Aaron Phypers Says Denise Richards Never Took Care of Dogs, His Parents Do

Aaron Phypers is blasting estranged wife Denise Richards for showing up at his house to grab a dog and causing all sorts of drama -- he says she never cared for the doggies in the first place ... and claims she left him and his elderly parents to care for all of the animals.

Aaron tells TMZ ... Denise moved out of the home 2 years ago because she got a condo nearby so she could film content for OnlyFans, and while she would swing by from time to time to pick up things, she never took care of the dogs.

At one point, Aaron says they had 55 dogs, 13 cats and 2 pigs at the house ... and for the past 4 years, the animals' primary caretakers have been Aaron's family ... with his mother and father handling all the pet grooming, feeding, and care.

Aaron says these days there are 15 dogs living in the Calabasas home he shares with his parents and brother. He had picked up their 14-year-old dog Melanie on July 16 to take her to the vet because she was sick, had cancer, and wasn't doing well.

He says after the vet looked at the dog, they recommended the humane thing to do -- because the dog had no chance of survival -- was to put her down.

Remember ... Denise and Aaron had a bunch of drama over the weekend when she showed up to get a dog from the home ... cops got involved and her lawyer claimed the visit was because Aaron "had put down one of her other dogs without her knowledge or permission."

Aaron's taking issue with how Denise's attorney characterized things ... he says when he took it to the vet for a checkup, and the vet was the one who decided the humane thing to do was to put the dog down. He's also standing by the fact that he was at the house when she first arrived and that she never confirmed he wasn't there.

According to Aaron... Denise never wanted knowledge or permission for anything involving the animals in the past and it was never an issue until now.

The divorce has been pretty nasty and it seems like things are only getting worse between them.

We reached out to Denise's rep ... so far, no word back.