Animal Adoption Protection Laws?
Are there any laws protecting people adopting animals?
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My friend adopted a dog from a local pound. They told her that he was de-wormed, up to date on his shots and heart worm negative. She noticed over the course of a week that he coughed, sneezed and gagged alot so she took him to the vet. They said that he had kennel cough. He hadn’t been around any other animals in that short time so we knew it had come from the shelter. She brought the dog to my house where I have my own. He pottied on the floor and we noticed a worm in poop. To make sure we checked when he went to the bathroom later. Again we found a worm. She has a 9 month old daughter that was always touching the dog and he had been around my dog that whole night and day. We knew nothing about the disease and feared for both my dog and her baby. We asked advice and were told to take the dog to the pound and drop him off. He had a microchip so they were able to locate her and now are issuing her a citation for abandoment. The reason we took him was because she had already paid for his treatment of the kennel cough. and couldn’t afford to get him treated for something else. At this point he hadn’t had his vaccines or tests done because she had spent all of the money put aside for those treatments. We wanted the dog to have a chance and could think of nothing else but to give him back and hope someone could help him. She is now facing ,000 fine and 1 to 2 years in jail. We had no other choice, she has a baby. In the contract she signed it said that they do not guaruntee a healthy animal. When she signed they gave her a brief summary of the contract and never mentioned that. I am a witness to the gentleman sayin he was up to date and that all he needed was his rabies. We never got paperwork. There has to be a law out there protecting people from these shelters adopting out sick dogs or cats. I feel so bad for these poor animals and even worse for any animals they may come in contact with once rehomed. If they don’t tell you there is no guarantee how are you supposed to know? We asked the questions we believed were necessary, is he sick? are his shots up to date? Heart worm? But they never said anything. I think it should be against the law for these shelters to give out animals without checking them for sicknesses. It makes things worse for not only these families but the animals they may expose these diseases to. Please someone help I don’t want to see her go to jail because she tried to help this dog, she has a baby..
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Tagged with: adopting animals • brief summary • cats • citation • gentleman • heart worm • Kennel Cough Treatment • microchip • money • paperwork • poop • poor animals • rabies • short time • sick dogs • vaccines • vet • witness
Filed under: Kennel Cough Treatment
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Something doesn’t sound right to me with all of this (aside from the fact that it’s posted in the wrong section). If the animal was dropped off at a shelter it was not abandonment unless someone just dropped it off by tying it out front in the middle of the night and leaving it there for someone to find in the morning.
I’ve worked for two large animal rescues over the years and people surrender animals all the time. The only person I’ve seen get charged was the guy who tied up his underweight (purebred) Bloodhound outside of the local PetSmart one night so that the manager found her tied up there in the morning.
If she (or you) just tied him up and left him at the pound then yes, I can see why someone was cited for that.
As to the state of the dog when your friend got him. Kennel Cough is a fairly common ailment and it’s essentially just an upper respiratory infection brought on by contact with other dogs in a kennel type situation and by excessive barking. Its easily treatable if you wanted to and generally goes away in two weeks on it’s own if left untreated. The worms are the same way. One or two pills (depending upon the size of the dog) and the worms are generally gone. In most cases they want to give a second dose in a couple of weeks just to make sure that they are gone. If your friend had taken the dog to a vet she would have had, perhaps, a $100 vet bill for everything.
It’s entirely reasonable that the dog was up on the shots (excluding rabies), had been dewormed and was vet checked and that it could still have worms and kennel cough after having been in a kennel. They are common and easily treatable conditions for a dog in that situation and was nothing to panic about. Any contract from a shelter that I have ever worked with does state what the condition of the animal is at the time it was adopted BUT it also says that the new owners are to get the animal vet checked within a period of time after adoption, usually 7 days. Sounds to me like she didn’t do that and that everyone over reacted and left the animal in some unreasonable situation at the shelter that constituted abandonment.
Next time, take the animal to the shelter when it’s open and drop it off properly. People who do that do not get cited for abandonment.
There isn’t anything protecting you from this except yourself. You have to do research when adopting an animal just like you do in any life decision. Honestly she sounds like someone who should not adopt or has no idea what she is doing.
Kennel cough is a common issue in shelters because it is airborne. Its not an expensive treatment and can be resolved quickly once treatment begins.
The dog likely was dewormed but it takes some time for them to be eliminated and the deworming must happen 2-3 times 3 weeks apart from each other.
She had the contract and failed to read it over properly before signing and that is her own fault. They shouldn’t have to read it word for word for her. She is a grown up and should know never to sign anything without reading the entire document. That goes for any contract not just with getting an animal.
Heartworm and the worm you saw are not the same thing. The one you saw was either a tapeworm or a roundworm. Neither are a big deal for treating. You do not see heartworms.
If she dropped him outside of the facility when it was closed then yes she will face charges and should. If she went inside and filled out proper paperwork with the shelter then she shouldn’t. Was it the same shelter she got the dog from?
This is the PEOPLE adoption section — you should have posted this in "pets".
As the saying goes — caveat emptor.
All of the conditions that you described are pretty common. Worms and kennel cough aren’t extremely contagious to people. The only way you can get worms from an animal is if you are not washing your hands after you handle their feces. You can normally find a lowcost vet clinic in your area that will deworm your cat or dog for ten to twenty dollars. I would check with my local humane society to find out what programs are available in the area.
Your friend signed a piece of paper saying that the shelter cannot guarantee a healthy animal. In a court of law, what the gentleman said about the shots would not hold up over the contract that she signed, because since there is no evidence that he said that, its considered "heresy".
The best thing she can do at this point is to get a lawyer and fight having to pay the fine and possible jail time. If she can’t afford one, I would suggest you google "legal aid" and your zip code in order to seek legal aid services that are provided to those who cannot afford to pay for a lawyer.
Not that I’ve ever heard of.
We found our Heinz 57 at a shelter. She was three years old. Within a few months she had a bite record with Animal Control. She came with serious anxiety issues and she bit when she was nervous.
We paid the fines and had her quarantined per law.
Flash forward a little. Her anxiety got worse. We spent about $800 on aggressive dog training to help us understand what her triggers were and how to help her relax.
Flash forward to last fall. She got desperately ill. We almost lost her. She was diagnosed with Addison’s Disease, a serious and lethal disorder. Her vet bills over the last five months have been $2,000+.
Shelter animals often come with issues you don’t see on Day One and those issues can be dangerous, heart-wrenching, and/or expensive. I’m truly sorry your friend found this out the hard way. I know how sad it can be to find out your furry friend came with "special needs".