I'm just... blown away.. dead.. emotionally today.
I bought Finn on Tuesday but picked him up last night. I wanted to wait until Friday so I could give him 100% of my time and attention all weekend long. 45 minutes after bringing Finn home he had diarrhea. All night he had diarrhea but he still seemed very energetic and happy. I had to keep taking him outside every 30 minutes and finally by 2am he hadn't gone poop in 2 hours. I put him in his crate, turned on the fan to make some soothing sounds for him, turned out the lights and he laid right down in his crate and started going to sleep.
4 hours later
I woke up at 6:00am. I know, only 4 hours of sleep but when I'm excited I can never sleep good. I woke up and the first thing I did was to go into the bathroom and take him out of his crate. He was laying in his crate... in his own poop. I've never seen such a small creature release so much poop in such a short amount of time. I hadn't even fed him, he ate at 8:00pm right before I picked him up. He seemed confused when I pulled him out of the crate and set him down in the bath tub. As the water filled up in the tub, he just stood there. Totally un-puppy like of him. I had a cup that I would use to gently poor water on him and as I turned to pick up the bottle of puppy shampoo.. he fell down in the water. I picked him up and his whole body shook.. in my hands... his legs straightened out stiff and his head jerked back... I was in sheer panic.. I thought I was holding him as he was dying... it was heck... a nightmare... I thought something was in his mouth... I didn't know what was happening to him.. I held him so his face was towards the ground and I ran him into the hallway outside of the bathroom... I tried to open his mouth but his teeth were locked shut.. he's so tiny I didn't want to hurt him by opening his teeth and he pooped all over me... I can't believe how much diarrhea was in this puppy. I set him down, ran to the phone and called my mom, then a vet. He came back to and tried to walk but fell over. My heart was pounding out of my chest, I grabbed my keys wrapped him in a towel and drove to the clinic (with poop on me still). He was exhausted and during the car ride he was howling and crying from being afraid or in pain. The vet took him right away, gave him a shot, some kind of paste/food injected into his mouth with medication and some kind of sugar-type stuff to get him going again. They sampled his stool and it came up negative. They needed to monitor him for 48 hours, give him special food, special water, run blood tests and possibly more. That would run around $800.
I just bought him and I love him already but he's sick and it could be a short life or a long life of pain, suffering, and everything else. I took him back to the store where I bought him. Before you stay to yourself "YOU BOUGHT HIM FROM A STORE??!!" let me tell you a few things. I also thought NO WAY, NEVER gonna buy from a store. The manager of the store literally showed me the BREEDER he was bought from, pictures of the breeders facilities to show it's not a puppy mill.. they had a full 10 generation pedigree.. he is certified by 2 separate vets... all shots... chip.... full exams every week and everything else. I also had 48 hours to return him. So essentially, he is from a licensed breeder and Petland is just acting as the "seller". Still, let me continue..
Well, Petland would not refund me the $800 (+taxes, shots, locator chip fee) which totaled to $950. Why? Because I had 48 hours from the PURCHASE date and not the pick-up date. They were not rude but I think it's nuts.. insane. My mom's best friend told me that it's not JUST about the puppies coming from puppy mills, it's a lot of things. For one... buying from a pet shot means that many breeds from many locations around the country are being mixed together. This is very bad for these animals because if one of them has a disease, they ALL have it because they share living space, feeding space, bathing space, grooming space, and examination space ALL together. You could have the world's greatest, cleanest, happiest puppy in the whole world but the moment you mix him with all those other puppies... all bets are now totally off. I spoke with the owner and the best she would do was to take the puppy back, and fully replace the puppy with a new one of my choice. She would give me 6 months to select a new one, and the fee for the chip, shots, de-worming would all be covered by the store. I talked to my aunt Joni who is a vet.. first she pounded me into the ground for buying any animal from a store. Then, she said that if I DO take a new dog in the next 6 months I must bleach everything in my home, wait 30 days for anything left over to die... she than told me that the very day your new dog is delivered to the store, I would need to wait at the store and TAKE the dog BEFORE it goes into the store. She suggested I speak with the owner and see if I can go to the actual breeder to pick up the new puppy so that the puppy has no contact with any other dogs. She would also go with me and exam the animals gums, feet, take a stool sample and do any other work needed right there on the spot. So... lesson learned here kids?
DO NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER buy a dog from a pet store... EVER EVER EVER and don't EVER buy one from Petland... EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My mind is fried.. what a God darn shame.. I just hope Finn is going to be okay... he could have an array of different diseases... who knows... sad part is... Petland will monitor him for 4 days... if he doesn't seizure.. guess what? he goes back up for sale... miserable