Ohio man claims his dogs were given away while he received cancer treatments

Daryel Jones, of Cincinnati, said his dogs, Honey and Joyful, were more than just pets.

"Some people have kids. I have puppies," Jones told WKRC.

Jones said he had a recent health issue and also was diagnosed with lymphoma, forcing a hospital visit, the television station reported.

Jones said he was assured by a family the dogs would be cared for during his hospital stay and was eager to see them when he returned home after a three-month stay in the hospital.

"Sometimes when you are going through challenges in life, you come home to relax and your babies come in and they comfort you," Jones told WKRC. "That's what Honey and Joyful did for me."

When Jones came home, however, the dogs were gone. The only evidence of the two dogs were photographs hanging on the wall, the television station reported.

"She (family member) finally told me that she never had my dogs. When she came here and got my dogs, she took them and gave them to somebody else," Jones told WKRC. "Whoever that somebody else is, they're the one that supposedly gave my dogs away."

The dogs have now been missing for nearly six months, Jones said. He has gone on social media to piece together what happened, but Jones has no leads yet. He calls taking the dogs away from his home an act of betrayal.

"(It's) to a point where I forgive them, but I don't trust them," Jones told WKRC.