Pet shop accused of selling infected puppies
Residents complained about the pet shop after their pets fell ill after being bought.
What was supposed to be a festive time filled with joy turned into heartbreak for Neville Bekker when a pet dog he bought suddenly fell ill. Bekker and his family purchased the pet in December last year from Pet Superstore in Westgate Shopping Centre for R4000.
They signed a document that released the pet shop of any liability after 24 hours if anything went wrong.
The pet dog was taken to the vet the day after it was bought for its scheduled injections and all the tests came back negative. Later that day the dog started to vomit.
After numerous visits to the vet, the dog was diagnosed with the Canine Parvovirus, a highly contagious viral illness that affects puppies between six weeks and six months old.
When Bekker contacted the pet shop, he was referred to the document he signed.
“We contacted the breeder, who assisted us in getting the dog back to health, which the vet said there was a 85%-95% chance of success. But we are so angry because they told us that their pets were in good condition but that is clearly not the case. I have contacted the Mall management but there was no response, I have also called the SPCA and the Health department to investigate the store,” said Bekker.
Another family had similar issues when they bought a dog from the same pet shop. The dog fell ill a few days after being bought and was taken to a vet which cost R6000 but the dog died.
It was discovered that the dog had the canine coronavirus infection (CCV virus), a highly contagious intestinal disease that can be found in dogs all around the world.
The most common source of a CCV infection is exposure to faeces from an infected dog. Stress caused by over-intensive training, over-crowding and generally unsanitary conditions increase a dog’s susceptibility to a CCV infection. Additionally, places and events where dogs gather are the most likely locations for the virus to spread.
However, the pet shops manager Morné Mustard said that it is unfortunate that cases like these have occurred, but there is nothing the store can do about it as the buyer is given 24 hours to take the pet to a vet for a health test.
“We sell the pets on the behalf of their owners and find them a new home. The store only acts as the agents between the owners and consumers.
We heard about the incident regarding Bekker and we tested the entire litter. We found that it was an isolated incident. We have had numerous investigations and inspections from the SPCA and there is nothing wrong with the business we run,” said Mustard.
Despite numerous calls to the NSPCA and Roodepoort SPCA, they were unavailable for comment.
