parvo positive puppy

[luanne mullis]

I bought a puppy from a lady who has a kennel,rescue org.,and also rasing and breeds aussies.she has advertised the puppy litter on petfinder as apso/tzu teddy bear faced babies ! we drove 2 hours to pick up this puppy for my grandson.when we get there she informs me that the brother to her had passed away that morning,but she had taken the rest of the litter to the vet and he had cleared them.she usually gives a 3 day gaurantee but was goin to give me 7 days.this was on a saturday.so we leave and drive back home 2 hours and on monday the puppy was not eating and really sick,so we call her and she tells us it sounds like stress from the ride home to give her yogurt.we give her it and she does eat it.but the next morning which is tuesday the puppy really acts better.but into the night she starts vomitting and have diarreah and so on wednesday morning we take the puppy to our vet which tells us we have a positive test for parvo,and that this puppy is an aussie,not a apso/tzu....I called the lady and her husband meets me and takes the puppy with him to administer parvaid...today is saturday and her husband says the pup is eating and has gained 1lb. I really think I am getting the run around,they had said they would call with updates,I have had to call them everytime and have yet to speak to the lady I purchased the puppy from only her husband.I ask my vet what I should do they have the sick puppy,I am afraid she is not alive and I am getting the run around.I really don't know what to do : I would like them to return my money and pay for the vet bill,I purchased what I thought was a healthy apso/tzu that would be a great house dog for my grandson not a very contagious sick Aussie !! can anyone help me ?

[Regina Dickerson]

Check with Bullies2loves(Tracy) and JusticeforBabyBoy. They can really tell you what to do.

[Mandy Ellis]

there's another post of a similar nature to yours under the heading 'recourse on breeder who sold a puppy with parvo' in the discussions somewhere, it's very recent so you shouldn't have trouble finding it.

briefly, parvo is extremely infectious, if one of the litter has it, it would be safe to say that the others will have it. the incubation period is 7-14 days, so it's possible that people buy pups and then find out later that they're sick. how old is the pup and what vaccinations were given prior to you getting it and did you get a vacc cert? parvo particularly affects the very young animals with no immunity, or the old and sick ones whose immune systems are weakened and it will kill them by dehydrating them - they vomit and defecate masses of deep dark red deoxygenated blood.

another anomoly that you may or may not have noticed - if this lady is a 'rescue', why is she breeding also? where i'm at, that flies in the face of the ethos of rescue - as someone who runs a rescue, we ALWAYS spay and neuter (unless medically unfeasible), no exceptions. your intentions were good going to a rescue, but please don't ever buy pups from anyone breeding when you could find so many more wonderful pups needing kind loving homes who are in other pounds/rescues throughout the country who would otherwise be put down.

i am assuming that your daughter/son (whoever the parent of your grandson is) is agreeable to having the pup and is agreeable to looking after it properly if the child loses interest? please do not ever give animals as gifts - always check that the recipient is agreeable to having an animal and can care for it properly.

it does seem unlikely that the pup is still alive if you're having such a run around and the woman refuses to speak to you, but also bear in mind that for breeders time is money and if this poor creature is parvo positive they might well have killed it rather than been paying out for vets fees for it - it is generally an expensive business as animals are admitted to a clinic and are then put on iv therapy and given medication for vomitting, so you're looking at a quickly escalating bill. you could get your husband and son/son in law and all of you go for another 2 hour drive to physically speak face to face with this lady - don't let her know you're coming. go armed with your receipts from the vet and also your receipt for the purchase of the puppy and let her know that she needs to either reimburse you for all, or give you the pup and reimburse your vets fees. perhaps take legal advice prior so you know your rights when you're speaking to her - you don't need to shout and yell about it, just calmly state what you want her to do.

[luanne mullis]

hello mandy,
thanks for your reply.i spoke to my daughter and her husband in depth about getting my grandson his puppy and we all agreed that we indeed did want and were willing to take care of this animal.i was concerned about getting him an animal because i didn't mention it in the post but my grandson is autistic and doesn't respond well sometimes to outside things.along with both his therapist,and parents we all agreed that he would very much benefit from a new puppy.i had recently purchased a chicauaua puppy for myself from an elderly lady we know and he loves her to death.but i thought maybe that breed would be to hyper for him.i did some searching and found this lady on petfinder and she had a rescue program and so after talking to her several times,i decided to get one of the rescued apso/tzu puppies.the fee for this puppy was 160.00,for her reimbursment for fees she had incurred she said.which was a great price i thought for this pup.i have never had any dogs except for the one i recently bought and didn't know the difference in breeds.but when the puppy got sick and we took her to our vet he infromed me that this was defenitely not a apso/tzu it was a mixed of something with an aussie! so now not only is this poor little puppy sick,it is not going to be a cute little 20 lb. house dog but a 50 lbs or more dog that needs to be outside and is not what i wanted.so i just don't know what to do next.do we take the dog back if she gets better and take the chance of her having medical problems later when my precious grandson really becomes attached to her.i mean i know this can happen with any animal,but we already know this one is sick.my vet said this is just asking for later health problems i dont know........ i am very confussed...

[Mandy Ellis]

luanne - i've just been trying to find the discussion i mentioned in the post and it doesn't seem to be so easily found. if you go to my page and then click onto the discussion name from the list, then it'll come up and you can follow that one.

[Alaina]

Luanne,
I have been speaking with Mandy in reguards to my situation which is simular to yours. I bought a puppy, also found on Puppyfind.com. Our puppy was diagnosed with Parvo 2 days after the purchase. The lady we bought him from, states that none of the other puppies have been positivley diagnosed and that My puppy is the only one out of the litter that got parvo. This breeder wanted me to take him out of vet care, travel 1 hour to let her vet treat the puppy. This was a very sick puppy and I condsidered it very inhumane for her to even suggest such a thing. She said the only thing she will do is give me back the purchase price if I return the puppy, which means I would be out all vet costs totaling 1500.00 My puppy made it through parvo, with some very aggressive treatment, But he still has medical problems. Im not sure if it is from being so sick with parvo, or if these are some more conditions from being breed in such poor conditions. I would suggest exactly what Mandy suggests, Make a surprise visit, get your money back, along with vet bills. This may have to be done through small claims court, which is the avenue I have to take. You have a strong case since she misrepresented the puupy as being one breed and it is clearly something else. I would find a reputable breeder and get your grandson the puppy suitable for him. This is very aggravating that we have to endure situations like this, with not a whole lot of recourse that can be taken to hold these people responsible.

[luanne mullis]

Alaina,
Thanks for the advice also.My daughter called today and blocked our home phone number because before i think they were screening our calls.The lady actually answered the phone instead of the husband and my daughter was very blunt to say the least with her.We are usually very nice people but we are just fed up with this mess ..anyways my daughter asked if the puppy was alive and if it was ok.They lady assured us that the puppy was alive and doing quiet well,she says the puppy is eating and gaining weight,she says she is crate trained almost and playing with the other animals there at the rescue center.Which to me seems strange due to the fact it is parvo positive! But she said it is going to the vet tomorrow and she will update us then.My daughter also asked about the breed and she repeated the same that it is an apso/tzu mix and it will not get more than 20lbs at the most by the measurement of its paws and legs.Like I said before I know nothing about what breeds look like, but I have some pictures of all three dogs and compared ours puppy to an aussie and an apso/tzu mix and ours looks like an aussie.I mean don't get me wrong I am glad and thank God the puppy is ok but,We are now trying to decide if we are going to take her back due to other health issues and is she still contagious and for how long because of my little chicuaua that is only old enough for 2 doses os the parvo vaccine so far.And if we continue to leave the little puppy there to get all better by the time we get her back will she not be a puppy,but a 15 or 16 week old doggie.And will she bond with my grandson? The lady said she would give us our money back for the puppy but not the vet bill because she says that was our choice to take her there.My daughter is having a hard time deciding what to do,not only does she feel she has a commitment to this puppy,her son has social and trusting issues already and how do you explain to a little autistic 3 year old that you gave him a puppy oneday and the next take it away and when you give it back it is 3 times the size it was ? You are absolutley right there is no recourse for these situations ...God Bless .

[luanne mullis]

this is an aussie puppy

[luanne mullis]

this is my grandson's puppy "Tickles"

[luanne mullis]

And this is an Apos/Tzu mix...now tell me do you guys think we have this puppy?
to me ours doesn't look at all like this puppy..

[Ming Ming's mom]

I think you got an aussie. Good luck. Sometimes older puppies are more patient with small children and they will bond the same way.

[Regina Dickerson]

Those puppy pictures are adorable! I believe that Ming Ming right.