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Post by megan on Apr 11, 2013 13:12:12 GMT -5
So, my friend recently adopted a dog from a pet store -- you know, one of those big chain stores that has an adoption center in the building for a local rescue.
She has a 5-year-old daughter, so she wanted a dog that was kid friendly, preferred one that was dog friendly and on the easy side because she just wants an easy-going house pet. Simple, right?
Sure. So long as you don't give a crap if the dog has a potentially harmful zoonotic disease or infestation ???
She's had the dog a week. She thought the dog was sick so she contacted the rescue and they said the dog saw their vet and all her tests were negative, so she's fine. The reality is that the dog was brought here from the south and went directly to the adoption facility. The dog saw a vet in Georgia for her health certificate, but never saw a vet in NJ. And, if you've been in rescue any length of time with a group who brings dogs across state lines often, you know that just means the dog has had it's age-appropriate vaccinations, and that's really it. Maybe there was a HW or Lymes test done and the dog might have been treated for fecal parasites.... but that's really all that's done and it depends a lot on where they come from and what sort of vet they have seen there. So my friend didn't believe that the dog was fine, so she took her to her own vet for testing. Turns out, the dog has some really bad case of lung worms that only comes from the south, and is transmittable to humans, and causes permanent seizures and blindness in children. And it transmits easily via the saliva. Did I mention she has a 5 year old? Oh, and did I mention that the dog was in a PUBLIC adoption facility at the back of a PETSMART where small children and families go in and greet the dogs all day long?! So, not only did they put my friend's child at risk, but they have put every person and child who went into that store at risk. Anyone care to guess how the rescue responded when she brought it to their attention? No, don't guess. You can't possibly guess.... "Sorry, we can't reimburse you for the vet bills since you took her to your own vet instead of ours."
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Post by michele5611 on Apr 11, 2013 13:29:35 GMT -5
Not too surprised at the rescue's response but nonetheless it is maddening and a horrible situation for your friend. Can you pm me the rescue group...just curious. Thanks!
I still don't get this fascination with bringing dogs in from the South...I mean I get why so many rescues are doing it but I do not agree with it.
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Post by megan on Apr 11, 2013 14:00:01 GMT -5
Sent. It's not a surprise, to be honest.
And I don't really get it either. I know that there are dogs down south that need saving too but I have a hard time understand why shipments of dogs are sent up here from the south. I mean, it's not like taking a few dogs here and there from a friend who moved to the south and begs and pleads for help with a couple of dogs at their local shelter that they have a connection to.... I'm talking buses and vans packed with 30+ dogs at a time. I don't get it. I honestly think part of it is that it splits up the rescue responsibilities... the sending rescues do the "finding" and "holding" and the receiving rescues get the dogs and adopt them out. Rescues that I know of locally that do the whole shebang.... it's a much longer and tougher process because they have to do it all from start to finish.
But not for nothing, these rescues.... if they're going to bring dogs from the south, don't they think they should test for diseases, pathogens, and parasites specific to those areas that the dogs are coming from BEFORE sending them up here?! And if not, shouldn't they be tested once here and prior to adoption? I mean shit, some of these dogs see a vet for their health certification to cross state lines but then don't see a vet again until after they're adopted. There's something not right about that.
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perseus
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Post by perseus on Apr 11, 2013 14:03:32 GMT -5
Not too surprised at the rescue's response but nonetheless it is maddening and a horrible situation for your friend. Can you pm me the rescue group...just curious. Thanks! I still don't get this fascination with bringing dogs in from the South...I mean I get why so many rescues are doing it but I do not agree with it. That is interesting Michelle. I mean I see a never ending avalache of dogs everyday that come across my FB page from Urgent 2 in NYC and while I am not advocating for exclusion due to region I definitely believe people shouod act locally as much as possible.
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Post by michele5611 on Apr 11, 2013 14:27:25 GMT -5
Agree acting locally as much as possible. I have run into several people whose rescue dog is from the South and they can't wait to tell me that the dog was rescued usually from GA.
Obviously at the end of the day I am happy for the family and their new pet.
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Post by michele5611 on Apr 11, 2013 14:30:52 GMT -5
Also to further Megan's point and this is just my personal experience I think it is sort of a "selling" point of some of these high volume rescues that you are saving dog from the South or a state where gas chambers are still in use.
Again not trying to come down on anyone saving a dog or cats life. (To clarify-not mad at the adopters) Irresponsible rescues is a whole different thing.
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Post by RealPitBull on Apr 11, 2013 14:37:31 GMT -5
This is so insanely irresponsible, my blood is boiling right now. It's 11th Hour, isn't it? I don't care about calling them out. They are now putting dogs AND humans at risk. We don't need this crap coming up from the south and infecting our dogs here - AND our kids.
UN-FRICKIN-BELIEVABLE.
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Post by michele5611 on Apr 11, 2013 14:48:57 GMT -5
Very very irresponsible and as I said not surprised!
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perseus
I Love RPBF!
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Post by perseus on Apr 11, 2013 15:01:36 GMT -5
Also to further Megan's point and this is just my personal experience I think it is sort of a "selling" point of some of these high volume rescues that you are saving dog from the South or a state where gas chambers are still in use. Again not trying to come down on anyone saving a dog or cats life. (To clarify-not mad at the adopters) Irresponsible rescues is a whole different thing. Well that is F**&ed up! Hmmm warm fuzzies for adopting a dog that comes from the 'provinces'. WoW!
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Post by michele5611 on Apr 11, 2013 15:08:50 GMT -5
^ I kid you not I met a woman a few months ago with the cutest Chi. She was tinkled pink to tell me that she adopted the dog from a local rescue and that it had been saved all the way from Georgia and had I ever heard of that!!
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Post by RealPitBull on Apr 11, 2013 15:10:33 GMT -5
Yeah, Michele speaks the truth.
I've also heard of rescues grabbing dogs from shelters in a van, driving up to NJ for the weekend, doing same day adoptions, then driving back down south with the unadopted dogs and dumping them back into the shelters.
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Post by michele5611 on Apr 11, 2013 15:13:24 GMT -5
^Ditto.
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Post by maryellen on Apr 11, 2013 16:05:11 GMT -5
get a lawyer and sue the rescue. thats total bullshit... the rescue should be paying the vet bills.. i was at petsmart up here and a new rescue had dogs there, some had kennel cough. all the dogs were sick but were being adopted out on the spot...
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Post by maryellen on Apr 11, 2013 16:05:48 GMT -5
it wouldnt surprise me if it was 11th hour either...
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Post by megan on Apr 11, 2013 18:42:19 GMT -5
And just for clarification purposes because I do not like to spread wrong information, I am waiting on my friend to confirm the name of the worm / parasite / whatever because what research I have done is that lungworms are not supposed to be contagious to humans. She was very flustered earlier, worried about her kid, so I think she might have gotten lung worms confused with another worm or parasite that spreads to the lungs without treatment. She did confirm that her vet specifically said the worm / parasite / etc., is contagious to humans and can cause the complications mentioned above, whatever the actual name of it is.
I will also note that both of my dogs are from the south. That being said, at the time I adopted, I didn't have any clue what "rescue" was... I didn't even know that there were animal gas chambers or what a heart stick shelter was. Now that I am involved and have a better understanding of rescue, I encourage people to adopt local dogs, whenever possible... But when local rescues bring in dozens and dozens of dogs from the south, if people are just going and looking for a dog, more often than not, the average adopter doesn't know where the dog is from until after adoption when they read the paperwork, and even fewer know about all of the local perfectly adoptable dogs being euthanized every day. I think e responsibility falls on rescues to do more work locally. I don't see a problem with occasionally taking dogs from the south if the rescue has trusted sources there, but I feel strongly that a rescue can be more responsible if the dogs are local simply because they can do evals (behavioral and medical) on the dogs, but when dogs are coming from thousands of lies away, they don't know what they are getting until the dogs arrive.
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Post by michele5611 on Apr 11, 2013 18:47:42 GMT -5
I just had a conversation with Mary saying how the average adopter doesn't know where the dog is coming from and prob. doesn't care all they know is they are saving a dog. I totally understand that.
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Post by maryellen on Apr 11, 2013 18:48:16 GMT -5
when they first started they did pull some dogs from north jersey. then they got on the southern dog bandwagon and ignored the jersey dogs... irregardless- they should honor the vet bill... a reputable rescue would, but then again we are talking about 11th hr.. i personally know people that have dealt with them and it was just horror stories...not as bad as your friends,but still bad.. the real problem is sue sternberg advocated to rescues to pull southern dogs because those dogs had better temperments.. which at that time all rescues thought she was god... so they all listened.. then they saw that the heartstick dogs pulled on adopters hearts... and they saw that by sayng the dogs were from gas chambers, heartstick shelters they had more adopters then before... it was like a domino effect... so now eastern coast dogs get the shaft and southern dogs get adopted ... its amazing what a story can do to a adopter who wants to adopt a dog with a story lol...
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Post by megan on Apr 11, 2013 18:54:42 GMT -5
Definitely true.
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Post by megan on Apr 11, 2013 19:07:33 GMT -5
I should also mention that both of my dogs are from this same rescue.... Roxy came to me with whipworms, hookworms, and tapeworms and a really bad ear infection (likely caused by her insane allergy to wheat). And Buster was a dog I took to foster who was sitting at the kennel with pneumonia, which I confirmed with staff started out as kennel cough, and as per his paperwork and pictures, he lost 8-9lbs in his time at the kennel after transport to NJ. Busters vet bills were taken care of because he was a foster dog, but when I emailed them about Roxy's issues immediately after adoption, I got no response at all. Whats funny is that i hadn't even asked for money or reimbursement, I was just naive enough to think I was helping by letting them know their other dogs might be infected and they should check them out....
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Post by michele5611 on Apr 11, 2013 19:17:02 GMT -5
I don't think it is naive per se. The average person not involved with rescue or animal advocacy thinks and expects and rightfully so on a lot of issues for rescues to operate a certain way.
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