Question about puppy and breeder.

[Disenchanted3]

Hiya, I got my pup yesterday. Shes not a kennel club dog and the person I bought her off is not a registered breeder (afaik) she is just a puppy.

I took her to the vert yesterday for a check up and to be flead and what I assumed to be a slightly poppy-out belly button is a hernia.

Do we need to raise this with the breeder? Is there any point? In an ideal world I would ask for a small refund if the hernia needs to be operated on as it was there at time of purchase and I feel they should have recognised it as a hernia and made it clear to us.

Its a non-issue really as we won't return her obviously but it would have been nice to have been told this.

*refund towards the cost of having the hernia corrected, not just for the hell of it!

Dis - please don't take this the wrong way, but I've looked at your profile and I can see she is a CKCS. They are one of the breeds most prone to hereditary health problems and you need to be so, so careful where you buy them from. Yes, you should take any health problems up with the breeder but without a sale contract you may get little joy.

Even if her hernia gets sorted she could well turn out to have heart problems or syringomyelia (where the dog ends up in agony because the skull is too small for the brain). Please think carefully about this.

Think carefully about what Bella? Shes here now I can't return her.

We accept that the hernia is there and the vet said if it doesn't
correct itself then its a very simple thing to sort whilst she is being sterilised.

Like I said shes had a check and all seems fine bar the hernia, shes a very happy little dog.

If we send her back she will just go to someone else, nothing will change I will just be heartbroken. And its just not going to happen.
Please don't take that as me being flippant or angry with you, I'm not I'm just trying to be clear that she won't be returned. I do appreciate you posting though.

What should I say to him though?

We had the dog vet checked and turns out she has a hernia? then what?

You tell the breeder about the hernia. Standard, good practice pedigree sale contracts have a clause whereby you can return the pup for a refund if a vet check carried out within, say, 72 hours, shows any health problems. I'm assuming you don't have a contract like that so it will be up to the breeder. I would say they almost certainly knew about the hernia when they sold the pup to you - it's a very simple thing for a breeder to spot.

All I was saying was that this pup could have major health issues which will cause great ongoing heartache for you and your dc's. It wasn't a callous suggestion just to rehome her. I am trying to help and advise you, and more importantly help the dogs.

Heart problems and syringomyelia do not show up until much later.

If it were me I would report the breeder to the dog warden and possibly RSPCA on welfare grounds. The more pups these people sell, the more they will go on doing it, and the worse for all the dogs concerned.

Really?! Because 1 dog has a hernia I should report him?

It may not be a hereditary hernia it could have been cause by mum.

Seems a bit extreme.

I'm going to ring him, see hwta he says.

Thanks

I mean before finding out if it is hereditary etc...

As a breeder,if a pup I bred had a hernia, I would keep it at least until the hernia had been sorted and the puppy given the all clear by my vet. If the breeder has been looking after this puppy, they will know it has ahernia, and if they haven't noticed, well what does that say about them?!

Why did you buy a dog of a KC registerable breed that is unregistered?

Bella is right, whatever sho sup now, cavs are prone to a lot of health problems, most of which will seriously negatively affect the dogs life and possibly lead to it having to be euthanaised later on. I know how you mts feel, but imagine how you'll feel to be told in three years time your gorgeous little dog has to be put to sleep? All because the breeder was too lazy to do some health testing... Syringomyelia is completely preventable.

I know this sounds callous, because a dog is an animal, but under the sale of goods act you can return the dog if it is not 'fit for purpose' and get afull refund. I know completely why you don't want to do this, but by not doing it you are paving the way for this idiot breeder to breed more unhealty puppies. And what about the rest of this litter? Their owners might not have insurance etc and might decide to PTS if problems occur.

If you really are determined to keep the pup, then if the breeder won't refund you, I would take him to small claims court. If the puppy develops further problems down the line which could have been health tested for, then take him to court to get compensation for treatment. This has been successfully done before and it is the only way unscrupulous people liek this who think they can make easy money out of dogs will stop and think.

KC reg. alone is not enough to say someone is a good breeder, but anyone who breeds a KC registerable breed and does not KC register is definiely not a good breeder. This puppy could be unregistered presicely because the breeder of your puppy's Mum knew she was a genetic carrier for SM and so decided to endorse her pedigree so she could never be bred from, or because the Mum is too old or too young to be registered, or because she is forced to have a litter every season.

Thankyou for the advice.

DH phoned the breeder who says the mum or no other pups have had this he said the mum may have chewed the cord too close.

In fairness to him, it is not a large hernia and only the vet noticed it, its more of an 'outy' bellybutton,

both he and the vet said it should heal itself over the next few weeks.

Our pug had 2 when she was a pup, not bellybutton but near the groin and they have gone so we are going to wait and see, if its still there come neutering time we will have it surgically fixed.

Agree with midori, this sounds like a bit of a dodgy breeder, Cavalier are such an unhealthy breed anyway, it's very difficult to find a breeder that is breeding healthy cavaliers. Did you see where the pup came from and it's mother etc?

I do understand what you are saying Midori but people need to be very clear that a KC breeder does not have to have any health checks done on dogs. So you still have no way of telling if the breed is healthly. Some best of breed cav's have been known to have SM.

I agree with last post as our other pups are KC registered and very £££! and that pup had 2 hernias so it didn't stop that!

Did you see where the pups were kept and their mother?

Yes, in the kitchen, why?

Yes, I completely agree, KC registered does not guarantee healthy or quality. However, for KC registered breeds, I have yet to find a breeder that does not KC register and that is decent. There are no good reasons no to register puppies of a KC registerable breed, only bad ones.

Sorry, just to add, it is vital that buyers verify health tests have been done and satisfactory results achieved. As long as people will buy puppies from un health tested parents, idiot breeders will continue not to bother to health test.