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Store upsets pet owners

Customers say despite excellent ratings, Animal House PetCentersold them sick dogs.

By ROBBYN MITCHELL
Published June 11, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Louis, a 13-week-old Italian greyhound, sits in his living room with his sleek gray coat pale and his tiny jaw hanging open as his small chest heaves through short breaths.

Jaime McKnight, 29, who purchased Louis from Animal House Pet Center, 950 34th St. N, said it's time for the shop to take responsibility for selling sick dogs.

One of the dog's lungs is so full of bacteria that air cannot pass through, and another Italian greyhound that she purchased at the same store a year earlier, Jayden, had a two-month bout with kennel cough. Even Patches, a dapple dachshund bought by McKnight's mother, Geraldine, left the pet store with parasites.

"Patches was very, very sick when she came home," said Geraldine McKnight, 49, an underwriter for AmSouth. "She had blood in her stool and then we found out that she had parasites."

Patches fought off her illness to receive a clean bill of health - something she'd already received upon leaving the pet store - after two months. Her medical bills were paid by Animal House.

Per the Florida Pet Lemon Law, Jaime was refunded $1,000, Louis' price in full, by the pet store, according to Amanda Badgely, the store's manager. But the store has yet to pay the $1,884.10 in doctor's bills he has had since his purchase. "We cover medical bills within reason, and we offer to exchange the animal."

Jaime picked up Louis on May 19 with a clean bill of health from Animal Medical Hospital.

The regular examiner, Dr. Mike Eldridge, who has worked with the pet store since 1993, said that the dogs are required to be examined, vaccinated, dewormed and have negative stool and urine samples to receive a health certificate from him. The certificates also have notes that allow for the doctor to talk about any contagious or potentially serious disease.

Three days after his certification and sale, Jaime took Louis to her regular veterinarian Dr. Harvey Partridge.

In Partridge's report, he found that the puppy had exaggerated breathing and blood in his stool - both signs bacteria in the system, which could not have accumulated over a weekend.

Then on May 25, Louis, who appeared listless with labored breathing, returned to Partridge Animal Hospital, being diagnosed with a fever and pneumonia.

The next day, though he was better, X-rays showed that Louis had a consolidated lung so severely blocked that it may need to be removed.

Since then, Louis' health has been up and down. He's been hospitalized twice and struggles to breathe after trying to play like a normal puppy.

Badgely said the animals receive a Bordatello shot, which is similar to a flu shot for humans, that gives the animal a live version of the virus that causes kennel cough so they can build immunity.

Badgely also said that animals can become ill if they are stressed or if their immune systems are functioning improperly. Eldridge included that the dogs have not shown a strong immunity to the vaccine, but added that the shot may help curb the spread of the cold-like illness to other pets.

In that case, the store encourages customers to have the animals independently examined within the first four days of purchase and the store will pay any medical bills - within reason.

Animal House also employs two full-time kennel technicians who are responsible for cleaning the cages every hour and feeding the animals between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9:45 p.m.

Last year, the pet store issued four refunds per the Lemon Law, but Badgely says in her six years of employment they've never had an animal returned. "If she would've dropped off a bill, we would handle the medical cost within the first four days of purchase," Badgely said of Jaime's high medical costs. "If she didn't bring it to our attention, how could we know?"

However, this is not the first complaint of malfeasance on the establishment. In a 2002 letter report by Nancy Paradis in the St. Petersburg Times' Floridian section, Raimonda Vasgyz complained that a Shar-Pei purchased for her daughter to breed for college money was afflicted with the incurable, mangelike disease called demodex. She demanded that the store pay the dog's medical bills, as well as money lost for a missed breeding season.

Rachel Nannen, daughter of owners Jim and Donna Nannen, said that the store would and has paid medical fees, but said the store never guaranteed dogs would be breeding quality.

Since the complaint, the Animal House Pet Center has received a rating of excellent in Pinellas County Animal Services inspections, both scheduled and surprise.

But Jaime's younger sister, Andrea McKnight, 24, said she has witnessed the puppies, dehydrated and coughing and crying, being delivered to the store in trucks with no rear windows in stacked cages.

Since Louis' last hospitalization on June 5, Jaime has contacted the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Pinellas County Animal Services, Better Business Bureau, Tampa Bay Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals, Attorney General Charlie Crist and local news media outlets.

She said that her quest is not to get Animal House to pay Louis' medical bills but to get the chain to change their practices in care for puppies.

"Luckily, I'm fortunate enough to be able to shell out thousands of dollars in medical bills," Jaime said. "But what happens to the person who just spent a $1,000 for a dog and can't afford proper care?"

Robbyn Mitchell can be reached at 892-2376 or at rmitchell@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 11, 2006, 08:32:13]