Even if you get a one year health guarantee you are still facing some huge vet bills with these puppies. My Lady is a poorly bred Maltese - a rescue so I am not her original owner. She was perfectly healthy for the first four years of her life until her genetic "time bombs" started going off. First it was epilepsy, then diabetes, then allergies and arthritis, then hypothyroidism and now Cushings. Her medications alone are between $250-300 per month. With that and the vet bills to monitor all her conditions, she costs me about $5,000 a year without a health problem. We usually have at least one of those a year which runs about $500-1,000.
Rescuing a poorly bred dog can be extremely expensive so you must be prepared financially to care for these dogs long term. Most people can't or won't make that commitment so these puppies face euthanasia as adults.
The only way to stop the cycle is to stop buying puppies from pet stores. |