SPECIAL SERIES: Troubled pedigree Part 1
Do you know where your puppy came from?
After a listener complained to WDBO about getting a sick dog from an upscale puppy boutique Dr. Philips, we did some investigating.
Lisa Celestino told us she usually gets her dogs from rescue shelters, but a Border Collie at Palm Beach Puppies caught her eye and she fell in love.
"I asked them if it was a puppy mill dog and they said 'no'," Celestino recalled.
The store's veterinarian initially gave the puppy a clean bill of health, but in the next couple days she developed kennel cough.
"I brought her back to the vet; the doctor gave her medication and sent us on our way," Celestino said.
But Celestino says the puppy she named "Princess" got worse, and soon began to cough-up white liquid.
Celestino became worried. Late on a Sunday afternoon, she took Princess to an after hours vet for emergency care. The vet said Princess had developed pneumonia and required her to stay overnight at the clinic.Days later, Celestino took her bill to Palm Beach Puppies thinking she'd be reimbursed.
"Since the care was not given from Kirkman Road Veterinary Clinic, the clinic of record, [Palm Beach Puppies] was not going to pay," Celestino said.
Celestino would have taken Princess Palm Beach Puppies' vet, but it's closed Sunday evenings.
To make matters worse, Celestino's 14-year-old Cocker Spaniel also got sick. The bills for both dogs
came to $1,500, and Lisa began to wonder if she'd been duped.
When WDBO first went to the Orlando Palm Beach Puppies location, an assistant manager named Veronica assured us that they only get their dogs from the best breeders.
"We don't work with puppy mills... bottom line," she said emphatically.
But coming up Friday in part two of the story - violations for improper housing, sanitation and pest control at the breeder where Celestino's puppy came from, a place the US Humane Society says is most likely a puppy mill.
Source: http://wdbo.com/localnews/2010/03/special-series-troubled-pedigr.html
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