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Family upset after rescued shelter puppies become ill
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Photographer:
Ana Zangroniz
Judy Braim, left, and her son Joseph hold their puppy Peggy as they prepare to take her home from her weeklong stay at Haven Animal Hospital on Monday.
SARATOGA COUNTY — When the Braim family of the town of Saratoga decided to adopt puppies, a Pennysaver advertisement brought them to Adirondack Save-a-Stray, a private no-kill shelter in Corinth. It ended up not being a happy experience. They got two 3-month-old mixed-breed puppies just imported from an animal-rescue shelter in Puerto Rico, and both came down with serious cases of potentially deadly parvovirus. Veterinarians said a quarantine after their arrival might have prevented their getting sick after adoption. The puppy named Peggy is now recovering, and was expected to go home from the Haven Animal Hospital in Malta Monday evening. Her sibling, Hailey, wasn’t so lucky. She died at Haven early Saturday morning. “It’s been horrible, absolutely horrible,” said Judy Braim, a private duty nurse who adopted the puppies on Feb. 2 with her two younger sons, ages 16 and 10. That was only a day after the puppies had been brought from Puerto Rico. The first became sick a week later, and an emergency clinic in Moreau quickly diagnosed parvovirus, Braim said. Parvovirus is a highly contagious canine disease, seen most often in puppies, that causes the dogs to vomit and have diarrhea. They often die, even with treatment. The disease, often spread by contact with contaminated feces, is a general concern among operators of kennels and animal shelters, but there are vaccinations available against it. Adirondack Save-a-Stray Executive Director Meredith Fiel on Monday expressed condolences to the family and said she plans to offer another puppy, but she said because it works with rescued animals whose backgrounds are unknown, the organization can’t be held to the same standard for promising healthy puppies as a commercial pet store. “In rescue, there are no guarantees,” she said. “We’re rescuing animals. We’re saving lives.” But the veterinarian who treated the puppies, as well as the Capital Region representative of the New York State Veterinary Medicine Society, said the problem might have been avoided if the shelter had kept the puppies in quarantine for a few days after they arrived from Puerto Rico before letting them be adopted. “They’re vaccinating them [in Puerto Rico], putting them on the plane, and adopting them out,” said Dr. Desiree Thibealt, at Haven Animal Hospital. “Yes, we need to adopt animals out, but you need to guarantee them, too.” Fiel said the puppies were tested for parvo when they arrived in Corinth, and didn’t have it. “We can’t say where they got it,” she said. Paperwork from Puerto Rico said they’d received two of the recommended three inoculation shots. They weren’t yet old enough for the third. Dr. Charles Brockett of Saratoga Springs, regional representative of the state veterinary medicine society, said it takes parvovirus 7 to 10 days to incubate, and quarantining puppies when they first come from Puerto Rico would be a good idea. “Have I heard of cases like this from other vets? Yes, I have,” he said. He said it might be better not to rely on provided information about whether puppies have been vaccinated against parvo or rabies in another country. “The ethical thing would be to quarantine for 10 days, and eliminate any doubt,” he said. Fiel said Adirondack Save-a-Stray’s facility isn’t physically large enough to keep imported puppies in quarantine for any length of time, if someone wants to adopt them. The 25-year-old organization is located in a converted residence on Route 9 just south of the village of Corinth, filled with puppy dens made with wooden boards. Most of its dogs were puppies, but it also had a large number of adult cats on Monday, and two young potbellied pigs, all of them available for adoption. Fiel said she has fat folders of letters and notes from people happy with animals they got from her, including some that came from the Puerto Rican animal rescue group she works with. “We tell [prospective adopters] they were found on the side of the road we can’t guarantee what diseases they may have been exposed to,” Fiel said. She said the shelter provides free veterinary care to recently adopted animals and had participated in studies treating parvo with the drug Tamiflu, but the Braims didn’t contact her until after Hailey had died. Because Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, international quarantine rules don’t apply. Only a health certificate indicating an exam by a veterinarian who found it free of disease is required by state law, and the two puppies the Braims adopted had that record. As a nonprofit humane society, Adirondack Save-a-Stray is exempt from the state “pet lemon law” that applies to commercial pet sales. Most of the staff at Save-a-Stray is volunteer, and the shelter receives no government funding. Adoption fees and private donations cover its costs, but being a private shelter also makes it exempt from regulations that apply to publicly funded shelters, such as the Saratoga County Animal Shelter in Ballston Spa. Save-a-Stray is a no-kill shelter, meaning animals aren’t euthanized after a period of time if not adopted, as they are at the county shelter. But Fiel said the continuous demand to take more animals means she can’t hold them in quarantine if someone wants to adopt them. “We hold them as long as we can, until we don’t have any room,” she said.
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September 5, 2008
5:29 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
This happened to us when we adopted a puppy from a rescue in Ravena 5 years ago. She had her first round of shots but came down with the Parvo virus 4 days after we got her home. It was a long, terrible 6 weeks but we made it thru and she is alive and well today. She does have some constant skin issues but in light of the few times she almost didnt pull thru thats ok. My heart goes out to anyone who has to deal with this virus. Parvaid was available and I got some, but couldnt get her to keep it down. Never heard of using Tamiflu until recently. If I can offer any tips or help on this please email me @ Seawitch1313@aol.com. I would be happy to tell you what steps we took to keep our pup alive.
5:40 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Parvo is quite common among puppies everywhere (it doesn't usually affect adult dogs.)
Puppies are like kids. Some of them get sick sometimes.
They are living creatures, not toys or objects, and like kids they sometimes get sick.
Parvo has affected puppies at breeders, pet stores, boarding kennels, shelters, pounds, vet hospitals all over this country including this state.
Dr. Charles Brockway has heard of parvo in puppies from all these sources, and yet does not mention that. Why?
Puppies purchased from breeders in this and other states have had parvo. Yet this isn't mentioned.
That seems odd to criticize adoption program when pet stores and breeders have also had issues with parvo.
And Puerto Rico is a part of the U.S. with American-trained veterinarians.
6:05 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
A puppy that I purchased from a NY breeder had two sets of innoculations and yet still came down with parvo.
And that was a private breeder whose dogs never left her property and were born there.
Sometimes it happens. These are living animals, and even when everything is done right it will still sometimes happen.
I will only adopt from a shelter or rescue now for moral reasons (why buy when great animals need homes) but is is terribly unfair to pick on this rescue when breeders and pet stores (and yes! VET CLINICS) have occaisional issues with parvo too.
Yet those breeders and pet stores and vets aren't getting jumped on.
(also as far as the puppy lemon law, most issues with pet store puppies happen after the time period covered. The problems with pet store puppies are HUGE! There is much disease and genetic problems with pet store puppies, and a mountain of unhappy buyers that get ignored. Not to mention the puppy mills that supply the pet stores, some of which are in NY, and are selling sick puppies. Why is Dr. Brockway not doing something about these puppy mills and pet stores?)
6:19 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Excuse me. I should have written Dr Charles Brockett.
And it is frustrating that the state veterinary society is doing nothing about the horrible puppy mills in this state that are getting worse all the time!
There are terrible disease and health problems with the puppy mill/pet store puppies, yet little is being done to regulate the mills and monitor their practices. Not to mention, deal with the terrible cruelty at these breeding mills.
There is complaint after complaint about these commercial pet store puppies, yet the state vet society doesn't respond and doesn't do anything about it.
7:20 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
WHAT!!????? How can this person stay in business? Picking up street dogs, backgrounds unknown? This isn't only a health issue, but a safety issue as well. How can she adopt out dogs with no idea of their temperment or health? Why is she importing dogs from Puerto Rico if there is no room at the facility to quarantine them? This is such a scam-$200 for a dog that may or may not be sick or vicious, no spay or neuter or any follow up shots or vet care included? Kept on wooden planks? Wood is a porus unsanitary material, who knows what diseases are luking there? To me this sounds like a puppy mill for mixed breed dogs and cats. I recently adopted a healthy puppy from the SPCA of Upstate NY, and for the adoption fee he was wormed, bathed, his first year shots AND the neuter were included in that one adoption price. It is unreal what Adirondack Save a Stray is doing and they should be shut down.
8:18 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
To adopt an animal out who has just arrived (especially from out of the area)is totally irresponsible. Lack of space is no excuse. No reputable shelter or rescue I know of would accept an animal and adopt them out without holding the pet for at least a few days to temperament test, provide at least initial vet care and look for signs of illness. Given the possible outbreak of disease, reputable shelters and rescues would immediately close their doors to adoption, disinfect the entire building, and wait until no new signs of disease outbreak or symptoms are found. Save a Stray should learn by those examples and do the same. If Save a Stray doesn't have room to quarantine animals, perhaps they should stop accepting so many. Adirondack Save a Stray claims they are "saving lives." It appears that they are NOT saving lives since the animals appear to become ill and die very shortly after leaving the Save a Stray facility.
12:49 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Adirondack Save A Stray clearly has a bad record when it comes to ethics. I have spoken with my VERY REPUTABLE vet and that office, a very prominent office, says that they have problems with animals coming from that Shelter all the time. I was totally unimpressed with Meredith. She seems curt and rude and she may be a not for profit, but she is walking out of there with a fistfull of money. Do you know that she charges $200 for every dog that leaves that place? When I was there, I saw over 20 puppies...that is $4000 worth of puppies. And why do we need to go to Puerto Rico for puppies when there are so many animals right here in this area that need homes? She goes to Puerto Rico because she can get puppies and people want puppies and then she can charge $200 for the puppies. Older dogs are much harder to place in good homes and if she was only trying to place the older dogs, she would go broke.
This all looks like a labor of love...but don't be fooled...it may be a not-for-profit, but even people who work for not-for-profit organizations make good salaries.
The thing to consider when considering Adirondack Save A Stray is ETHICS...I have some questions. But don't question Miss Meredith...she is very well armed with every counter to your argument.
Let the buyer beware....all that glitters is not gold!
Go to the Saratoga County Animal Shelter or the Albany County Humane Society. They are licensed and registered and they have standards that they must meet in order to continue the work that they do. Adirondack Save A Stray is a private rescue organization and within that context, you can run into some serious problems as I did and as the woman who is the subject of this article did.
I WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN.
8:10 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
I have adopted a wonder boxer/shepherd mix from Adirondack Save a Stray. She is a wonderful addition to our family and we couldn't be happier. As for the $200 fee, this was a tax deductable donation to the shelter to help them care for other new animals. I in no way paid $200.00 for my new puppy. My vet has confirmed her to be perfectly healthy.
11:37 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
I adopted a dog from the Adirondack Save-A-Stray last October. Luckily we still have her but she cost us close to $7,000 in vet bills and it still continues.
They told me she had kennel cough and three days later I had her at the vet with pneumonia, worms, fleas, giardia and a partially collapsed lung.
It was a hideous time taking her back and forth to the vet hospital with her on oxygen every night. Not to mention signing the DNR every night we left her "just in case". We had to nebulize her 4 times a day...we finally purchased a nebulizer and put her in a rubbermaid box (with a hole in it)so she would get the most from the medicine. She slept on my chest for a while as she couldn't lie down and breathe at the same time. It was an awful, awful time for our whole family. We each took turns crying and wondering if she would make it.
When I called Ms. Friel she said she would put her "down" for me for "free" and give us another puppy. No thank you. There was no way I was bringing my dog back to this place. We had already fell in love with her (she was our first dog as a family and my son loved her). Ms. Friel said there were no "guarantees" and that she was "saving dogs lives". I, too, wondered why she was bringing puppies from other states and countries when there were enough her to go around. The answer in my opinion was to bring in the $200 per adorable puppy. I found our puppy on a website where I received a picture of about 10 puppies a day for adoption. This is the lure to bring in people to this terrible place.
I don't believe for a second she does this for free or the goodness of her heart. She does it for the money. The person we dealt with when we got out dog was very nice and tried to help when we called about our puppy being sick but it was obvious her hands were tied with the way this woman ran her business.
Dr. Brockett and his wife helped save our dog. They had seen other sick animals from Adirondack Save A Stray and I know of atleast 5 other people who have adopted very ill puppies from them. I even met someone TODAY who adopted a sick puppy from them.
To top things off, Ms. Friel, assuming our dog had passed, sent me a sympathy card in the loss of my dog! As far as I'm concerned, they should be shut down. I wish I had some recourse, I'd see it though to the end. What about small claims court?? Shame on these people!