I wasnt going to post this, but I need to (long)

On Tuesday night DH and I learned that Emary had a very very severe case of Round Worms and Tape Worms which NSAL failed to inform us of when we adopted her (Yes, they knew about it....they checked her medical records and they had it on file but never informed us). We have another dog in the house who may have been exposed to it AND worse, round worm is contagious to humans if the dog licks your mouth. Well....the dog had been licking my mouth ALL week long. DH tried so hard not to be grossed out by it, but he literally couldnt even touch the dog for the past 2 days. This might be TMI, but she literally had worms falling out of her butt onto our floor yesterday. Her Kennel cough had gotten worse since we brought her home and she started peeing on the floor out of spite. We called our vet and he suggested I go to my doctor to be checked for round worm. He also told us to keep her far away from the other dog.

Last night when DH came home we had a long talk and he said that if he had known she had parasites we would never have taken her home. We love her to death but for some reason, this is just one of those things where it makes you not want to even touch the dog -- and you cannot have a puppy that you cant touch... she can sense the change in us. The vet said it would last at least another week or two before everything was completely taken care of.

We took her back to NSAL last night. We both cried so much and feel SO horrible. Its been an emotional roller coaster and I absolutely hate myself for having to take her back. Not to mention, we got attached to her and now we feel like we never want to adopt another dog for fear of something like this happeneing again. I've always hated people who adopt and then return dogs, thinking they dont care about the dogs....but we DO care. We love her soooo much, but we also know that with the worms and kennel cough, and the amount we're at work, we cant give her the attention and care she needs. She needs to be carefully watched constantly -- the kennel cough is turning into pneumonia and she could get very sick. DH is heart-broken right now, but more than anything he is SO mad at NSAL for not disclosing the fact that she had such a severe case of worms. Like I said, had they told us, we wouldnt have adopted her....which would have saved her and us from this whole experience. I know someone else will adopt her soon -- she's just too cute not to. But I cant help having such a sick, terrible feeling. We cried for HOURS yesterday and came home to an empty crate with her toys on the floor. I hate to close up the crate and move it into the closet -- I couldnt even look at it without crying.

ugh, I'm so sorry!!! I feel sooooo bad for you and your DH! The NSAL should have definitely informed you! How dare they! You did the right thing - don't worry.

I am so sorry that you had such a horrible experience and that you had to give her back. They definitely should have disclosed that information to you & I'm very surprised they didn't. I know our dog had some issues as well, including kennel cough & some skin issues, but thankfully they were not severe. The only thing I have learned from the whole experience is that a dog is a LOT of work... a lot more than I ever thought. Because of this, I know that I will not adopt another dog/puppy from NSAL until I am home and/or have the time to devote to it. Sorry again! Feel better

OMG, I'm so sorry. I can't believe NSAL didn't tell you, that's just wrong. Only time can health this. Try and focus on your DH and takin care of each other. Again, I'm so sorry.

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Posted by JulyBride14

I am so sorry that you had such a horrible experience and that you had to give her back. They definitely should have disclosed that information to you & I'm very surprised they didn't. I know our dog had some issues as well, including kennel cough & some skin issues, but thankfully they were not severe. The only thing I have learned from the whole experience is that a dog is a LOT of work... a lot more than I ever thought. Because of this, I know that I will not adopt another dog/puppy from NSAL until I am home and/or have the time to devote to it. Sorry again! Feel better

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yes....unfortunately we learned the hard way, but DH and I have agreed that when the time is right and we decide to adopt again, the FIRST thing we're doing is taking the dog to our own vet to be checked. I will NEVER trust what another shelter says again. They did everything they could to make sure she was going to a good home but they were so focused on getting her out of their shelter that they withheld information from us. We also dont plan to adopt until I have a job where I can take a few weeks time off to spent with the dog to acclimate her to the house. And we definately plan on getting an older dog next time. We spoke with NSAL about everything and they claim that its common knowledge that a dog might have worms and we should have known not to let her kiss our lips because it might be contagious. We've never adopted a dog before....how would we know that?! We plan on writting a letter to them because we're just SO disappointed in them. I'm going to my doctor tomorrow to be checked as well.

I'm so sorry...What a nightmare..

Why didn't they treat this poor dog while she was in their care if she had such a terrible case of worms?!

It's so awful of them to not have helped her or disclosed this to you!

I hope you and DH check out OK with your own doctors. Give it time and let your self morn your puppy..then maybe try a state shelter if you want to adopt a rescue animal next time.

opps

omg i cant believe they wouldnt tell you this! Thats so wrong of them. I could only imagine the emotional roller coaster you and DH have had to go through. I am so sorry and dont feel like bad people you both did the right thing. It is very hard to take care of a dog that needs so much medical care, medicine, and attention...it could also get extremly expensive and on top of everything else it is not healthy for you both and your other dog to have a dog in the house with such special needs. Try not to beat yourself up about it, everything works out for the best, and you did the right thing. I never thought a shelter would no disclose this kindve information, this makes me nervous to adopt at shelters now.

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Posted by BunnyBride

I'm so sorry...What a nightmare..

Why didn't they treat this poor dog while she was in their care if she had such a terrible case of worms?!

It's so awful of them to not have helped her or disclosed this to you!

I hope you and DH check out OK with your own doctors. Give it time and let your self morn your puppy..then maybe try a state shelter if you want to adopt a rescue animal next time.

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We were wondering the same thing....why wasnt she treated while she was in their care? She was given one dose of a de-wormer on the DAY we adopted her....but the severity of the case means she had it for more than a week prior to that. And the dewormer they gave her wasnt working fully.

DH wants to try either a kill shelter next time or from one of the shelters on the army posts. But I'm sure it will be quite a while before we are both ready to try again. At this point we're just trying to get over this. I know at leats we didnt the right thing by giving her back to them so that hopefully she can be re-adopted, but a huge part of me feels like we just gave our baby up for adoption

I am so sorry to hear about your puppy

I can also tell you that I think you had to make a decision in order to protect your other dog and your own health......sometimes we need to make ugly decisions and this was one of them.

I know this must be devastating and I wish I could make you feel better....I can't think of anything to say....... but I can send you some of these

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Posted by AeroJenn

On Tuesday night DH and I learned that Emary had a very very severe case of Round Worms and Tape Worms which NSAL failed to inform us of when we adopted her (Yes, they knew about it....they checked her medical records and they had it on file but never informed us). We have another dog in the house who may have been exposed to it AND worse, round worm is contagious to humans if the dog licks your mouth. Well....the dog had been licking my mouth ALL week long. DH tried so hard not to be grossed out by it, but he literally couldnt even touch the dog for the past 2 days. This might be TMI, but she literally had worms falling out of her butt onto our floor yesterday. Her Kennel cough had gotten worse since we brought her home and she started peeing on the floor out of spite. We called our vet and he suggested I go to my doctor to be checked for round worm. He also told us to keep her far away from the other dog.

Last night when DH came home we had a long talk and he said that if he had known she had parasites we would never have taken her home. We love her to death but for some reason, this is just one of those things where it makes you not want to even touch the dog -- and you cannot have a puppy that you cant touch... she can sense the change in us. The vet said it would last at least another week or two before everything was completely taken care of.

We took her back to NSAL last night. We both cried so much and feel SO horrible. Its been an emotional roller coaster and I absolutely hate myself for having to take her back. Not to mention, we got attached to her and now we feel like we never want to adopt another dog for fear of something like this happeneing again. I've always hated people who adopt and then return dogs, thinking they dont care about the dogs....but we DO care. We love her soooo much, but we also know that with the worms and kennel cough, and the amount we're at work, we cant give her the attention and care she needs. She needs to be carefully watched constantly -- the kennel cough is turning into pneumonia and she could get very sick. DH is heart-broken right now, but more than anything he is SO mad at NSAL for not disclosing the fact that she had such a severe case of worms. Like I said, had they told us, we wouldnt have adopted her....which would have saved her and us from this whole experience. I know someone else will adopt her soon -- she's just too cute not to. But I cant help having such a sick, terrible feeling. We cried for HOURS yesterday and came home to an empty crate with her toys on the floor. I hate to close up the crate and move it into the closet -- I couldnt even look at it without crying.

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I'm so sorry That must have been really hard for you..

Omg, I'm so sorry!!!!!!!!

That's terrible how NSAL kept that information from you!!!

I hope she gets better and finds a happy home real soon!!!!!!!

Im so sorry, Jenn!

Aww that's so sad. I fell in love with her just from the picture you posted.

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Posted by kflan75

why couldnt you take her to the vet? I wouldnt ahve broguth her back to NSAL....

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we called our vet and spoke to im in length about the situation. Taking her back to NSAL was not an easy decision my any means. I understand that it may not have been the best decision or even a decision that most others would have made abd we feel horrible for having to even make the decision. She needed 24 hour care and supervision due to the severity of her kennel cough at this point and we knew that with our work hours, we couldnt be home to do that. At least at NSAL they can watch her and care for her during the day. As far as the worms....thats something that wasnt going to clear up for at least a week and we were running the risk of infecting the other dog and ourselves. How could we not touch or kiss her for a week or more? She would feel so negliected.

If you had asked me a week ago if I would ever return a dog to a shelter I would have said absoutely not. But you can never say never until you're in the situation and take everything into account. I'm not proud of our decision and im devestated by the entire experience
I can only hope that she gets better soon and is adopted into a loving home that can care for her the way we would have liked to.

It sounds like you put a lot of thought into your decision and did what you felt was best for the dog and for you and your family. It is very hard to be able to say how one would react in a difficult situation faced with two choices, btoh of which produce an unfavorable result. I hope in time, you can be comfortable enough in your decision to not feel guilty about it. Sorry you have to go through this, it sounds awful!

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Posted by AeroJenn

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Posted by kflan75

why couldnt you take her to the vet? I wouldnt ahve broguth her back to NSAL....

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we called our vet and spoke to im in length about the situation. Taking her back to NSAL was not an easy decision my any means. I understand that it may not have been the best decision or even a decision that most others would have made abd we feel horrible for having to even make the decision. She needed 24 hour care and supervision due to the severity of her kennel cough at this point and we knew that with our work hours, we couldnt be home to do that. At least at NSAL they can watch her and care for her during the day. As far as the worms....thats something that wasnt going to clear up for at least a week and we were running the risk of infecting the other dog and ourselves. How could we not touch or kiss her for a week or more? She would feel so negliected.

If you had asked me a week ago if I would ever return a dog to a shelter I would have said absoutely not. But you can never say never until you're in the situation and take everything into account. I'm not proud of our decision and im devestated by the entire experience
I can only hope that she gets better soon and is adopted into a loving home that can care for her the way we would have liked to.

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Im sorry -- and Im totally not ganging up on you-- i know how hard a decision it is-- but as a pet owner....and a new adopted puppy owner at that... I am in the dark as to why you wouldnt give her the care she needs and have her stay at the vet... ??

you dont have to answer that.. or any of my posts for that matter-- but if it was a child-- you cant give them back... why wouldnt you make the same sacrifices for a puppy??

I know I'll probably get flamed for this-- but I have strong opinions about adopting animals that you cant care for-- regardless of the health. Yes NSAL is wrong for not being upfront with it... but these things happen to pets & you cant count on it being rainbows and butterflies. .. puppies ahve worms-- puippies get kennel cough.. people develop allergies... I dont know maybe I would have tried to exhaust all my resources first--

ETA: again im sorry if Im making it worse -- I am sorry for what you are going through... its just my opinion when it comes to things like this... I know how attached you get and how sad you are...

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Posted by kflan75

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Posted by AeroJenn

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Posted by kflan75

why couldnt you take her to the vet? I wouldnt ahve broguth her back to NSAL....

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we called our vet and spoke to im in length about the situation. Taking her back to NSAL was not an easy decision my any means. I understand that it may not have been the best decision or even a decision that most others would have made abd we feel horrible for having to even make the decision. She needed 24 hour care and supervision due to the severity of her kennel cough at this point and we knew that with our work hours, we couldnt be home to do that. At least at NSAL they can watch her and care for her during the day. As far as the worms....thats something that wasnt going to clear up for at least a week and we were running the risk of infecting the other dog and ourselves. How could we not touch or kiss her for a week or more? She would feel so negliected.

If you had asked me a week ago if I would ever return a dog to a shelter I would have said absoutely not. But you can never say never until you're in the situation and take everything into account. I'm not proud of our decision and im devestated by the entire experience
I can only hope that she gets better soon and is adopted into a loving home that can care for her the way we would have liked to.

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Im sorry -- and Im totally not ganging up on you-- i know how hard a decision it is-- but as a pet owner....and a new adopted puppy owner at that... I am in the dark as to why you wouldnt give her the care she needs and have her stay at the vet... ??

you dont have to answer that.. or any of my posts for that matter-- but if it was a child-- you cant give them back... why wouldnt you make the same sacrifices for a puppy??

I know I'll probably get flamed for this-- but I have strong opinions about adopting animals that you cant care for-- regardless of the health. Yes NSAL is wrong for not being upfront with it... but these things happen to pets & you cant count on it being rainbows and butterflies. .. puppies ahve worms-- puippies get kennel cough.. people develop allergies... I dont know maybe I would have tried to exhaust all my resources first--

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I completely respect your opinion on it and I understand where you're coming from -- i know you didnt mean to attack me. Your feelings are the exact reason why we are struggling not to feel terribel right now -- a huge part of us knows that if we were in a different financial situation and a different time in our lives we could have dealt with this and kept her. But our current situation just wasnt going to allow for that. Our vet doesnt keep dogs in his care for more than a day or two unless they have surgery, so we didnt have that option. We could have gone elsewhere with her and left her with another vet until she was better, but to be completely honest with you, financially, we just couldnt do that. We were never prepared to have to put up a pet in a vet's office for over a week. That would have cost us over $1000. Had we been informed beforehand we would have known the cost we would incumber and we would have either been prepared to spend it or we would have just not adopted (and it would have been the second one). We never expected things to be rainbows and butterflies but we also didnt expect so many severe health issues within the first week either. We got ourselves one very sick puppy....and we were told that other than SLIGHT kennel cough, she was in perfect health. We should have taken her to our own vet immediately to have her re-checked, but we didnt think to do that and trusted what the shelter told us. Lesson learned unfortunately at the expense of the puppy and ourselves.

I'm sure there are plenty of others who have read this post and thought the same things you did --i fully expected that when I posted it. Its a touchy topic for many and there are a lot of strong feelings about it. But I hope you can understand that we did what we felt we had to do and we wish we were in a position to do better.