Influencer Mollie Mae puppy dies after 6 days?

[Runtowintowalk]

The puppy was a Pomeranian - imported from Russia? Are they known for health problems? So shocked to read the puppy died after only 6 days!! What would be the cause? Underlying health issue?

Jeez, that was one poorly puppy! :(

@JokingAsideNow

People who cannot adopt a dog from here shouldn't be allowed to adopt a dog from abroad. There is no doubt a good reason why they can't adopt a dog here. It's the same as saying someone has been rejected from adopting a child here, so they can just go abroad and get one. Proper checks need to be made.

I know this woman purchased a dog rather than adopted one, so not really relevant here.

The problem is, a lot of rescues here do have extremely stringent checks and failing a home check doesn't mean you're not suitable to be a dog owner.

There are plenty of threads on here every year about people who are rejected from rescues time and time again for really minor reasons. The garden isn't big enough, they have a cat, they have another dog, they don't have another dog, they live near a busy road, they live in a flat, the garden fence isn't strong enough...

Most of those people then go on to buy a puppy from a breeder and somehow they manage to keep the dog from escaping/killing the cat/spontaneously combusting due to a small garden.

Sometimes rescues are their own worst enemy.

Dog had half a skull, enlarged organs, and no white blood cells. Imagine paying 5k for a 'luxury' dog and finding out it had probably never visited a vet. If you ADOPT a GSD, for example, rescue centres get vets to check for hip dysplasia.

If a rescue is checking more than what you're paying 5k for, then you're an idiot.

I have watched their YouTube video about this now - I think fair play to them. They admitted that they were very naive and if they had their time again they wouldn't import a dog from Russia, although the travelling was not what killed Mr Chai. They also said that they were told to just get another dog and no one would know the first one had died!

I think Tommy and Molly Mae are good people, just not very bright. They seemed genuine in the video.

Call me cynical but I think they'll get a rescue dog next so the public doesn't think bad of them

@princesshoneysuckle (cute name) yes I bet they do too!

I was crying last night about this. I took on a dog from a young couple who were leaving the country to live in Dubai. They had intended to take a tiny Pomeranian puppy with them and had bought him with the intention of doing so when they were moving to an apartment there with no outside space and they were going to be working and out of the house for 12 hours a day. They realised that it was unfair literally days before they were due to leave the country. I only found out when I went to collect him that he had been bought from a Polish puppy farm through an intermediary in London, they were young and naive had never had a dog before and didn’t realise themselves until they saw his papers.

I was told he was six months old, but on visiting my vet with him I was told he was barely four months and had probably been taken from his mother and trafficked across Europe in a car boot at 5 weeks old. His tiny body had been assaulted with vaccines he was too young to have and then those had been readministered as he would have had no immunity from the first ones.

He had a persistent cough as puppy which made us worry that he had a problem with his trachea, but it improved and he was a loving, lively boy for 2 years. He went for his regular trip to the groomers and she couldn’t finish grooming him as he was screaming in pain.

After seeing our own vet, we we were referred to a specialist and after an MRI scan found he like Mollie Mae’s dog had a large hole in his skull, syringomelia and a degenerative autoimmune condition in his rear legs, we had him for another five months until his trachea collapsed just as we were seeing good progress with his other problems.

I have owned dogs for more than 30 years, and have another Pomeranian now as well as my two other rescue dogs. He is a rescue too and from healthy stock in this country, not a miniature imported from abroad. We need to tell people what they are buying into when they get Instagram puppies, the cruelty that lies behind this trade, often criminality and the heartbreak for them.

Not a day goes by without me thinking of my darling boy, the dearest most loving little dog I have ever had

Tommy and MM are young. I’m not excusing their ethics when choosing a dog, but hopefully they will use this experience and their fame / influence to raise awareness about these kind of issues, and work with U.K. dog charities.

Jesus, have just looked at Mr Chai's Instagram page! There is no doubt that he was going to be a great money spinner as well, but I still believe that that wasn't the main motivation for getting him.

I really think that MM and Tommy have learnt a very harsh lesson here, in more ways than one. I'm not convinced they will get a rescue dog next though, in their video they said they specifically wanted a puppy so that they could give it the best life from the start, and rescue dogs are not for everyone which is fair enough I think.

@evenstar I agree. It's truly heartbreaking. Instagram has a lot to answer for. These influencers are unfortunately so influential so as long as there's a market for these tiny poorly pups, puppy farms will continue. I have just watched MM and Tommy’s video about it all and I agree, they're so young and naive but I'm pleased they have spoken out about it.

I think they have a huge lot to learn before getting another dog. I hope they do, but I suspect it won’t be long before the next money spinning insta pup is up and running.

I watched the love island series where these two met, and would agree with other posters -they are actually decent people, Tommy in particular came across as a really kind, sweet guy. But they are very young, very naive, not particularly bright, and have had so much fame and money and adulation chucked at them at such a young age. It’s hardly surprising that they went for a “cute insta friendly“ pup without doing any proper research and they have learned the hard way why this is never a good idea.

No malice, I suspect, just a genuine lack of maturity and common sense.

Let’s hope they are able to use their platform and their millions of followers to actually do something decent and urge people not to make the mistakes they did. If nothing else this has at least highlighted this awful practice very effectively to all the celeb obsessed insta kids who might otherwise have never been aware.

Reading that report I don’t know how that awful ‘breeder’ can keep saying the dog was perfectly healthy. The influencers clearly were stupid bit the biggest issue lies with that horrendous woman making thousands selling these poor ill puppies.

She has a post up saying that dog was perfectly healthy and other people are spreading lies. She’s limited comments now no doubt as a result of the truth coming out.

Another takeaway from this is, get your puppy vet checked asap after purchase: decent breeders who have had the litter checked by their own vet will tell you to do this.

I really hope these two not only learn something useful from this, but use their fame to educate their (probably equally naïve) fan base.

Simba looked so sad in the photos

No doubt MMH and TF were dumb but it seems like going forward they can’t/won’t be able to do anything right!

They public ally shared the news- they were upfront, didn’t hide it, didn’t replace the pup, admitted their wrongdoing

If they
Do something public to raise awareness-they are selling themselves
Do nothing- they are heartless selfish twists
Replace with a rescue dog- it’s insincere and just another self advertisement

I get that they did the wrong thing- they get that too. But good lord, give them a break they are clearly trying to make amends now.

Fundamentally I have a problem with what they do. They market themselves and polish up their lives so that other impressionable, usually young, people will want their hair/teeth/tans/clothes/perceived lifestyle. I think it’s very shallow and I don’t think it is a good thing for society that “influencers” exist.

But maybe I’m just a grumpy middle aged person!

There was a puppy of the same type I think (definitely a teacup type) flown from Russia for an owner that ended up at Battersea on the Paul OGrady programme.
I was wondering how on earth that happened because I’m sure the purchaser spent a fortune and wouldn’t have just handed the puppy to battersea. Very odd.
From memory I think it had very brittle bones so maybe that was why.

Have looked on the breeders Instagram - she is claiming that this has never happened before. Bull. Shit. So it's just pure unfortunate coincidence that when this does happen the one time it happens with a big well known influencer?

Why do they bring them in from Russia, why can't they have them born in the UK? Its not like coffee or avocados where they will only grow in certain climates is it? They were stupid to get an imported dog, but I do think the realise that now and they do seem to have genuinely learnt a lesson from it. The breeder not so much, she will be shitting herself now that her 'celebrity dog breeder' status has been blackened.

Actually, one thing I do quite like about Molly Mae is that she is quite open about the fact that she is an 'influencer'. She never makes out that she is 'helping others' or anything like some of the awful Mummy Instagrammers, it just is what it is. And she also appears a lot as 'herself' without makeup etc a lot as well to show that it's not all real. And while being an 'influencer' isn't exactly saving the world, it does take a lot of dedication, hard work and commitment, often with zero reward at the beginning, to actually be able to make any money at all from it. And MM was already a full time influencer before she went on Love Island, so had obviously started from scratch.

Sorry, I'm not her mum or anything, but I do quite like the two of them, they are just a bit dim that's all.

Sometimes rescues are their own worst enemy

Yep. I tried to rescue for 2 years. I did actually meet all their criteria, the issue I had was “first come first served”. I made so many appts to meet dogs only to have them cancelled because someone had walked in off the street and reserved them. In the end I had to walk away as I realised I would have taken anything offered, and chances are would have ended up with something totally unsuitable.

I don’t know who these people are but i hope they campaign against importing dogs.

Poor little puppy. That list reads more like a selection of chapter headings from a veterinarian textbook than one poor dog's health problems.

JoeExoticsEyebrowRing

Have looked on the breeders Instagram - she is claiming that this has never happened before. Bull. Shit. So it's just pure unfortunate coincidence that when this does happen the one time it happens with a big well known influencer?

Yup. But saying that, what a way to get caught out. Fancy not getting a vet in to check the puppy you plan to give to an influencer.

@violetnoregard I completely agree. I'm 29 and it makes me so sad. Some of my friends are obsessed with them. My brothers girlfriend is 21 and if you look at MMH Instagram and then hers she tries to copy her pics and honestly it's so cringe. She desperately wants to be an influencer, I don't understand why she doesn't just focus on herself and being happy instead of creating content for her 600 followers. Rant over. (She also wants a pom, shock).

@BearBearBearBear - that does sound sad . I do think psychologists of the future will pinpoint the rise of social media and especially the smartphone as the start of a huge change in human society and relationships.

I’ve been on holiday and seen young girls far too interested in posing for pictures and then glued to their phones and squealing, rather than looking at the view or the sites or just enjoying the pool like you should when you’re young and gorgeous and carefree!

@Evenstar Oh God, that's absolutely heartbreaking. Poor wee scrap.