'Apparently he's money-motivated': Dog of US couple eats over $5,300 in cash

A couple in the US managed to find humour in their sh***y situation after their pet dog ate US$4,000 (S$5,300) worth of cash.

The couple from Pittsburgh recounted the series of events in a now-viral Instagram reel. 

"This is Cecil. He has never done anything bad in his life — until he ate US$4,000," the text in the video said.

The reel then showed how the couple sifted through Cecil's vomit and poop in the next few days to salvage most of the cash.

The man had withdrawn the money and left the sealed envelope of cash on the kitchen counter, intending to stash it later, the couple told The Washington Post.

Just 30 minutes later, he found tiny pieces of chewed-up bills strewn across the floor and called for his wife.

The woman said that she initially thought she misheard her husband as Cecil had never shown interest in items they left on the kitchen counter.

"Cecil's a goofy guy and he's very particular — you could leave a steak on the table, and he wouldn't touch it because he's not food-motivated," the woman said.

"But apparently he is money-motivated," she joked.

Bank says they'll replace the bills

After the initial shock wore off, the couple contacted their vet, who told them to monitor Cecil at home as he was a large dog and likely will be fine.

The couple then gathered the bills on the floor, piecing together whatever they could which amounted to US$1,500.

Upon calling the bank, the woman was assured by a manager that they will also replace the digested bills as long as the serial numbers on the front and back were visible. 

This was apparently a common occurrence that the bank had a procedure for, the woman told The Washington Post.

"I felt like a kid who says 'The dog ate my homework'," she recalled.

The woman told the Pittsburgh City Paper that after speaking with the bank, the couple realised they would need to wait until Cecil "expelled" the remaining money.

Later that day, Cecil vomited a couple of torn US$100 bills which the couple washed and put together.

Over the next few days, the man donned gloves and followed Cecil whenever the dog went to relieve himself.

The couple sifted through Cecil's faeces to find as many pieces of the digested bills as possible before washing and put them back together as if doing a jigsaw puzzle.

They were able to recover and tape together almost all of the money, losing around US$450 at the end, the Pittsburgh City Paper reported.

"The remaining scraps will be our most expensive piece of art," the woman said.

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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com