Help Annie Recover from Parvo

I normally don’t do things like this, and I like to consider myself as the person who tries to always help others. But the Gregg family could use your help. We decided to add another sweet lab puppy to our family, and unfortunately Annie came to us very sick. We thought we were buying her from a responsible and reputable breeder, but this breeder clearly sold us a very sick puppy. Andrew and I have already put forward quite a bit of money in buying the dog as well as now covering emergency hospital fees. I am trying to get compensation from the breeder as I feel like she should be held responsible for the condition of this puppy. In the meantime, we could use help covering Annie’s hospital fees to continue her treatment. Please see the post below from what I shared in a Labrador Owner Facebook group.

Hi all! We picked up our sweet 11 week-old Annie from a breeder on Sunday 7/18. She was definitely a timid little thing when we were picking her out, but we figured it was her personality. She kept running to hide under the shed (where the breeder had to drag her out from). During the 5 hour drive home, both my husband and I thought she was breathing a little too fast, but we chalked it up to her being nervous and in new surroundings. She never even woke up during the 5 hour car ride, so we didn’t stop at any public places to let her potty. When we got home, she immediately ran to hide from us. Again, figured she was just scared. She slept in her crate the first night, and I had to wake her up to take her out to potty. On Monday she ate her three small meals, but she was still very lethargic and breathing kinda fast all day. She did get up to romp around with my 6 month old lab for a few minutes a few times during the day, so that reassured us that she was ok. Monday night she woke me up at 1AM dry-heaving and spitting white liquid. She fully threw up foamy white liquid at about 3:30AM. I got her to drink some water and lay with me on the couch until about 6AM. I thought it was again due to new environment and slowly transitioning bits of her new food into her old food. When I took her outside to potty, she had liquid yellow stools. She then proceeded to have projectile diarrhea twice during the day. At this point I got nervous, so I called her vet to schedule an appointment. They didn’t have openings until next week. I called EIGHT vets and finally found one that would see Annie. I took her in and the vet took one look at her and said she was very sick. Annie’s temperature was 104 and her heart was working in overdrive. The vet ushered us to the closest animal ER, and sadly our sweet Annie was diagnosed with Parvo. The vet said we are lucky she is alive as her heart was working way too hard, her temp was at 105, and she was severely dehydrated. Even with my pushing sips of water all day. The vet says Annie is one of the sickest Parvo pups she has seen in awhile. Here I am feeling like total crap for brushing over her symptoms as feelings of anxiety or nervousness.

Here’s where I need advice. Would you expect the breeder to accept some responsibility for this? When I texted the breeder about Annie’s disposition, she was initially defensive and insistent that it couldn’t be Parvo. She said a few times that she didn’t trust the “Snap test” the vets used. The doctor said there’s no way Annie became that ill in the less than 48 hours she has been in our care. She must have been sick when we picked her out. The breeder insists that the Parvo diagnosis is wrong because none of her other puppies on her property have symptoms. Annie had two rounds of the Parvo vaccine also, so the breeder is insistent that it can’t be Parvo. The vet was honest with me about Annie’s prognosis, and she doesn’t think it looks good. I paid $900 to do “aggressive treatment” overnight tonight, and we are going to reevaluate in the morning. They said Annie will need to be in the hospital for a minimum of 6 days for treatment with a total cost of probably $4,500.

I hate putting a dollar value on animals. We have fallen in love with this sweet girl in just two days. But that’s a ton of money for a puppy who we thought was from a reputable breeder and would come to us healthy. Would you expect the breeder to accept some responsibility for this situation?

I realize some of this is my fault for not trusting my initial gut instincts about Annie’s demeanor. Lesson learned for sure. I trusted the breeder though and figured she had these pups thoroughly checked out. How would you handle this situation and what would your expectations be?

Think good thoughts for my sweet girl! ❤️