WATERLOO, Iowa (WFLA) – A man who surrendered his dog at an animal shelter in Iowa now wants his pet back after the shelter performed thousands of dollars worth of surgery.

Jeffrey Ferrie believed his 10-year-old chihuahua Boris broke his jaw after getting into a fight with another dog.

He says he surrendered his dog to a local animal shelter because he had no money to pay for x-rays and surgery.

After Boris was dropped off at the Cedar Bend Humane Society, the shelter shared his story on social media. They were quickly able to raise almost $5,000 to pay for the dog’s surgery.

“We were completely blown away with the generosity of our community,” said co-director Kristy Gardner. “We definitely have a lot of animal lovers out there.”

Now, Ferrie wants to adopt Boris back.

“I would love to get my dog back. I didn’t want to give him up, but that was the only option that I had,” Ferrie said. “And they made it seem as though they were just going to put him down anyway. I didn’t think there was any option that he would survive this ordeal to begin with.”

He believes he should be able to re-adopt Boris because the dog’s surgeries were paid for by money raised through donations.

“They’re not out anything if they were to either give me back my dog or allow me to re-adopt him,” he said. “There’s nothing coming out of their pockets if they decide to do that.”

Officials with the animal shelter say they are just focused on Boris at this point.

“Our main concern is the animal. Right now we’re just moving forward with the care of the dog,” Gardner said. “We’re not concentrating on getting him adopted or where he needs to go from here. Right now, our focus is the dog.”

Gardner says she will evaluate everyone, including Ferrie, when it’s time to put Boris up for adoption.