This may be a long store but I feel that I need to go into great detail about what this pet store has put me, my dog, and my wallet through... Please bare with me!
On December 26th me and my husband purchased a French Mastiff from Petland. Even though we knew it was alot of money we fell in love with him and bought him for $2400.00.
As we were playing with him in the store we were told by there "pet counselor" that he was in perfect health and had just been vet check that morning. We took him home and by that evening he was blowing green snot out of his nose and had had diarrea several time (Petland gave us a paper stating that the dog my have diarreh for a few days because of nerves and being in a new enviroment). I new he probably had kennel cough so we took him to "their contracted vet" the next day. The vet gave our puppy medication for his kennel cough and asked us to bring in a stool sample.
The next day I took in a stool sample and was told by Petlands vet that our puppy was clean of any paracite. Over the next few days our puppy still continue with the diarrea (several times a day). I finally got fed up and took him into MY regular vet. They did a fecal sample on him and concluded that he had coccidia and giardia. She also told me that by looking at his records from the pet store that he had been treated for both of those paracites THREE times. So he had had this health condition for some time now, the pet store knew about it and never mentioned it to me!
My vet put him on medication to take care of the paracites. Before I gave him the medication I took another stool sample into Petlands vet.in order to get the medication and vet bills covered under the Petland warranty their vet had to diagnose him with the paracites. Amazingly the second fecal test from there vet came back negative for paracites.
I was so fed up with Petland and there vet office I went ahead and gave him the medication thinking he would get better within a couple of weeks and that I would never have to deal with either place again.
Well I was wrong... My poor dog ended up having to take medication on and off over the next 7 months. He had diarrea for all 7 of those months. Thank god he was a quick learning when it came to house training! Between fecal samples, medication, vet visits, and buying special food me and my husband spent over $1000.00 getting him healthy. And because we couldn't get a positive fecal test from Petland's vet we had to pay for everything on our own.
Finally at 9 months old our puppy was having solid BM's and was paracite free! We though the outragous vet bills and our poor puppy's suffering was over. Once again I was wrong.
When our puppy was 10 months old he started to develope a limp in his front leg. We took him in to our vet and they did x-rays of his front and back legs (they noticed his back legs looked funny). Come to find out he has hip dysplasia. I contacted Petland and told them about our situation. They told me I had to take him to their vet and have him evaluated. I did that and between my vet and their vet they concured that I should tak ethe puppy to and orthopedic surgeon.
This is when I had to start dealing with Petland's manager. S.B. I was told by a Petland employee that I could take my dog to any othopedic surgeon. So I took him to one that my vet recommended. After the appointment I called Petland to talk to Sara and told her that my dog was going to need to have total hip replacement surgery (this surgery cost anywhere from $3800.00-$4300.00 per hip). At that point she said that she had talk to my vet and Petland's vet and that they both said my puppy no longer had hip dysplasia, and that the surgery would NOT be covered. I hung up the phone on her and headed straight to my vet office. I asked them if they had talked to anyone at Petland. THey told me know they had no idea what i was talking about and that if someone would have called they would have never said he didn't have hip dysplasia... BECAUSE HE DOES!!! Then I drove to Petland's vet and asked for a copy of my puppies file. Rigth there in the Doctor's report it said my puppy had hip dysplasia! The manager had completely lyed about everything! So I called her back and got in a screaming match.By the end of the conversation she had changed her story again had told me that if I was going to get the hip surgery for my dog that it had to be done at Ohio State Veterinary Learning Hospital. Which was fine with me (they are one of the best in the United States). But, she had also told me she wanted me to get an outside third opinion for a place called Medvet (also love this place).
So I made an appointment with Medvet for the next week. During the appointment at Medvet the orthopedic surgeon said that yes my puppy has hip dysplasia but since he was showing no signs of lameness that we should hold off on the surgery. Which I agreed with... If he's not in pain there is no reason to put him in it.
After the Medvet appointment I called S.B. At Petland and told her what the orthopedic surgeon had said at Medvet. She said ok and once again reminded me that I needed to have the surgery done at OSU learning hospital. I said that was fine and hung up.
About 3 weeks later me and my husband noticed our puppies right back hip popping in and out of place (you could acually hear it too). Even though it wasn't horrible and he didn't seem to be in pain, I went ahead and made and appointment at OSU. It took 6 weeks to get in!!! Over the next week or so the lameness in the puppy got noticable worse. I felt so bad for him... He was having trouble getting up and down, using stairs (and we only have 3 in our whole house), and would sometime fall back while trying to use the restroom. I got a pain killer for him and have just been waiting for his apointment.
Well the appointment at OSU is on 12/3/07 so this week I called S.B. At Petland to ask her what I needed to do to get reimbursed for the appointment. At that point she asked me why I was taking him to OSU that it would be very expensive. I told her the reason I was taking him there was because SHE told me I HAD TOO! She then said that she never said I had to take him to OSU. Once again her story has changed. During this conversation she talked to me like I was an idiot. Telling me that the warranty would not cover the whole surgery and that it was going to be very expensive. I told her that I was aware that I was going to have to spend another $6000.00 on my dog that she didn't need to remind me of that. Her next statement was "well if you would have got him from a breeder youwould have been SOL". I absolutly could not believe she was talking to a customer that way... How unprofessional!
I was so angry at this point I hung up the phone on her. When I got home from work I called Petland corporate offices to make a formal complaint against S.B. I left a message for them and they returned my phone call the next da. I explained my situation and that I wanted to deal with someone else besides S.B. (because if I had to see or talk to her again I was probably going to end upin jail!) They filed my complaint and also gave me another person to talk to about my situation. I am waiting for them to call me back.
I am ready to take legal action... By time this year is between purchasing the dog and vet bills me and my husband will have spent upwards of $10,000.00. We have totally learned our lesson about buying from a pet store. I would like this to be a warning to everyone out there that is thinking of doing it!!! The only way to stop these stores from selling poorly bred, sick animals is not buy ANYTHING (pets, food, supplies) from them.
The one and only GREAT thing that has come out of our whole situation is that we have a WONDERFUL puppy! We love him so much and have enjoyed every minute of him.
There is much more to this story but I feel I have covered the important things. I would love to hear from anyone that has had a similar story (especially if it is from the same Petland).
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