Back in March, we were looking to get a boxer puppy. We had to put our 2yr old boxer to sleep a few days before Christmas. He was very sick. So were felt as though we were ready to get another boxer puppy. I found Red Barn Kennels online and were a bit of a drive for us, but we opted to get a female boxer from them anyway.
We got down to Iowa at the end of March when our puppy was 8 wks old to pick her up. We stepped into their "office" and was immediately overwhelmed with the strong smell of urine coming from the inside. My boyfriend almost lost it. I got to hold my fuzzy kid for the first time since seeing her picture and falling in love with her. I knew very little about puppy mills then.
We were shown the parents and where most of the other boxers are kept outside.
They were all in fenced-in kennels on a slab of cement. Most of the boxers had half of a plastic kennel for shelter, some were too small for the dogs to go into. No bedding, not even straw or hay from the barn. Our puppy's mom looked tired and her nipples were hanging down quite far - an unfortunate sign of over breeding and making her pump out litters every time she goes into heat.
We were never shown were the puppies are kept or the conditions they are kept in. We have no idea how many brothers or sisters our puppy has or how many of them are alive, sick or forever sleeping.
We brought our puppy home and the problems started. She has had vaginitis since the age of 8wks old. Shorty after bringing her home, I noticed blood in her feces. Worked with the vet on some of the possibilities, and decided to do a colonoscopy at the age of 5 months old. That diagnosed Inflammatory Bowel Disease - a condition that can only be managed-there is no cure. She also aquired Giardia from her mom drinking filthy, contaminated water. As of right now, our puppy has had Giardia for most of her life... We still don't know for sure yet if she is clear of it.
She was also born with an innie volva, which means we now have to wait to get her spayed to see if it will correct itself when she goes into heat. So when she gets spayed, the vet is also gonna have to do a nip and tuck with the extra skin around her volva. Ouch.
We have been in potty training hell and still are. Our puppy is incontinent and has to be on DES - trying and hoping it will work. Even the vet has not seen something like this where the puppy is not spayed and is having these problems.
Due to our boxer having IBD, she will have bloody, black, coffee ground looking feces. This means there is an ulcer of some kind somewhere in her small-large intestines bleeding out. This is painful, she will arch her back everyday.
There are times when she will have diarrhea or will not eat. Her life span has been drastically reduced due to being as sick as she is. She had an ultrasound done after her colonoscopy, it showed that her adrenal glands on her kidneys were smaller than normal. That can lead to cushing's disease latter in life, or god knows what else.
There are days where our boxer puppy is glued to my hip because she doesn't feel good and there is nothing I can do for her. I am going through school to be a vet tech and have consulted many vets on her issues, and for right now all we can do - we are already doing it.
We have spent to date, well over $3000.00 for diagnostic tests, lab tests and everything else. I have learned a lot about puppy mills since April of this year. I am very saddened and angered by this.
I have tried to contact the lady we got our boxer puppy from and has continued to ignore my emails about our puppy's health issues. She thinks I am an ignorant, stupid person.
Red Barn Kennels is Not licensed by the USDA. All breeders by law, are required to be licensed and can be inspected without notice. They are breeding 5 different breeds of dogs - and who knows what number of them per breed.
They also immunize the puppies too early in life, thus they still have their maternal immunity from the mom. The "vet record" you receive is hand written and has no association with any licensed Veterinarian.
The operations of Red Barn Kennel are inhumane and unjust. Whether they want to be called it or not, they are a Puppy Mill. And they will continue. Please Help.
Speedracer
Minneapolis, Minnesota
U.S.A.
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