Pups dying of parvo as California pet buyers turn to backyard breeders online in pandemic
As demand for animal companionship rises during social isolation, new legislation aims to curb death and heartache from fly-by-night breeders. Meanwhile, rescues try to pick up the pieces.
Euthanizing a tiny, sick puppy is one of the most gut-wrenching things a veterinarian can be called on to do. Yet, within the span of 36 hours recently, emergency vet Joe Simmons euthanized — or witnessed the death — of 13 different animals.
“This past year is some of the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Simmons of Huntington Beach. “It’s hard on the families who adopted these puppies, financially and emotionally, and it takes a high emotional toll on us as vets. The emotional burden is just not sustainable.”
A pandemic-inspired dearth of shelter puppies — combined with people hunkered down at home, eager for canine companionship — has led some to seek pups online, and fraudsters have popped up to meet that demand.
“We’ve been seeing these really sick puppies breaking with a variety of parvo symptoms two days to one week after purchase off Craigslist,” said Amanda Proud, hospital manager at Veterinary Medical And Surgical Group-OC in San Juan Capistrano. “Vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy — all things you don’t like to hear about in a puppy, and you think, ‘Here we go.’ Parvo can be so deadly. It can be treatable but my doctors would agree that this parvo we’re seeing right now is just terrible, terrible. They’re just not surviving it, even with pretty aggressive therapy.”
It’s the same old story, Simmons said — people pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for designer breeds, and a few days after they bring the pups home, they get sick and die.
“Reputable breeders guarantee against this,” Simmons said. “If mom is vaccinated, she’ll pass immunity on to her puppies, and at 8 weeks old they start their shots.”
But when devastated families try to contact the sellers about a sick or dead puppy, they find phones have been disconnected and “breeders” have disappeared.
“Bamboozled,” Proud said.
Rescues step in to help
Rescue organizations have been stepping up for sick pups abandoned by their owners — and spending thousands of dollars to try to keep them alive. But it’s been a tough fight.
“We spent nearly $20,000 trying to save three puppies’ lives,” said Taunya Henley, who runs Leashes of Love Rescue in Orange County. “We lost them all, back to back to back. Three little pups. All to parvo. All from backyard breeders. Our hearts and souls are crushed.”
She understands that everyone wants a cute, fluffy puppy. “I get that,” Henley said. “But check out who you’re dealing with. Go to a responsible breeder. If they don’t have puppies right now, get on a list and wait. If a breeder wants to meet you in a parking lot, don’t go. Stop it. Just stop it, please. All you’re doing is supporting this bad behavior of flipping dogs for money. They don’t care if they die. And they’re dying.”
Breeders bill
California has been cracking down in an effort to reduce the number of unwanted pets. Importing animals from Midwestern puppy mills is not allowed. Pet stores may no longer sell animals — but can instead provide shelter and rescue pets for adoption.
Now, in an effort to take more control of backyard breeders, Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, has introduced Assembly Bill 702, the “Pet Breeder Humane Care Act.” Sponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation in Laguna Beach, the bill would require all breeders in California to obtain permits from their local animal control departments, which would set basic health and safety requirements for the care of animals.
That includes capping the number of litters per animal for every 12-month period and requiring that animals be at least 8 weeks old before they are taken away from their mothers for sale or transfer. Additionally, animals would have to be immunized against common diseases, issued certificates of health and microchipped with information identifying the breeder.
Hit on taxpayers
This is not only a cruel and painful life for the animals, but it hits taxpayers who ultimately pay for their shelter care, supporters say.
“We must take this next step to ensure dogs and cats are bred in a safe, healthy and humane environment,” Santiago said in a prepared statement.
The American Kennel Club does not agree.
“AKC agrees that no dog should be kept in conditions where they are not safe and basic needs are not met. However, this bill will not address those issues and provides unnecessary and burdensome requirements on responsible breeders — and local jurisdictions,” it said, urging its members to oppose the bill.
Small hobby breeding has traditionally been a residential enterprise, and many hobby breeders live in neighborhoods where business licenses are not allowed, it said. “The proposed measure, as introduced, will be extremely difficult for communities to enforce and it will divert scarce resources (and) oversight from enforcement of serious animal issues such as true animal cruelty. Responsible, law-abiding hobby breeders will be harmed by the measure, while irresponsible individuals already in violation of the laws are unlikely to comply with the law.”
Consumers are key
Overall, Simmons said, the bill is on point and should be a useful legislative step. “My concern would be that it will be another hoop for responsible breeders to move through, while driving the backyard breeders further underground,” he said. “Enforcement will also be an issue, as animal control/enforcement is always quite low priority on city budgets.”
To combat this, a strong public education campaign is needed — and could be far more effective and less costly. If consumers didn’t buy “black market” puppies, there wouldn’t be “black market” breeders, he said. “The key message is, ‘Adopt, don’t shop,’ ” Simmons said.
And think beyond puppy-dom, Proud said. Older dogs make great pets, are usually housebroken, walk well on a leash and won’t chew up everything in your household or go to the bathroom on your carpets.
Stacy McIlveen of the rescue K9 Spirit Organization is one of those trying to pick up the pieces. There was the beagle puppy who, after $12,000 in vet care, didn’t make it. And another pup, lost after $6,600 of care. But then, there’s Odie — a reason to keep going.
A roly-poly snowball of white, with black spots and little black ears, Odie is one of the lucky ones. After a comparably small vet bill — just $4,700 — Odie is recuperating from parvo and doing well. He’ll have to complete quarantine before he’s cleared for adoption.
Labradors and Friends has accepted five parvo pups in less than two weeks. The first, a pit bull mix named Scooby, survived, said Lauren Dube. Then came four Dalmatian puppies; one died and two are not doing well. “The parvo strains are stronger and appear to be more deadly,” she said. “It is all heartbreaking.”
It averages $2,000 to $3,500 to treat one pup for parvo, “really disheartening when a $15 vaccine would keep this from happening,” she said.
Judie Mancuso, founder and CEO of Social Compassion in Legislation, the bill’s sponsor, has shepherded some of the most ground-breaking animal bills through the Legislature, including the one that ended the sale of puppy-mill animals in California pet stores and mandated microchipping for dogs and cats. This new bill promises to be another tool in the toolbox to bring an end to overbreeding and euthanasia in shelters, while protecting consumers and animals, she said.
Experts offer these words to the wise: If a breeder agrees to sell you a puppy before meeting you, and then wants to deliver the puppy in a parking lot, turn away. Responsible backyard breeders will want to vet you to make sure you can care for the pup for life. They’ll invite you onto their property to meet the mother, and maybe even the father, and see the other puppies running around. They’ll give you records confirming the puppy had its shots, not just verbal assurances. Check to see that the vet really exists.
“It’s a living, breathing thing and you’re going to be taking care of it like a baby for the next 15 years,” said McIlveen. “It’s more than just buying a cute puppy.”