Man assaulted by dogs in Parkland, Wash.

A cancer patient unable to defend himself has been hospitalized after he was assaulted and apparently fed on by dogs in his home in Parkland, near Tacoma.

Pierce County sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer said Michael Warner's daughter and another woman were arrested last weekend for investigation of criminal mistreatment.

The two women have not been charged, and both have been released from the Pierce County Jail.

Troyer said the women were apparently unofficial caretakers for the man and dogs, but had left them unattended for several days.

"We believe some animals were left behind that were not fed and some of the puppies got to him - not intentionally attacked him, but used him as a food source," Troyer said, adding the victim was on the floor, incapacitated for a couple of days.

"We know it was the puppies," Troyer told The Seattle Times. "We're just not releasing any of the gruesome details."

As many as 27 dogs of various types, including 18 puppies, were taken from the home on Saturday and impounded. The 55-year-old man's daughter had dropped him off last Friday at Tacoma General Hospital, where doctors discovered injuries indicating dogs had fed on him.

Warner was in critical condition Tuesday and has not been able to communicate with investigators.

Neither woman was being paid by the state to take care of him, said Kathy Spears, spokeswoman for the state Department of Social and Health Services.

A neighbor, Anna Bruun, said she had complained about the dogs several times to animal control after a woman was bitten a few months ago. She also said Warner had been left alone at the home in the past, and had stumbled over to her house for help.

"Once I had to call 911 because he came over and collapsed in our front yard and so they came and took him away. And there was nobody there (at the home)," she told KOMO-TV.