Dog abandoned after residents vacate

Ohio media seems not to be reporting it yet, but West Virginia outlets including the State Journal are reporting the story of a deaf, elderly boxer left to starve to death in a Belmont County, Ohio home when his owners moved out.

According to video at the news outlet's site, the 12- to 14-year-old dog was found emaciated and near death when a neighbor noticed him through a window of the empty house and called the authorities. He had no food and very little water -- in which, a large dead rat floated. The home's back door was open and the heat had been turned off; and the dog was suffering a respiratory infection.

The news story does not divulge whether the dog's owners -- who have been identified and will be charged with animal neglect -- were renters or homeowners skipping out for whatever reason, but we include this story in the Easy Rent Editor blog because it may interest landlords who allow their tenants to keep pets.

This is not the first time such stories of animal abandonment have made news, and it probably won't be the last. Easy Rent Check.com urges landlords who allow pets on their property to visit their recently vacated units soon after tenants move out. It shouldn't be your responsibility to make sure your former tenants take their pets with them, of course, but since similar cases of animal abandonment aren't as rare as you might think, we guess it's less uncomfortable to deal with your local dog warden or humane society than it is to remove a dead animal from your property.