What Happened to Charlie?
We met Charlie and we didn't understand why everyone was talking about "what happened". Charlie's Mommie-peep, Kim, was kind enough to detail and chronicle what exactly, happened to Charlie.
Late in the summer of 2006 I saw an ad in the newspaper for German Shepherd puppies and I called. The lady I spoke with, X, said that she bred German Shepherds and invited me to her home in Sullivan County, Indiana to see them. When I arrived, I saw hundreds of dogs in cages.
The cages were 3 to 4 feet off the ground, most with wire bottoms and the dogs and puppies inside were dirty, covered in fleas and skinny. She let the German Shepherd puppies out of a pen and one came to me, sat down on my foot, and looked up at me.
I knew right away that I had stumbled upon a puppymill and that I should turn around and leave. But I couldn't. This puppy had caught my heart and I could not leave him there. I handed Ms. X $250 and went away with the puppy. I called him Charlie.
Once in the car, the fleas began attacking me. Hundreds of them, leaping all over the car. I drove straight to the nearest vet and asked if they could see Charlie and they did. That was the first of many, many vet visits to come. The vet said he had several types of internal parasites as well as the external parasites of fleas and ticks and he was also very underweight for an 8 week old puppy. We got our medicines and went home.
I thought on my way home about how I could get this puppy all fixed up, and I was proud of myself for saving him. By a couple of weeks later, he had some weight on him and the fleas and ticks and worms were gone.
But I soon learned that the battle was just beginning. Over the next two years, Charlie returned to the vet countless times. He developed pneumonia twice, he had coccidia, hip problems, shoulder problems, staph infections, ear infections, food allergies, environmental allergies, digestive problems. He was sick far more often than he was healthy.
We had our good weeks, where nothing would be wrong for a while
But it never lasted long and soon, he'd be limping, or have a big wound on his skin from the staph infection that we could never clear up, or he'd be vomiting, or having diarrhea. I was determined that I was going to get this dog healthy somehow, though the money was starting to run very low from all of the vet visits. But I loved him. He was my best friend during a difficult time in my life and no matter how bad he felt, he always had a tail wag for me.
In August of 2008 Charlie began to have seizures. These were not typical epileptic seizures like you would expect. He would run wildly, yelping, losing control of his bowels, foaming at the mouth, trying to bite if I came near him.
Toward the end of the seizure he would freeze, as if his brain had just turned itself off for a moment
At times when he wasn't having seizures, he was tired, sad looking, not eating
Back to the vet we went. Bloodwork showed elevated pancreatic enzymes, but not enough to cause seizures. Bile acid tests came back fine. An ultrasound showed no adrenal tumor. Test after test was done and nothing was found.
Consultations with veterinary neurologists led us to the conclusion that Charlie had a brain tumor. He was put on phenobarbital and the seizures stopped but he became very aggressive. Sometimes he would be just fine, and other times he would snarl, or snap at someone without warning.
I kept him separated from my kids and he spent most of his time alone in the backyard for several days while I thought about what we could do to help him. Brain surgery and chemotherapy was an option, but the chance of success was very slight.
I decided that Charlie had been through enough. This was our last night together. He was put to sleep the following day.
Charlie is at peace now.
But thousands of other dogs are not. X's puppy mill was raided by state police, USDA officials and the HSUS in October of 2008, just before Charlie's death. 67 animals were found to be in need of immediate veterinary care. Because Ms. X voluntarily surrendered these 67 animals, no criminal charges were filed and Ms. X was allowed to keep the other hundred or so animals on her property, and to continue to run her puppymill.
Don't make the same mistake I did. No matter how cute, no matter how sorry you feel for these animals, DO NOT buy from a puppy mill. Every dollar these puppy millers make goes straight into their pocket, not to feed or provide veterinary care for the animals. Don't support puppy mills. Write to your legislators. Let them know that you support legislation against puppymills.
We have to make this animal torture stop.
**Good News on the story below...all of these dogs were placed into foster homes before the holidays. However, the Mill continues to operate.
**Raid on Puppy Mill leads to plea for foster homes.
There are over 160 Chihuahuas and 100 Shar Pei's. If anyone can assist and foster or know of any other rescue groups who can lend a hand please CONTACT Dawn NJ State SPCA at oldotts1@comcast.net
or 732-606-3086.
EXX URGENT
As a personal witness to this horrific scene at this residence several months ago, the SPCA, Associated Humane Society and the NJ Health Department investigated this Howell home and collaboratively have been able to close down this puppy mill operation.
Pertaining to the article below the associated humane society will be removing all 260+ dogs from this residence. They are experiencing great challenges in trying to manage the volume of dogs generated from this rescue attempt and desperately need help.
There are over 160 Chihuahuas and 100 Shar Pei's. If anyone can assist and foster or know of any other rescue groups who can lend a hand please CONTACT Dawn NJ State SPCA at oldotts1@comcast.net or 732-606-3086.
SPCA taking kennel dogs from Howell
TOO CROWDED: Couple has nearly 300 pure-bred Dogs removed
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· HOWELL — Perry and Edith Bushko have been breeding dogs at their Windsong Acres kennel for decades, but now the operation has grown much too big for the aging couple.
With close to 300 dogs in their care, the pair agreed to a untary surrender of almost half of their animals, said Victor "Buddy" Amato, Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals police chief.
Animal rescue employees quickly shuffled the animals to their vans to protect them from the cold weather late Friday afternoon, while Amato bartered with Edith Bushko, 76, as to which of the pure-bred animals he could remove from the kennel on Lanes Pond Road.
"For them, the animals are like their children," Amato said. "She is worried we are depleting her blood line."
The couple's pure-bred Shar-peis and long-hair Chihuahuas lived in individual carriers and rarely saw the light of day, officials said.
"The dogs are born, bred and die in their cages," said Associated Humane Societies Chief Bruce Sanchez, who warned about treatment of animals at what he termed puppy mills.
"There is a situation of neglect in there, and neglect is a form of abuse," Sanchez said.
Complaints of crowded conditions at the couple's kennel first came from clients who had visited the farm, Amato said.
Amato described the scene inside the couple's kennel as boisterous and overcrowded but relatively well maintained. He said none of the animals seems to be suffering from malnutrition.
"This is not an animal cruelty case," he said. "This is just a case w here a woman has more animals than she can take care of."
"There were some dirty bowls of water, and some of the animals needed their nails clipped," he said. "The fact is, she's having a hard time keeping up with the amount of work needed to care for the animals."
The reasons for the overcrowding were partly financial, partly the affinity for animals and partly because the owners were unable to comply with new township guidelines, officials said.
Their kennel license had been revoked two years ago for failure to meet sanitary regulations, Amato said.
The SPCA hopes to remove the dogs over a period of days to avoid overwhelming the animal shelter system. Close to 10 dogs were removed Thursday and close to 40 on Friday, Amato said.
Under township laws, the couple will have to limit t heir dog ownership to 165 animals and must show an updated license for each one. They must also install the appropriate septic system and lines for running water inside the kennel itself.
The dogs are being transported to the Humane Societies' facilities, where they will be fed, cleaned, receive appropriate medical attention and placed in no-kill shelters for adoption, Sanchez said.
"We're trying to get them out in an orderly manner so they can be adopted into good homes," Amato said, as two vans filled with the dogs left the home and another vacant van pulled in.
Petland Discount Sells Puppy Mill Puppies
Nov. 20, 2008—Today, during a news conference, The Humane Society of the United States reveals the results of an eight-month investigation into Petland Inc., the country's largest chain of puppy-selling pet stores. The results show that many Petland stores across the country are supporting cruel puppy mills, even while telling unsuspecting customers that the dogs only come from good breeders.
There are approximately 140 Petland stores in the U.S., selling tens of thousands of puppies each year. In the largest ever puppy mill investigation, HSUS investigators visited 21 Petland stores and 35 breeders and brokers who sold puppies to Petland stores. Investigators also reviewed interstate import records of an additional 322 breeders, USDA reports and more than 17,000 individual puppies linked to Petland stores.
According to Stephanie Shain, director of The HSUS Stop Puppy Mills Campaign, "Petland is perpetuating the abusive puppy mill industry, where dogs are treated not like pets, but like a cash crop. They know that consumers won't stand for the cruelty inherent in mass-breeding facilities, so they make outrageous claims to hide the reality that the dogs came from puppy mills. People have a right to know exactly what they are buying, but the real victims are the breeding dogs who are confined to life in a cage for as long as people are duped into buying their puppies."
This is the latest in a series of HSUS investigations exposing abuses at puppy mills, dog auctions, and pet stores around the country. The new Petland investigation revealed:
• Despite assurances by Petland staff and on their corporate website that the company knows its breeders and deals only with those who have "the highest standards of pet care," many Petland puppies come from massive commercial breeders in Missouri and other Midwestern states, where hundreds of breeding dogs are packed into cramped, barren cages—often for their entire lives, with no socialization, exercise, or human interaction.
• When HSUS investigators visited 35 of the large-scale breeding operations linked to Petland stores, they witnessed puppy mills where puppies are factory-farmed in large numbers. At many, investigators saw appalling conditions: puppies living in filthy, barren cages reeking of urine, with inadequate care and socialization.
• Many of Petland's puppies are not supplied directly by breeders but are purchased from a "middle man"—large-scale "pet distributors," otherwise known as brokers—showing that the company may not even know who the breeders are or what their standards of care may be like. The investigation revealed that some of Petland's brokers are also buying from puppy mills.
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This is just one of the many puppy mills investigators visited which supply puppies to Petland stores. ©The HSUS |
• Some of Petland's puppies are ordered online via a pet auction website called the Pet Board of Trade—demonstrating that many Petland stores are not screening breeders as the company's website claims. In fact, in some cases it may not even know the breeder's name until after purchase.
• One of the most common sales pitches made by Petland staff is that the company uses "USDA licensed" breeders. However, investigators reviewed publicly available state and USDA inspection reports for more than 100 Petland breeders and found more than 60 percent of the reports listed serious violations of basic animal care regulations. Many USDA breeders exhibit a long history of substandard care and yet remained licensed. While USDA regulations are minimal, some of the Petland breeders are not even complying with these basic animal welfare standards.
• Documented USDA violations at some of Petland's breeders and suppliers included dirty, unkempt enclosures; inadequate shelter from the cold; dogs kept in too small cages; and inadequate veterinary care. Some of the breeders were found with sick or dead dogs in their cages.
Puppy mills are a source of unbearable cruelty where breeding animals are kept in tiny cages without any socialization for the sole purpose of supplying pet stores and the Internet market with puppies. The HSUS urges all of its members and supporters to spread the word about the great suffering associated with these mills, which also contribute to tragic pet overpopulation.
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