Why to never buy a puppy or kitten from a pet store!

Have you ever heard of a puppy mill? Puppy mills are breeding facilities that produce purebred puppies and kittens in hefty numbers. Often these puppies and kittens are sold across the country to pet stores. Puppy mills have been around for decades, and the reason these dog and cat breeding operations can continue to flourish, is because people always want to buy the cute puppy looking at them at the pet store, or the beautiful Persian kittens bouncing around the cage. These canine and feline breeding facilities keep dogs and cats in shockingly pitiful conditions. Dogs live their entire lives in cages, without any walks, human contact, proper grooming, no veterinary care, barley any food or water, and no socialization what so ever. Dogs are usually housed in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, and all they do is breed, and have puppies. Female dogs are bred at every opportunity possible, and given no recovery time between litters. When the males and females are unable to perform their task, they are killed. Hundreds of thousands of dogs suffer in puppy mills every day. They are over bred and in most cases are the subjects on inbreeding. These dogs are used to make pure profit from the puppy sales, with no regard to the dog’s health or well being. They are bred over and over again, until they die. Breeding is their only purpose. Several hundreds of thousands of puppies are shipped cross country to be sold in pet stores. The results of these facilities are adorable puppies that have generations of hereditary defects. Puppies that arrive at the pet stores usually carry a lot of diseases including:
• Chronic Diarrhea
• Parvovirus
• Heart worms
• Mange
• Upper respiratory infections
• Distemper
• Kennel cough
• Giardia
• Pneumonia
• Fleas and ticks
• Intestinal parasites
These are only some of the problems that the puppies may face in their lifetime.
We can take a stand and help prevent these places from staying in business. One way to do this is by eliminating the demand for these puppies. Support the ASPCA or Humane Society in getting legislation passed, that will ensure the proper care for these pets, and that they are raised in healthy conditions.

Here are some ways we can help stop these Puppy mills.
• Do not buy a puppy from a pet store unless it is associated with the ASPCA.
• Boycott pet stores who sell puppies
• Never buy a puppy from someone who will not allow you to see where it lives, and won’t let you meet both of its parents
• Don’t ever buy a puppy from a website online. If you can’t meet the dog, chances are it’s a puppy mill. Truly responsible breeders will want to meet the family to which their puppy is going.
• Buy a puppy or kitten from a shelter
• Always spay and neuter your pets to eliminate any chances of breeding
• Do research on the place you want to get your pets from. Contact them more than once, and be sure to look closely at the parent’s health.
If you follow those steps you can help shut down these horrid puppy mills. Below is a link to a very touching video on you tube. It gives some more information on puppy mills, and the horrifying conditions these poor animals have to live in. I hope this will make you think twice before purchasing that cute puppy in the pet store window. You may feel you need to save him, but in the long run, you are only funding the puppy mills to make more puppies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HM8UmHM8Uo

Sheena Diane, Freelance Writer
www.sheenadiane.info