Puppy Horror Stories... *share yours too*

Okay, in May of 2004 our last two dogs, Owen and Emma the Pomeranian's passed at the ages of 16 and 14, and my mother felt that we were ready for another dog, as Barney, recently purchased at that time, seemed lonely without his old friends. My mom wanted a Papillion, because we had owned a Papillion previously, so we found a kennel about 40 minutes away, called Pick-A-Pup Kennel, who had two Papillions for sale.

When we got to the kennel, they told us that all of their puppies came from breeders. They showed us the two Papillions, twins, a male and a female. The puppies were small, and had an odd stance, but when we asked the kennel owner about it, she told us it was because they were so young. We videotaped the pups with our camcorder, just in case this turned out to be false. The pups were so cute, but all the male did was sleep and he had a horrible cold. We ended up choosing the female, at $1800. We were to come and pick her up in two days- Saturday.

Saturday morning we drove back to the kennel and picked up the little girl. We got her home and she seemed fine. We played with her, and then let her eat, drink, and nap. She didn't want to play at all that night. At about 3:00 AM in the morning, the puppy, who was sleeping in my room, woke me up with her crying. She was having siezurs and was throwing up, and it was horrible. She couldn't walk, she was foaming at the mouth. I woke up my mom, and we called the vets office. They said to wait a COUPLE OF HOURS before we brought her in. They said bring her at 6:00 AM. Well, at 6:00 we brought her in, and we had horrible thoughts racing through our heads. Had the puppy broken her back? Was she going to live? We prayed and prayed for her. When we arrived at the vets office, the rushed her to the emergency room, and FORCEFED HER KARRO SYRUP. She had low glucose, and was infested with worms like Giardia.


I have to go to school.... CONTINUED IN A FEW HOURS!!

Sorry!

I have a horrible puppy story too, but I don't have enough time to tell the whole thing. Will stop back later and share.

I hope you post the ending to your story soon.

Pet store nightmare.

I've got one...unfortunately.

I have a 4-yr old maltese mix who didn't have the best start to life. My vet actually said he's amazed at how "normal" Landon turned out. Here's his story:

I made the mistake of buying my puppy from a dog store since I hadn't done too much research on the "purchasing a puppy" part... I knew most of the training and caring for a dog stuff. Anyways, at the dog store my sister and mom fell in love with a little maltese pup that was quiet and adorable.

We were very interested in purchasing the pup and so we were asking the salesperson about the pup. She said he was $700 and that we should purchase a food flavouring product that increases dog's appetitite since they had recently added that to his food cause he seemed to not be eating much. It didn't really seem like a problem to me by the lack of significant concern from them.

So we brought the pup home, named him Landon and was ready for the new experience. At home, he remained quiet and not really that interested in things. Ate very little and only when we added a bit of warm water and the food flavouring paste. The night of, he did not eat anything at all and drank water only occasionally.

Overnight, when I got up to check on him in his cage I noticed that he had either thrown up or had diarrhea... I cleaned it up and was a little worried since he looked really tired but I just thought he was a little nervous with the new environment.

I checked up on him every couple hours overnight and he had had his accident a couple more times. The next morning, my mother said that she had seen him eat a few kibbles when she went to check on him, so this soothed my worries a little bit. That is until I watched him have diarrhea, but this time I noticed there were small, blood-like dots in his mess. It happened two more times and Landon was just exhausted.

I could tell something was wrong before, but now I was really worried and brought him to my vet. He took a look at my puppy and told me to bring the puppy back to the store to get them to bring Landon to their own vet (since if he himself had did the tests and "fixed" him, it would cost me and it should be the store who should pay for the costs).

I brought him back to the store and they immediately brought him to their vet. The owner of the vet was not only not very concerned and considerate, he seemed to feel as if it was an annoying process and not worth his time, but he still did it. He even had the guts to say "do you know how much this is going to cost me?". I was dumbfounded and in a state of shock at the whole situation. I spent about two days with this puppy but I felt like he really was part of the family already. My sister and I were crying and this owner still could not see that Landon wasn't "just an animal" to us.

(just a note, there was one lady worker there, Karen, that genuinely cared about the dogs...during the whole process she checked up on Landon by calling the vet and kept us up-to-date with his condition whenever we came by the store to see if there was any news... at one point she told me that I shouldnt go see Landon cause he was hooked up on IV and would be very traumatizing for anyone to see... I started crying at the store in the mall... I could see tears in her eyes as well... she actually eventually quit working at the store)

My own vet called me a couple days later to let us know what was going on at the store's vet. Landon had a some sort of virus in his system and he was anorexic. ANOREXIC. I had no idea dogs could even be anorexic, and you would have thought that an overly underweight dog would be very noticeable to the dog store owner but I guess he just did not care.

It took about another 3 weeks for Landon to stabilize. The vet said that if we had waited another day or so to bring him in, Landon probably wouldn't have survived. They had to put him on IV and the store at one point told us that "it doesn't look good, maybe you should pick another puppy" (wow.). Basically for us, it was a traumating enough experience that it was like, it's either that dog or no dog.

Luckily Landon fought through it and he was back in our house a couple more weeks later. He ran around the house and destructed things like a normal puppy would. He ate and drank well and showed no signs of illness. Like my vet says, it was a miracle. Landon shows no evidence of problems so far (still crossing my fingers that nothing shows up at all for the rest of his life) and I'm so happy to have him.

This just shows that people need to work to shut down puppy mills and discourage improper handling and care of puppies at dog stores. Be careful wherever you buy your puppy, ESPECIALLY from pet stores. You really should get a vet check the first few days after the purchase of a puppy to ensure that everything is normal and healthy.

I guess Roxie would be my puppy horror story. When I was presented with her for my mother's day present in 1997 she was covered in fleas. I really don't remember what I did about the fleas, I think I called my vet, and set up an appointment. When I took her in, my vet noticed a huge knot/lump under her neck. She did blood work etc. and told me she had a bacterial infection caused from flea infestation. She was very sick. She sugessted I take her back to the breeder. After two days, I couldn't do that. The vet treated her with some antibiotics and told me she may not make it. Luckily, she did. To this day, almost 9 years later, when she goes in for her yearly checkup, my vet still reminisces how she did not think Roxie was going to live. She calls Roxie, her miracle dog. I still have to be very careful with Roxie to make sure she does not get fleas. It will bring back the infection. Roxie was worth the risk and I am so very thankful she pulled thru, she has been one of my best dogs. She is perfect.

this isn't a puppy story, so I hope no one yells at me.....


I was getting home from a tournment and waiting with the other coach while all the kids got picked up. It was getting dark but we noticed something moving under the car. It went over there and found a tiny little grayish blue kitten. I got close enough to pet the thing, and noticed a hole on the side of it's cheek. After I thought it was alright, I picked it up and noticed another knot under it's chin. Being a sap, I wrapped it up in a jacket and brought it home. We quarntined it, gave it milk and soft food. It didnt eat, or drink. Just laid and looked sad. This was friday night.

Saturday no improvement. The wound was getting worse. and the chin was becoming more pronounce. We have orginally though it had gotten in a fight, but the wounds didn't make sence. My mother and I, had already discussed we didnt want to keep the cat. We wanted to get the kitten better and we have a friend in a rescue society and a cute "heathly" young kitten would be easy to adopt out. At the time we had 5 other cats, and a 100 pound dog, we didn't need a baby.

Sunday, the wound was getting worse, and ate and drank less. We had begun to force the food/water. It didn't move, and it felt hot, we were afraid for it's life. At about 6' oclock. we decided to get a vet. After some time, we found one.

I had never heard of it. it was called a wolfworm. My mother left the room, but the thing they pulled out was horrible and huge compared to the little kitten.

After the $200 emergency vet bill, we decided to keep the kitten, Kaspar. As she got better, it became obvious she was feral before her rescue but now several months later, and alot of whole milk, she is warming up, and loves the rest of our cat family, and accept both of the dogs.

Miss Miyasa .. I had to do a search on "wolfworm" as I hadn't heard of it. It appears to be another name for the larva of the botfly. I found this on a website:

"Botfly (Dermatobia hominis), whose larvae mature inside flesh. An egg-laden female botfly captures a night-flying female mosquito and glues her eggs on to it. When the mosquito is released and bites a victim, the host's body heat triggers an egg to hatch. It falls off and burrows in. The larva secures itself with two anal hooks, secreting an antibiotic into its burrow, which staves off competing bacteria and fungi. Its spiracle pokes out of the tiny hole, and a small mound forms which will grow to the size of a goose egg before the mature larva falls out."

And this photo:



Yuck! *L* .. the kitten was lucky you found it.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

I actually keep it after they had been removed, in a vial of alchol for the "I knew you woudn't believe me to here it is" purpose, it was REALLY gross.... the vet said older cats and dogs can't get them, just the babies becouse their skin is so soft.

when my little Cairn was around 12 weeks old, I noticed a patch of skin where the hair had fallen away, that looked like a large bump. we took him to the vet immediately, and while I held him...suddenly something moved and it wasn't just a 'bump', as something surfaced (and I was more grossed out than I've ever been) the vet grabbed it with tweezers. it was a maggot.....a regular fly maggot. the vet said that happens with little kittens and puppies and they can't scratch them away. AND, that the maggot can eat it's way into their throat. I had to put antibiotic via a large syringe that fit into that hole until it closed. he was so tiny...that maggot looked HUGE.

My own horror story........

This is my horrible, sad, dog story.

Before I start, I would like to say, This was the worst experience that happened in my life so far.

This happened about 13 years ago, in 1993 I think.

At this time in my life I had one daughter, about 3 years old. My dogs included my high school sweetheart dog “Suzi”, and a Chow mix Barny, and a Dane mix Luke. They were all my babies too. I also had a kitten, a 21 year old cat with upper respiratory infection and a ferret.

Back then every Monday my friend and I visited our local dog pound and took pictures of the homeless pets to be advertised in our local paper, this was volunteer only, cause I thought it would help the animals. Of course I fell in love with several and would adopt them and get them medical care, then find permanent homes for them.

Well this lady brought in a whole litter of pups……She said they were strays someone dumped in her yard.

I fell in love with a particular pup and adopted him with intentions to add him to my family, to keep him as my own. I took him home bathed him in my bathtub, and everything was great for a couple days. Then he started getting sick, diarrhea, vomiting, lethargic, not eating.
I had the pup to the vet 3 different times with many different meds being administered by mouth. I knew the pup was grave. I took him back to the vet one last time, he said there was nothing more that could be done.
So, with me being a real worry wart, and not knowing any history of the pup, I decided to take the pup back to our dog pound and voiced my concerns with the control officer. I told him I wanted the pup euthanized and sent away to be tested for rabies. This was purely just as a precaution. I never really thought we had anything to worry about. Well the pup died on his own before euthanization . He was prepared and sent off for testing.

The results would not be in for a couple days.

The doorbell rings……..its our animal control officer. The rabies test came out positive.
We had the pup in our home for 10 days total. He said to come directly to the dog pound.
I had to give him a list of all people and animals that the pup had come into contact with.
Then we were told to go directly to the emergency room where they were expecting us to start the series of vaccinations. The doctor voiced his concerns how much time had passed since our first exposure to the pup. This sent me over the edge, I did not know if we started vaccinations in time or not. I was really worried about my 3 year old daughter.
Then I went back to the pound for more talk about what was going to be done. Since I had a kitten (no rabies shot yet due to age), the 21 year old sick cat, a ferret (no rabies shots – vet said not approved for them back then), my dog Suzi that was bit playfully by the pup – but an open scratch. And the Chow mix and Dane mix – both healthy and young adults.
We conferred with the vet too. In this experience I not only lost the pup I adopted -- I lost the kitten, the ferret, the cat I had since a young child, my high school sweetheart dog Suzi. The only animals we kept were Chow mix Barny, and Dane mix Luke. With my mental state at the time, and the needed confinement and possible contraction of the disease…….the vet and the animal control officer thought this would be the best option for the safety of my family and the public in general. So Barny and Luke were confined for 2 weeks and given yet another booster vacc.. And tied out in our fenced yard for another few months just to be safe….before I allowed them back in the house.

Now all of this has been really bad so far. My list of people that came in contact with the puppy was long……including

My daughter
My husband at the time
Neighbors
My parents
My friend
My brother
A couple other kids


Not to mention they did an investigation and found out the lady who dropped the puppies off at the pound…….well they were her pups from her dog. She was eventually charged and fined for something….can’t remember what it was called.

Her whole family started shots too.. And all the other pups were tracked down and euthanized and checked. Mine was the only one positive. The rabies was either contracted at the dog pound or at the house of the original owner. Outside pups.

So everyone on my list agreed to have the shots, except my brother. This put MUCH more stress on me cause I thought he would end up contracting rabies and then you die. I didn’t stop worrying for two years about that. It can take a long time for the virus to actually show up. It can lie dormant for months to a couple years…….but usually not that long.

So we had the first vaccinations…….then about 4 days later my daughter starts getting sick. Throwing up, diarrhea, listless, fever. Etc. At this point I am an emotional wreck……At the hospital they just look at me and tell me……I don’t know if your daughter has rabies or not. They did nothing to help me or her. I cussed them out and everyone saw my performance directed to that uncaring doctor.

We drove 25 miles to another hospital, they were great. They contacted CDC and got lots of information. Did blood tests to determine white blood count. The doctor assured me since she had already started the series of shots and her white blood count was fine. That she probably contracted the flu, (when we visited the other hospital for the first shots.)
The next couple days……..waiting to see if she was getting better was pure hell. I don’t think I ate for a couple weeks after all this.

We ended up finishing up our series of vaccinations with no human deaths.

To this day, I remember the caring animal control officers that helped me get thru all this. Holding me, while I was drowning from my tears. They remember this as a horrible experience too.

I am very cautious of stray animals etc. Some say I go overboard. But I say they haven’t been through what I have.

Since this whole incident, the county built a new “dog pound” with all kennels totally inside the building. The old one when this happened had outdoor kennels.

And the newspaper discontinued the pictures of available pups at the pound.

I was lucky……I didn’t get sued by anyone that had to get the vaccinations. And they were very expensive. For my family of 3 at the time – the total cost was over $8000.00 for the vaccinations.
So I did not sue the county or the pound. I needed no more stress or blame. I am just glad it is over and no people died.

I am still very much for shelter dogs, but remember my story in the back of your mind. If any pup or dog dies with no confirmation of a diagnosis have your county send it off to be tested for rabies. There is no charge to you.
I thank god everyday I had that test done. The outcome would have been much different if I wouldn’t have had it done.

Well that is my horrible story. I hope nobody can beat that.

~Barny and Luke ended up living a full life and eventually passed from old age.

(Sorry for such a long post.)

These stories can be really educational - good thread.

Okay, in May of 2004 our last two dogs, Owen and Emma the Pomeranian's passed at the ages of 16 and 14, and my mother felt that we were ready for another dog, as Barney, recently purchased at that time, seemed lonely without his old friends. My mom wanted a Papillion, because we had owned a Papillion previously, so we found a kennel about 40 minutes away, called Pick-A-Pup Kennel, who had two Papillions for sale.

When we got to the kennel, they told us that all of their puppies came from breeders. They showed us the two Papillions, twins, a male and a female. The puppies were small, and had an odd stance, but when we asked the kennel owner about it, she told us it was because they were so young. We videotaped the pups with our camcorder, just in case this turned out to be false. The pups were so cute, but all the male did was sleep and he had a horrible cold. We ended up choosing the female, at $1800. We were to come and pick her up in two days- Saturday.

Saturday morning we drove back to the kennel and picked up the little girl. We got her home and she seemed fine. We played with her, and then let her eat, drink, and nap. She didn't want to play at all that night. At about 3:00 AM in the morning, the puppy, who was sleeping in my room, woke me up with her crying. She was having siezurs and was throwing up, and it was horrible. She couldn't walk, she was foaming at the mouth. I woke up my mom, and we called the vets office. They said to wait a COUPLE OF HOURS before we brought her in. They said bring her at 6:00 AM. Well, at 6:00 we brought her in, and we had horrible thoughts racing through our heads. Had the puppy broken her back? Was she going to live? We prayed and prayed for her. When we arrived at the vets office, the rushed her to the emergency room, and FORCEFED HER KARRO SYRUP. She had low glucose, and was infested with worms like Giardia.

After the vet was done helping her, she kept her overnight for a few days. Then, she asked us to bring the pup back to the kennel, and leave her there for a few weeks. Unfortunatly, my mom listened to them. A few days after we dropped the pup back at the kennel, we got a phone call from them asking if we would rather have the male puppy. My mom said that she would prefer to own the female, but in the end the kennel owner persuaded us into buying both at full cost. The next week, we picked them up.

After we had both the male and female pup, we brought them to the vet, assuming that the male had the same bugs as the female. He did. The vet gave us treatment, which we started immediatly.

After a few more weeks, the male started to act very odd; He was lethargic, and he wouldn't eat or drink anything. One night, it dramatically worsened, so we drove him to the emergency vet. They looked him over and gave him an IV, and kept him at the office. They said his future didn't look good.

Over the next few days, we visited Rex (the male) overnight. He was worsening, and his stomache had filled with fluid. The doctors said that soon it would begin to fill his lungs. The night that we were going to put him to sleep, though, a MIRACLE happened. We were all kissing him goodbye,


GRRR DINNER! CONTINUED LATER! SORRY!!

Julie ... wow .. what a story! How horrible! I'm so glad that all of the humans were okay at least, but to lose your pets had to have been devastating too.

We are so lucky in my area - there has never been a case of rabies here. Is it common where you're at (or where you were at when the puppy had it)?

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

Okay, in May of 2004 our last two dogs, Owen and Emma the Pomeranian's passed at the ages of 16 and 14, and my mother felt that we were ready for another dog, as Barney, recently purchased at that time, seemed lonely without his old friends. My mom wanted a Papillion, because we had owned a Papillion previously, so we found a kennel about 40 minutes away, called Pick-A-Pup Kennel, who had two Papillions for sale.

When we got to the kennel, they told us that all of their puppies came from breeders. They showed us the two Papillions, twins, a male and a female. The puppies were small, and had an odd stance, but when we asked the kennel owner about it, she told us it was because they were so young. We videotaped the pups with our camcorder, just in case this turned out to be false. The pups were so cute, but all the male did was sleep and he had a horrible cold. We ended up choosing the female, at $1800. We were to come and pick her up in two days- Saturday.

Saturday morning we drove back to the kennel and picked up the little girl. We got her home and she seemed fine. We played with her, and then let her eat, drink, and nap. She didn't want to play at all that night. At about 3:00 AM in the morning, the puppy, who was sleeping in my room, woke me up with her crying. She was having siezurs and was throwing up, and it was horrible. She couldn't walk, she was foaming at the mouth. I woke up my mom, and we called the vets office. They said to wait a COUPLE OF HOURS before we brought her in. They said bring her at 6:00 AM. Well, at 6:00 we brought her in, and we had horrible thoughts racing through our heads. Had the puppy broken her back? Was she going to live? We prayed and prayed for her. When we arrived at the vets office, the rushed her to the emergency room, and FORCEFED HER KARRO SYRUP. She had low glucose, and was infested with worms like Giardia.

After the vet was done helping her, she kept her overnight for a few days. Then, she asked us to bring the pup back to the kennel, and leave her there for a few weeks. Unfortunatly, my mom listened to them. A few days after we dropped the pup back at the kennel, we got a phone call from them asking if we would rather have the male puppy. My mom said that she would prefer to own the female, but in the end the kennel owner persuaded us into buying both at full cost. The next week, we picked them up.

After we had both the male and female pup, we brought them to the vet, assuming that the male had the same bugs as the female. He did. The vet gave us treatment, which we started immediatly.

After a few more weeks, the male started to act very odd; He was lethargic, and he wouldn't eat or drink anything. One night, it dramatically worsened, so we drove him to the emergency vet. They looked him over and gave him an IV, and kept him at the office. They said his future didn't look good.

Over the next few days, we visited Rex (the male) overnight. He was worsening, and his stomache had filled with fluid. The doctors said that soon it would begin to fill his lungs. The night that we were going to put him to sleep, though, a MIRACLE happened. We were all kissing him goodbye, and he peed out all of the fluid. We were all crying so hard, even the vet. It was truly amazing, though it may sound disgusting to you. The needle was filled with that liquid that they euphanize the dogs with. He was lieing on the vets table. He picked the perfect time to go to the bathroom- if it had been even two minutes later, he would have been dead.

Those pups are now the happy two year old dogs I own today, known as Bijou and Rexi. They are healthy, and are wonderful to have!

OMG Julie!

Your is much, much worse than mine.

I'm so sorry! You lost so many animals that you loved! I'm so glad that your daughter and family was okay. Oh my god, that's scary.

Yes rabies is quite common here........especially in the summer months. Everything from feral cats, cats with homes, skunks, raccoons, dogs...etc.
Many cases every year. A vet even hosted rabies clinics until the end of Oct. last year. And they are soon to start again.

The whole incident changed my life.......it was so devastating. Although I would love to start "fostering" again, and helping find homes for the "pound" dogs, I just find it hard because of my experience. My first marriage although not completely stable to begin with ended shortly after this happened.

But everything is good now. A great husband, and two young boys along with my older daughter. But the experience is NOT easily forgotten.
Although some of my childhood pets died, my memories of them will last forever...and I am also thankful my daughter is fine despite my decisions, leading to the problem in the first place. If anything would have happened to her I would have blamed myself everyday for the rest of my life.

I am so glad it eventually turned out good for you. What lucky little pups.

Thank you. I was blessed.

I still can't get over what happened to you, though.

Wow rabies that is so scary.

Your other pets that were lost, did they get the rabies? Or were they put down?

I am just curious.