize the dog and rush him to an emergency clinic.

Williams wasn’t immediately arrested, but a warrant was served and he was arrested that night on animal abuse charges.

Courtney Klein, Marketing and Communications Manager for Monroe Veterinary Associates released the following statement:

Right now our only focus is on providing the best medical care for Toby. We are a well-trained emergency service with the added benefit of various specialty services on which to call depending on the severity of the situation.  Our team will rally around this type of case using all of our resources to provide the best possible medical care to patients coming to our facility. Animal cruelty is a very serious situation and we encourage all of our staff, as well as any involved parties, to report all incidents of suspected animal cruelty to the proper authorities. In Toby’s particular case, this was a very inappropriate procedure and one that easily could result in death if left untreated.

Thoughts are with Toby on a healthy recovery.