If you’re thinking of buying a puppy or kitten from a pet shop, please read this first.
On 22nd January 2011 my partner, 7 year old daughter and I bought a mini dachshund puppy from Pets Corner in Eastgate Shopping Centre. Frankly I should have know better than to purchase a puppy from a pet shop, but the cute factor overruled my better judgement and we brought Jackson home with us. The pet store owner couldn’t offer us any advice about what Jackson had been fed on as he had only arrived at the store a few hours earlier, so we bought some dry puppy food for him.
Once back at the house, our little bundle happily wandered around the house and attempted to play with Jane, our other dog, without much success. He ate some of her food and then some of his before curling up to have a sleep on my daughter’s lap. We took him out to the garden every so often to go to the toilet, but mostly he slept on one of us until it was time for bed. At about 11pm we popped him into an open cardboard box in Rosie’s room to sleep, she had insisted that she would get up with him in the night, so we left her to it. At around 1am I heard Rosie crying and went downstairs so see what was going on, Jackson had been sick on one of her toys, so whilst I cleared the mess up he wandered around and went to the toilet. I put them both back to bed and all was quiet, assuming that a possible change of food and perhaps the stress of the day had caused him to vomit.
On Sunday morning, I woke up at about 6am and went to see how Rosie was doing, Jackson was crying to be picked up, so after putting him in the garden to go to the toilet, Rosie collected him up and he went to sleep on her. Sleeping is all he did on Sunday. He didn’t want any food or water, but wasn’t sick again. After an hour or so, I decided to get some fluid into him with a plastic syringe, which I continued to do throughout the day to keep him hydrated. By the evening he still wasn’t interested in food, but had perked up a bit. Even so he slept next to my side of the bed so I could get up in the night and continue to give him fluids. I had to wake him at 1.30am to feed him and I didn’t hear a peep from the little chap all night which was really worrying, until he started being sick at 4am.
I took him to the vets as soon as it opened on Monday morning (24th January 2011) and explained what had being going on. She examined Jackson and diagnosed a viral infection. She didn’t look surprised about the condition he was in when I told her he had come from a pet shop and immediately tested him for Parvo virus, the test came back positive. Parvo is very common in puppies from pet stores, it can be treated but in a puppy as small as Jackson the prognosis would not have been good and it would have cost thousands of Rand. Given how depressed and dehydrated he was I took the decision to have him put to sleep. As he was so small he couldn’t be injected into a leg vein, so the barbiturate injection had to be given directly into his heart, which was painful for him. Despite only having had him for 2 days, I was devastated and very, very angry.
Several hours later I took my vets bill and receipt for Jackson into Pets Corner and went ballistic. The guy insisted that the breeder had never had a problem before and that I might have been making the story up and could I wait for a few days so they could test the other puppies they still had for Parvo. Jackson had had his first vaccination a couple of days before we bought him, so the store owner insisted that it could have tested positive because of that (the vet tested his faeces so a false positive is pretty unlikely). Que. hysterics from me, at him and also at the breeder who I spoke to on the phone and I got refunded. I also cleared the shop of customers with my outburst, not a clever way to behave, but the morning’s events were not conducive to a controlled temper.
I then had the horrible task of telling my daughter that our beautiful little puppy had been put to sleep because he was so poorly. She was of course inconsolable too, made all the worse as it was her first experience of death. To add insult to injury, the Parvo virus can survive on its own for quite some time, so as we’ve had it in our house and garden, we can’t bring another small puppy into our home for 6 months which makes his death all the more upsetting. Luckily, Jane’s vaccinations are up to date so thankfully she should be fine.
I have reported both the pet shop and the breeder to the SPCA for their part in this tragic event.
I hope that anyone contemplating buying a puppy (or kitten) from a pet store will read this and think twice, I wouldn’t wish the heart ache of the last few days on anyone else. There are plenty of reputable breeders around as well as the thousands of dogs living in animal shelters, so please avoid buying animals from pet stores, it really isn’t worth it.
So sad.
HI.
I know that this is a terrible thing that has happened to you and your family, but you can not generalize. I have bought puppies from pet stores before and they have been just fine! It was just your bad luck. I do agree with rather getting a lovable creature from a shelter or the spca but giving every pet store (including pets corner)a bad name is unfair.
I often go to pets corner in eastgate and find them to be very clean and friendly.
I appreciate your point of view Roxanne, but the majority of pet stores puppies are from puppy mills. These are usually run by unscrupulous people who breed dogs continuously for profit without consideration for their health or wellbeing (Pug Rescue recently had to collect a 12 year old pug, used as a puppy mill breeding bitch who was pregnant!!!!). Puppies are often sick (my vet was not at all surprised that the puppy we purchased had parvo) and have genetic disorders (I saw a daxie at Sandton SPCA with back legs that bent like bananas who had originated from a puppy mill). It is far better to either purchase a dog from a reputable breeder or adopt from a shelter. Selling puppies (and kittens) in pet stores is not a good thing (neither is supporting them by buying from them).
Strongly disagree that pet shops are unfairly being given a bad name. I, prior to being involved in animal welfare, bought two dogs from pet stores. I have had no hassles with either – HOWEVER – a pet store does not give you the correct information regarding breed specifics, medical requirements etc I say this with strong conviction having seen many pet stores happily selling boerboels, pitbulls and other ‘power breed’ dogs without providing the information that MUST go with these breeds – ditto on BCRs and Huskys…in fact with all breeds! Pet stores and potential pet owners need to be far more responsible!
I have also been unfortunate enough to visit a puppy mill breeding Pitbulls and Boston Terriers that go into pet stores – I simply now cannot believe that every pet store does background research and knows the situation behind why people are bringing them puppies to sell on a regular basis!
I love the work you are doing Emma, and the photo of Rosie with Jackson is one which a thousand words could not explain!
No reputable breeder would sell their puppies through a pet shop. Which begs the question – Where do all these puppies come from? Unfortunately the sad answer is puppy mills. Breeding dogs is a very expensive business. In order for a puppy farm to be profitable, corners need to be cut.
Many breeds of both dogs and cats have specific health problems associated with them. Good breeders do their bit to improve the health of their chosen breed and have their breeding stock tested for these problems. This requires testing in the forms of x-rays, blood tests, ultra sounds and even DNA testing and breeders will proudly show off the relevant certification. None of this expensive testing is done in puppy farming; – it is simply not commercially viable. Whether your pet shop puppy or kitten suffers from hip dysplasia, PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) or one of a myriad of other conditions is something that will only show up later in its life and cause pain, vets bills and heartbreak.
Good breeders carefully select individuals for their breeding program according not only to health, conformation, appearance and pedigree, but also temperament. They may even import individuals from overseas to improve the gene pool in SA. They carefully select the right male to cover a particular female. By contrast we’ve seen puppy mill dogs that have been born deformed as a result of inbreeding, and “purebred” pups that are of decidedly mixed heritage.
Puppies, particularly of certain breeds, can be fickle little things, and most breeders have their vet on speed dial. Sometimes if a litter is big, supplemental milk is required. This is very expensive and time consuming. Puppies require regular deworming, vaccinations and the very best of puppy food. If large breed pups do not get a special diet formulated to their needs they may well suffer painful musculoskeletal problems later in life.
The crowded unhygienic conditions and insufficient vaccination regimes which are almost always synonymous with puppy mills result in the occurrence of diseases and conditions such as parvo virus, ringworm and many more. As in the case of Jackson, a seemingly healthy puppy or kitten at the pet shop could be harbouring a nasty disease which could endanger not only its own life, but the health of your pets at home.
By purchasing a puppy or kitten at a pet shop you are exposing yourself to the risk of high vets bills and serious heartbreak. More importantly your purchase has tragic implications. You are unwittingly supporting an industry which overbreeds females, discards animals when they are no longer of use, keeps animals confined in cruel conditions and doesn’t provide veterinary care to the sick or injured. Dead puppies are almost a given at any puppy mill.
If you want a purebred pup, purchase from a reputable breeder. Visit the breeder at their home, meet your puppy’s parents and view relevant health certification. If the breeder asks to meet at a public place such as a petrol station to hand over your pup – steer clear! After all the care and expensive they have invested in each puppy a good breeder will drill you with 101 questions, they want to ensure their pup continues to get the care it deserves.
Hundreds of friendly, healthy dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters around SA every week because there are simply too many pets and not enough homes. Puppy mills compound this problem exponentially!
Why not consider a purebred adult. Many stunning purebred dogs end up looking for new homes through no fault of their own. There are great breed rescue organisations set up for Pugs, Labradors, Huskies, Great Danes, Ridgebacks and many more. Adopting an adult means you won’t have to deal with all the chewing, digging and destruction that accompanies puppies and youngsters. Most adults come pre-housetrained
If you are looking for an addition to your family visit http://www.furkidz.co.za or go to http://www.sapetpages.co.za for a comprehensive list of animal welfare and breed rescue organisations.
please rather go to kitty and puppy haven when looking for pet support them they are doing a fantastic job KITTY AND PUPPY HAVEN ……………………
I can tell you 3 different stories like this one with 3 different families. There is actually no excuse for buying from a pet shop – except maybe a little bit of ignorance. It’s shocking how many puppies and kittens are in the animal shelters – never mind adult dogs. If people knew how many pets the SPCA put down every year they’d be sick to their stomachs. The selling of live animals should be completely banned without a strictly controlled permit system. It’s not right that you can walk into a pet shop round the corner and buy a living being that when you get tired of you just chuck outside and forget about or hand over to the shelters. Not to mention freeloading on the poor animal’s puppies that you can sell back to that pet shop and make some extra cash.
I have 3 rescue dogs from different rescue centres, and the idea people have that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks and that rescue animals are problem pets – or that you don’t bond as well with them that you would with a puppy, old wives “tail” – best thing I ever did was get attached to these rescues – and there are THOUSANDS to choose from.
Don’t buy your pet from a pet shop.
It’s also quite weird to think that you can pay money and then be considered the ‘owner’ of a life and soul – wherever you do the transaction. Like buying a book or a piece of furniture.