A sampling of real experiences of pet owners and their pet store puppies, as told to IMOM. For more information about the pet store--puppy mill connection, visit our web site at www.IMOM.org.
Mr. Hodges came from a pet shop in a shopping mall. Although he turned out to be the nicest dog I have ever met (truly), he was obviously brain damaged. He suffered his whole life with a skin condition that several veterinarians described as his "being allergic to his own body." I had never heard of that, but know that in order to give him comfort he had to live on Cortisone pills his whole life or he would have deep pink, raw spots (much like hot spots) across his entire body.
He also had hip dysplasia, and he finally developed a painful case of arthritis late in his life. One day, on our daily walk, the weight of his body shattered his shoulder and I made the painful choice to help him quietly go back to God through humane euthanasia, by his very gentle doctor.
I always wonder, now that he's finally been released from that crappy body of his, who the cruel, unthinking people were, who turned him out like a product, at the expense of his innocent mind and body and if they would even care that he had such a hard way to go. Hodge was a very special boy, and I gave him all I had for those 12 years because he gave me so much.
There's a part of me that will always be angry at that faceless puppy-mill breeder! Puppy mills must be stopped. --Nancy
In 1986, I purchased a malamute from P------ [a well-known pet store chain] in Minneapolis, MN. I knew nothing about pet stores or how they purchased their animals. I just knew I wanted another dog, and a large one. His fuzzy face and pleading eyes convinced me. I paid $300 for him. I got my AKC papers, but when I wrote the breeder to get information about his parents, I got a poorly scrawled note on a torn piece of notebook paper. I should have known…
Before he was 9 months old I knew there was something wrong with his legs. When I complained to P------, and showed his x-rays, they denied responsibility and offered to replace him (yeah, right). I finally did manage to get the purchase price refunded. He had canine hip displaysia, and had it progressed much longer he most likely would not have been able to walk.
At 9 months, he had hip surgery done on both of his hips, which at the time seem very expensive at $500 per hip. He was a great patient and totally won over the surgeon, who pulled him across the clinic floor on a rug to the door so that he could stand up and go out to pee.
In 1997 I lost him due to a large, rapidly growing stomach tumor. He had lived almost 12 years and was a great buddy. --Laurie
My beautiful Alaskan malamute, Sasha, was from a puppy mill. She had been at a pet store for a long time, and was past the cute puppy stage. She was four months old. Against my better judgment, I negotiated a "sale price" and got her out of there. If I had not, she would have been returned to the puppy mill, and would have spent her entire life in a cage, exposed to the elements, without decent food or water, without ANY LOVE, giving birth to litter after litter until she died or was killed.
She was a beautiful girl (to me), but was far, far, from the standard for a malamute, even though she had AKC papers. I was often asked, "What kind of collie is that?" More serious than looks was her health. She was missing toes and one foot was deformed. I can only imagine how this happened to a poor tiny pup.
She was also epileptic. This is a hereditary condition. Her seizures were quite severe, and it was months, and thousands of dollars, before we got her condition sufficiently under control. There were always some seizures, and she would be on medication for life. Had she been sent back to the puppy mill, the puppies she produced would most likely be epileptic, and unsuspecting folks who bought them would suffer right along with the pups.
I will never forget Sasha, and I will never stop fighting to close the hellholes that are responsible to the great injustices inflicted upon man's best friend. --Victoria
Puppy Mills breed MISERY. Boycott stores that sell pets!
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