Hi Everyone! I'm a little nervous about posting, I hope this is in the correct forum area.. I've loved Yorkies for some time now, every since my friend got one several years ago, and just recently my wonderful fiance got me one!
Actually, it's kind of an interesting story and I was curious if any of you have had experience with the "breeder" that we dealt with.
I'd been talking to my fiance for some time about getting a dog, because when I moved in with him, I was unable to take my miniature daushound with me, he lives with my parents and they loved him so much they got another one and there's no way I can seperate them now!
So as much as I loved my daushound, I had my heart set on a Yorkie. On Monday of last week, my fiance told me we needed to go to the airport to pick up his boss. We drove there, he went in to "find him" and came out with kennel, with my little yorkie inside! I was so excited! As happy as I was though, I was very concerned with where the little guy came from. I had been researching breeders in our area, and this little guy had been ordered online from Arkansas.
We get him home, and he pretty much sleeps the whole day. He refuses to eat. We assume it's stress.
So on Tuesday, I took the puppy to the vet. The vet tells me he has kennel cough, an ear infection, an eye infection and a stomach virus. He pumps poor Paxton full of antibiotics, gives me more to give him twice a day. The vet thinks it's okay he's not eating, and just gives me special dog food.
That night, after forcefeeding Paxton, he throws it up, so we take him back to the vet. The vet checks him into the hospital and puts him on an IV. He spends two days there, and when we pick him up, the vet assures us he's fine, but he still won't eat. I spent the weekend forcefeeding him. I feel like the puppy hates me now after all the forcefeeding I've been doing to him
He won't even let me touch his mouth. He sleeps constantly.
I actually found this website while doing searches trying to figure out what's wrong with my puppy. I read a whole bunch of threads reading your valuable advice. It made me feel a bit better to know that other people have had issues with their Yorkies and now their Yorkies are thrieving.
My fiance has been in contact with the lady we bought him from, telling her everything that's going wrong with him. She suggests we send him back to her, and we can have a new one. My fiance is attached to Paxton and tells her we're going to do what we can to make him better.
Monday, I take him back to the vet. The vet tells me he should have gotten better by now from his stomach virus, so something else must be wrong. He x-rays him, and then tells me we'll have to do further tests to see what's wrong with him, because his intestines aren't visible in the xray.
At this point, we've already spent a pretty penny on vet bills, so I call my fiance to ask what we should do. He was upset that Paxton's spent so much time at this vet, and the vet STILL doesn't know what's wrong with him. So as soon as he gets home from work, he takes Paxton to a different vet.
The new vet (who's praise I will sing for the rest of my life) take a blood sample, something I suggested to the other vet, and he shruged it off.
The new vet discovers that Paxton's white blood cell count is in the high 50's, when it should be 5-15. They investigate further and find a parasite living in him. They tell us he would have died that night if my fiance hadn't brought him in. Unfortantly, treatment for him cost $1,400. My fiance paid it right away. I've never loved my fiance more
They call the other vet to get records, and the other vet says "I didn't think he was that sick".
My fiance calls the lady we bought him from, and tells her everything that happens. She suggests again sending him back and she'll send a new one, but the vet says sending him back would condemn him to death, he'd never be able to handle the stress of it. Plus we love our little puppy. She then just says, "Sorry to hear it, but it's not my problem."
We a pretty upset with this breeder, since she sold us an unhealthy puppy that would have died had she not sold it to us. I'm not sure if what she did was illegal or not, but in the contract she sent with him, she covered her tracks pretty well, which leads me to believe she's sold unhealthy puppies before. I'm thinking she's a puppy mill breeder, which my fiance didn't know anything about before he got the puppy (He's trusting). I know it's not about the money, but I feel like the lady owes us something, since she caused us such heartache, and she shouldn't have sold a dying puppy. Does anyone know if there's organizations that I can complain to about this unethical behavior? The puppy is AKC registered, is it possible I complain to them about it?
So now Paxton's been at the new vet for the past two days, he's eating on his own now, and being playful. I'm so excited to see my puppy soon, I haven't gotten enough time to see him since I got him! It's been pretty heartbreaking to watch a puppy that should be full of life barely have the energy to stand up, and be unable to eat.
I hope this wasn't too much of a novel, and I'd love to hear any thoughts! I'm happy to be around a group of yorkie lovers!