The tweet of a famous musician helped secure a home for a Beaufort County dog last week.

Matchbox Twenty lead singer Rob Thomas posted Twitter comments about Pfeizer, a dog dropped off at Beaufort County Animal Control.

Thomas’ tweet led to hundreds of calls and emails about Pfeizer from across the country and Canada, said Todd Taylor, chief of Beaufort County Animal Control.

“That is out of the norm for our facility, sometimes we’ll get 10 to 15 responses, but that was just nuts,” Taylor said. “It (Twitter) spreads the word quick.”

A Chocowinity veterinarian adopted Pfeizer later in the week, said animal control officer Josh Jobe.

Thomas, an animal lover, often uses his Twitter account to share stories of animal abuse and neglect across the county, along with pets that just need a good home. Thomas and his wife, Marisol, started a foundation called Sidewalk Angels, supporting a number of no-kill animal shelters and animal rescue operations.

The Grammy-award-winning singer learned about the Washington-area dog from Penny Eims, an online writer.

“I write about dogs and learn about dogs from various places, including Facebook, from readers who alert me to dogs at risk of being put down and via dog networking groups,” Eims said.

Pfeizer, a 16-year old Labrador retriever mix, was dropped off at Beaufort County Animal Control after his owners couldn’t care for him anymore because of medical expenses, animal control officials said. The dog is arthritic and his fur is thin and missing in places.

Thomas said in his tweet, “This boy finds himself homeless after 16yrs, just because he’s old.”

Jobe said Pfeizer was turned over to animal control by a family that had taken over care of the dog from a different owner, but after several years could no longer continue.

“He just became too much for them,’ Jobe said.

“Once he got here they told us he’s not friendly and doesn’t like certain people,” Jobe said. “So we knew he was going to be a special adoption. We looked for rescues for him and we had one rescue come down from Raleigh, but it didn’t work out.”

For more information about other domestic animals visit Beaufort County Animal Control at 3931 U.S. Highway 264 East in Washington.