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Before I knew about the horrors of puppymills,
I purchased Bailey from a pet store.
He was born on May 21, 1996.
Two days after I brought him home, he developed a severe cough
and eye infections. After taking him
to the veterinarian, the vet informed me that Bailey had kennel cough and had
the "worst eye
infection [she] had ever seen in a puppy." I received an "Unfit for
Sale"
letter from the veterinarian. Basically, this is New Jersey's version of the "Lemon Law" for puppies. Medically, Bailey was so sick that he was a lemon, so to speak,
and never should have been sold to me. His puppy picture below shows his
eyes with ointment on them.
 I had trouble understanding this. The pet store had a veterinarian
examine Bailey before he left the shop! He had a "clean bill of health"
the day we left the pet store, and they even had a “health guarantee”
on their puppies. What a joke. It had
never occurred to me to realize that pet
stores are in business to make money - they knew once I got that little puppy
home that I would never return him for my money back, or a new puppy!
Better yet - "What respectable breeder would ever sell his/her litter to a pet store????"
There is no education about breeds, no screening of buyers, no selection of
proper homes for the dogs, no assurance that these puppies won't be bred (even
further adding to the business of backyard breeders and sale of poorly bred
puppies), nothing. So long as you can pay for the puppy, you can walk
out the door with him/her...never knowing that your puppy has been poorly
bred, inbred, kept in unsanitary conditions, been poorly socialized, often
times transported half way across the country, etc.
I was refunded the money for those initial veterinary bills,
but not for the thousands of dollars I
subsequently paid for Bailey’s medical problems throughout his life.
When Bailey was approximately 2 or 3 years old, the first signs of problems
started:
polydipsia and polyuria. Something
was going on, but we could never identify what specifically was causing
Bailey's problems. After the first few thousand dollars, and constantly
searching for the cause of his ever increasing medical problems, I started my
inquiries into where Bailey came from ... I discovered the following:
Bailey was bred in a puppymill (still
in business!!) in Missouri operated
by Herman and Bonnie Schindler.
The USDA Class B dealer (Victor Dietz) who sold Bailey to the
pet store (and apparently purchased Bailey from the Schindlers) lost his
license in 2000.
The pet store (Family Pet Center in
Woodbridge Mall, NJ) that sold Bailey is
no longer in business.
Bailey lived to be just 7 years old, and in
that time, he suffered with polydipsia, polyuria, arthritis, colitis, glaucoma, a heart murmur, and
kidney disease. My
veterinarian jokingly called him a genetic nightmare.
Here is his picture after his ACL-surgery. He looks real troubled by the
recovery, doesn't he?
I really owe a lot
to Bailey's
veterinarian, Dr. Aimee
Mischel. I think she enabled him to live much longer than perhaps he
would have otherwise. Together, we were able to pick up on many of
Bailey's problems in their early stages.
We still do
not know exactly what caused the liver failure which ended Bailey's life at
the age of 7 years.
It was hypothesized that it was a fatal side effect to the drug, azathioprine,
which we had just started for a few days to combat the presumed autoimmune
conditions causing all of Bailey's other health problems. He suffered
needlessly as a result of this side effect. He was referred and admitted
to
Garden State Veterinary
Specialists. GSVS is one of the top
veterinary specialty hospitals in NJ, and even they were stumped with where to
begin with all of Bailey's problems. We had to take care of the liver
failure before we could even address anything else. After everything he
had been through, and a week's stay in hospitals, I decided not to
pursue the biopsy which may have told us more. They did not expect him
to survive the procedure, and I did not want him to die alone and scared in a
strange place. I took him out of the hospital at and brought him home.
After a few days of sunning himself on the balcony, and slowly drifting
further and further away - when he could
barely walk out of his bed and turned away from hand-fed boiled chicken
livers, I knew Bailey had had enough. I took him to Dr. Mischel (whom he
adored), and she helped me to let him pass peacefully...in the safety and
comfort of my arms.
He died of acute liver failure on March 3, 2004.
This was not exactly what I was expecting
the day I walked into the pet store and expected to bring home a healthy puppy
who could live a long and healthy life with me.
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Despite everything Bailey went
through in his short life, he remained, until the last few weeks, the happiest
little dog I have ever seen. The grin in this picture was Bailey's
permanent expression.
In memory of
Bailey, I decided to start volunteering with beagle rescue, and in March 2006,
helped co-found the East Coast Chapter of Cascade Beagle Rescue!
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There are no guarantees in life - especially when you
decide to take the responsibility of caring for a pet. BUT, puppies bred
in puppy mills are increasingly more likely to have congenital problems which
will cost you thousands. They often have problems as soon as you bring
them home - kennel cough, eye infections, etc. from the poor conditions in
which they lived either in the mill, in transport, or in the pet store.
If you received a sick puppy from a pet store, and wonder about your pet’s
history, go here:
The Humane Society of the United States has launched a
campaign as well!
Educate yourself about
pet stores and puppymills.
NO reputable breeder will sell his/her
puppies to a pet store!
Go
here and search for a pet in need of a loving
home.
I learned such an unfortunate lesson from my
experience with Bailey. I have since adopted
4
rescue beagles, and volunteer 90% of my free time with beagle rescue
organizations.
There is never ANY reason to buy a puppy
from a pet store. THEY WILL TELL YOU WHATEVER THEY CAN TO TRY TO
CONVINCE YOU THAT THEY DO NOT GET THEIR DOGS FROM PUPPY MILLS! Do not
believe this.
If your pet store puppy dog does not end up
with health/behavioral problems, you're lucky. But, you still end up
only contributing to the abuse and neglect of these dogs by supporting the
facilities that treat these animals so inhumanely.
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