About six months ago my wife started asking me if we could get a Yorkie. After six months of having to look at pictures on the internet, I said OK. She looked around on the web and found a place in Dixon, CA (yorkieangel.com). She called the number and on Thu Jan 1, 2009 we went to see the place and puppies. The puppies are kept in the garage, warmed by lamps and a gas heater. The owner, Cris -- a young man, rather dry in character -- answered all our questions, except when we asked if he did this for a living (which he does). Anyway, he mentioned that he was getting another litter the next day, which raised our concern about "puppy mill". However, he assured us that the litter was from his fathers female. We came back the next day and indeed my wife fell in love with the smallest of the litter. She was adorable and very lovable, would crawl up my wife's neck and cuddled on her shoulder underneath her hair - the puppy smelled quite bad and had feces (crap) on her paws - nothing a warm bath could not fix. The asking price was $1400.00 (way more than what I expected). However, if we paid cash, they could do $1200.00. Sheryl wanted to take her home that night, so I talk to Cris and he said that he could charge my VISA the full amount ($1400.00 + tax) and that the next day, when I came back with cash, he would not send the CC slip to visa and he would not have to charge us the sales tax. Next day, I withdrew 100% of our savings and drove to Dixon and paid the man $1200.00 cash. He made me sign a new contract but never gave me the original contract where he carbon copied my credit card number.
We named the puppy Lilo... Saturday through Tuesday was the center of our attention. We bought/charged every toy, bed and accesory available at Petsmart. However, we were concerned because she had a constant cough, everytime she ate or drank water, she would throw up, when she went pee or poo it smelled REALLY bad and her energy level was WAY down. On Tue 1/6/2009, my wife took Lilo to Banfield for vaccines, dewarming, the checkup required by yorkieangel (in the contract) and to enroll her in Banfields medical program - total cost of that visit $260.00. Two hours after the vaccination, Lilo was below normal energy level and my wife noticed her gums were pale... so she rushed Lilo back to Banfield where Lilo had to be hospitalized. After a couple of hours and $300.00 more, Lilo was returned to us and the Dr. said she would be OK... he thought it was an allergic reaction to the vaccine, which would be strange as per the documents yorkieangel gave us, she already had her first shots and dewarming (or did she???), so what was she allergic to? Banfield gave us some medications and sent us home. We took it easy, watched a movie while constantly monitoring the baby... Lilo was sleepy, had trouble breathing and complained a lot - but these were things Banfield told us were to be expected. At 10:30PM, we gave her the three medications that Banfield gave us, offered her water and food, which she did not take (Banfield also said she might not eat, but that they put a lot of liquids in her so she should be fine for the night). At 4AM, Lilo woke up and did what she always did when she had to go to the bathroom. My wife placed her on the pee pads and while Lilo was going pee, she collapsed. My wife started screaming, so I jumped up to see what was going on... Lilo had stopped breathing. Being CPR certified, I did everything I could, including calling 911 and fire department (who do not respond to animal emergencies). Lilo died in my hands a few minutes past 4AM!!! With our hearts torn, we placed Lilo's little dead body on her favorite pillow and covered her under her pink blanket... the pain my wife and I had to endure between that time and 9AM (when Banfield opened) was unbearable. Banfield offered to do the necropsy for free and understood our pain. We received the necropsy results on 1/12/09... Lilo had lung mineralization, liver deficiency, spleen mineralization and immune deficiency (too many health issues to list). The Dr. said that her system was so weak and had so many health issues, her little weak body could not process the vaccines -- and even if she would have survived this episode, she would continue to have health issues and surely not have lived a full life (this was going to happen sooner or later).
While we were waiting for the necropsy results, I started to do some research on yorkieangel.com and my wife started looking for another baby (I told her that at any cost, I would replace her baby - she was hurting so much!!!). One of the people we called mentioned that several people had called with similar situations as ours... they bought their puppy at yorkieangel.com and the puppy died within three days from purchase (should be called adoption, but this place is a business, not a breeder - therefore is a purchase!!!). I also found on the internet several stories of people who bought from yorkieangel.com and either their puppy died or the puppy was returned per vets advice and their money was never refunded by yorkieangel.
I am not sure how this story is going to end with yorkieangel... being the reasonable person that I think I am, I am going to first give yorkieangel.com the opportunity to return my money based on "Bona fide" (good faith). If this does not work (as they are protecting themselves with a very well written contract), I will follow up by reporting them to every agency available, including: Better Business Bureau, Channel 3 News or any local news channel that wants the story, Solano County Health Dept, Police Department, National Fraud Center, ASPCA, pet-abuse.com and not excluding IRS, as they sell for cash in order to avoid having to pay sales tax. If after doing this I still don't get my money back... I already have a couple of lawyers revising the contract to evaluate a potential lawsuit.
For those of you reading this and wondering if we found another baby... yes we did. A very nice family in Woodland, CA heard about what happened to us, called us and gave us their 13 week old yorkie who looks just like Lilo... only condition is to love her and take the best care of her we can. Olga and family, if you are reading this... thanks.
So, if you are looking for a yorkie and you are considering yorkie angel - I strongly advice that you have your puppy checked by a vet before giving any money or signing any contract with yorkieangel.com.
Thanks
PS - If something similar happened to you - let me know:
mouserodri@hotmail.com