A glimpse into the canine underworld

We've been concerned about the large numbers of animals being advertised on "Gumtree" and similar sites for a long time, and a call I took over the weekend gave me a very nasty insight into what can happen.

The caller wanted to find out whether the RSPCA could prosecute a man who bought a dog from him, and had the dog put down as dangerous within a few days of the transaction. Of course this wouldn't be possible because it's not illegal to have a vet put an animal to sleep—it's illegal to cause an animal to suffer, but not to kill.

If all the details of the story are correct, it appears that the purchaser changed his mind about wanting the dog, and possibly expected to be able to get his money back in order to buy a puppy (also, incidentally of a "status" breed). The seller couldn't have taken the dog back as his original reason for selling was friction with an existing dog (although he seems to have several other dogs and I wonder whether he is also breeding). He does appear to have left the purchaser a contact number when he sold the dog and offered to try to help solve any problems.

Background details of the various dogs involved are complicated, but there appears to be a whole ecosystem of people breeding dogs at home. Their motivation is probably a combination of the attraction of "cash in hand" income and a fairly genuine interest in dogs as a hobby. I wonder how much of it is driven by a desire to find a substitute for meaningful work that they can take pride in and whether an improvement in the job market would make things better.

An awful lot of dogs seem to be traded around like so many packets of sugar, with not much common sense about the presence of small children, or suitable facilities. Against this background our messages about not getting animals you can't afford to care for probably aren't going to make very much of an impact. 

The people we're trying to persuade are being lectured all the time—don't drink so much, don't smoke, eat more fruit, lose weight ... it's not hard to see why they're not going to pay attention to us.

6 am this morning...

Yet another call from the purchaser of a new puppy that's now very ill. At six weeks old the pup is too young to leave the mother and the seller very obviously did not tell the truth when he said it had been wormed as pup is passing huge quantities of them as well as bloody diarrhoea.

The RSPCA has an online guide with useful tips about getting a puppy to help prospective adopters avoid some of the pitfalls.

On BBC 1 TODAY — Thursday

Puppy Farming (Follow link to view the program on the BBC iPlayer)

19 Feb 2009 20:00 on BBC One (except Scotland)

25 Feb 2009 19:30 on BBC One (Scotland only)

Matt Allwright and Dan Penteado are hunting and confronting more rogues. They investigate pet shops and dog breeders who sell sick puppies. The Rogue Traders team go undercover to buy three puppies from establishments which have been reported to the RSPCA or trading standards. One of the puppies cost 350 pounds and was bought as a pedigree King Charles spaniel. But within a few days it falls ill with Parvo virus, a severe intestinal infection, and has to be put down.
Matt and the team reveal that in many cases, the paperwork is inadequate to prove a puppy's pedigree, or that it has been properly vaccinated. One of the dogs purchased by the Rogue Traders team had a docked tail, a procedure which was made illegal in England, Scotland and Wales in 2007.
When Matt confronts one puppy farm, the breeder attempts to hold the team captive. It takes a visit by the police to get them released.

Buying a puppy

Another vomiting puppy

Yet another owner with no money and a 10 month old rottweiler puppy, "rescued" from someone else, and never vaccinated. Puppy has had vomiting and diarrhoea for three days, and the diarrhoea now has lots of blood in it.

I've agreed that we'll cover the cost of an initial consultation, but it doesn't look good.

Puppy Spam?

Has anyone else been getting emails that are ostensibly from someone who needs to rehome a litter of bulldog puppies because of family problems? We've had several, with slightly different variations on the story, and are wondering whether they're some kind of scam. Bulldogs are a comparatively rare breed and it would be very surprising to have several owners who'd bred one litter having family disasters in quick succession. Actually it would be surprising if a genuine breeder of pedigree bulldogs wasn't already in contact with other breed enthusiasts —the owner of the puppies' father, for starters — who would be able and willing to take on the job of placing the pups. 

Possible motivations might be:

• They're spam adverts targeted at anyone with an animal-related web page from someone who's breeding bulldogs commercially but wants to give the impression that these are puppies reared in a domestic home. 

• They're some kind of advance-fee fraud - hoping to get a payment before puppies are delivered.

• They're not actually anything to do with dogs, and they're simply trying to provoke a response to verify that they've harvested a live email address.

Vomiting dogs again

Yet another owner with two young, recently-acquired puppies with vomiting and diarrhoea with blood in it. It is enormously expensive to treat puppies like this effectively, because the vets have to set up barrier nursing if they admit them as inpatients. She's been quoted £300 per day, which in fact isn't unreasonable of the vet when you consider the cost of a veterinary nurse's salary; vet's salary and of completely disinfecting their isolation facilities (plus the initial costs of building an isolation unit at the practice).

These two puppies aren't insured or vaccinated and they're not registered either with the PDSA (for help with treatment at a local private vet) or with our own clinic in Cambridge — and in fact we wouldn't be able to have them admitted to the University Vet School who provide our hospital facilities because of the risk to their private patients.

I've agreed that we could help with the cost of giving the puppies intravenous fluids at the private vet, followed by home nursing by the owner, which will at least give them a chance.

Sadly, this is the situation we see over and over again. If you buy a puppy, ask for proof that the mother's vaccinations were up to date, and ensure that the puppy is vaccinated at 8 weeks (preferably by the breeder before leaving the mother) with a follow-up booster according to your vet's advice. Never, ever buy from an establishment where puppies are brought in from multiple sources — mixing different groups of puppies means spreading any infection. Make sure any adult dogs who will be in contact with the new puppy are up to date with their vaccinations. Take out pet insurance to cover vet bills, (or register the puppy with the PDSA, RSPCA or Blue Cross if you are on benefits and can't afford insurance).

Puppy Trafficking

Every year our branch gets requests for help with the cost of treating puppies who have not been given the essential early healthcare they need. I am constantly amazed that people may pay out £200-£500 for a pup which is not wormed, vaccinated or treated for fleas and has been taken away from mum far too young. Once they have fallen in love with a puppy the new owners naturally want to do the best they can to help it survive, but often they have exhausted all their spare cash on the initial purchase price.

There can be genuine reasons for wanting a puppy, rather than an adult dog, but, if anything, that means you should take more care to find out about the background of a pup. No responsible breeder will suggest meeting you anywhere other than the place where the puppies were born. A good breeder cares what happens to their animals and will be only too happy to show you vaccination certificates and provide details of when the puppies were last wormed and when the next dose is due.