SAVED BY KINDNESS
It is not just dogs that suffer as a result of puppy farming – the families who buy them can be hit emotionally and financially.
I told earlier this year how one family bought a Golden Labrador which they named Freddie. He died after just five days from parvovirus.
Distraught mum Donna Cunningham had to break the news to her children, 10-year-old Ruby and five-year-old Joel, that Freddie had been put down.
“The pet shop offered me a refund, as if that’s any consolation,” said Donna, from Manchester.
I also told in September of Lily the Yorkie – bought from a pet shop and soon diagnosed with multiple illnesses including the bacteria campylobacter, the parasites giardia and isospora, and “the worst ringworm” the vet had seen on a puppy.
Lily only just survived but her owner faces vet’s bills stretching into the future and the trauma of looking after a poorly animal.
“It all makes sense now that we know she is from a puppy farm,” she said. HAPPY DAYS Lucy with Lisa Garner The campaign is named after Lucy, a Cavalier Spaniel rescued from a cage on a puppy farm. The adorable creature became the mascot for the campaign against puppy farming, winning the Mirror’s Animal Hero award last year. But she was in terrible shape when plucked from a rescue centre by Lisa Garner in 2013. “She was extremely underweight and absolutely tiny,” Lisa recalls. “After much consideration and numerous emails I went about the adoption process. “I wasn’t told much about her life prior to rescue, but it was clear from her physical condition that she had been subjected to appalling conditions. “The rescue centre thought Lucy was around four to five-years-old, although she seemed frail beyond her years because she’d been so neglected. “She was quite terrified and very nervous, but gained confidence each day, helped enormously by being surrounded by other Cavaliers.” Problems included fused hips and a curved spine from being kept in a cramped cage, malnourishment, chronic dry eye, epilepsy, bald patches to her fur, and skin that smelled like burning flesh from the ammonia in the urine she was forced to sleep in. Lisa slowly nursed Lucy to health, starting with small meals and short walks. “Her cheeky personality started to come out quite quickly once she was settled in with me,” says Lisa. “But certain traits never really left her. She had separation anxiety and would sit crying behind the door on the rare occasions I had to leave her, and she would still cower sometimes when you went to pick her up. “However, with lots of patience, Lucy went on to enjoy a full, albeit far too short life, filled with happiness, and her love for life radiated to all those who met her.” Lucy died a year ago this month, just eight or nine years old, with almost 70,000 loving Facebook followers. #LucysLaw