I purchased a chow mix puppy, Tina, from R.U.F.F. Rescue inside of Petco on February 8th approximately between 7 and 8 p.m. The representative that sold me Tina was Myra. When I went into Petco that evening, I went to purchase a new fish tank for my younger daughter. I stopped at the front of the store where R.U.F.F. Rescue was set up selling the dogs. I looked at Tina while my older daughter viewed some of the other pets. I pointed Tina out to my daughter and then my daughter and Myra came over. Myra began talking about Tina and how cute she is and that we should adopt her. Myra handed Tina to my daughter and she held her for a while. Then I told my daughter to give her back and come with me. My daughter asked if she could stay a little longer while I went to shop for the items I originally came to the store for. I told her that would be ok as long as she understood that we were not purchasing a puppy today. I went to the fish area and was speaking with a store associate about the fish I wanted to purchase when my daughter came up to me with partially filled out paperwork asking me if we could purchase Tina. I told her no and she began to cry and asked if she could have her as an early birthday present. She told me all of the things that Myra had informed her about Tina including how big she would get and continuously encouraged her to go find me to get me to sign the papers to adopt Tina. I then told her that I would think about it and that when I finish my shopping I would let her know.
Once I finished putting the items I intended to purchase in the cart, I went over to where Myra and my daughter were when I finished and talked to Myra more about the adoption of Tina. She informed me that Tina has had all of her shots and is a healthy, happy puppy ready to go to a good home. Myra then persuaded me to hold Tina by repeatedly putting her up to me and saying hold her, see she wants to go home with you. I figured that this is why my daughter was crying about Tina because Myra can push until you to do things unless you just are downright rude to her because “nice no’s” don’t work. I agreed to purchase Tina and began to look over the paperwork as Myra explained to me about chipping, spaying, and vaccinations. Myra also informed me that stress from relocating for dogs can cause diarrhea over the next few days and if this were to happen to give her rice to help settle her tummy. Myra stated that the vaccinations were up to date and handed me a “shot record” along with the adoption application that I filled out. I gave Myra my debit card to charge the $220.00 and a $50.00 check for a security deposit for spaying. I checked out of Petco and went home with Tina.
The 1st night went well and the 2nd day did too. On day 3, Monday, the 10th, I am not home because I am at work from 7 am to 5:30 pm then in class from 6 pm to 10 pm. My mother is there with my children and my pets. When I came home that night, Tina was in her kennel and began to whine. I figured she must need to go outside to relieve herself so I took her out. Tina urinated and for a moment I thought she urinated a 2nd time because her stool was like water. I held her because her tummy was upset and gave her rice as instructed to do by Myra. Tina seemed to do a little better as far as her bowel movements on the 4th day but her appetite and activity level was down. I figured it was stress and just kept an eye on her to see if her condition changed. Over the next few days, Tina kept the diarrhea and continued to eat less and began to drink less. On Friday night, Tina had a diarrhea episode in which my son cleaned up. He later informed me after I talked to the Vet on Monday that there was what appeared to be blood in the stool but he could not be sure. On Sunday night, the 16th, I got up from bed to go and check on her because I know she has been acting as if she was feeling really bad, such as laying in the flower bed when outside rather than running and playing. Tina had to projectile vomited and released her bowels simultaneously while in her kennel. I cleaned up the mess while my daughter gave her a bath. I did not see the color of the stool because it was dark outside and I did not see the color of the stool when the kennel was inside because it obviously has a cover and I wasn’t going to remove it inside. The only thing that was on the floor was vomit that shot out from the front of the kennel.
The morning of the 17th, I called the vet at 8:10 am and took Tina in as a drop off walk-in so that she could be seen because there were no available appointments. The vet’s assistant gave me a plan of action to examine, test for parvovirus and proceed from there with a blood panel if the test was negative, the estimate was $218. I informed her that I was informed that the Recue representative stated that she has had all of her shots and I thought that she was just stressed until she began to vomit. I agreed to the suggested plan of action and left to take my son to an appointment. When leaving my son’s appointment, I received a call from Brown’s at 9:54 am stating that Tina had tested positive. The provided me with information about the illness, the survival rates, and the costs. Then they advised me to attempt to call the R.U.F.F. Rescue to speak with them about covering the medical cost and to find out if they had a preferred vet that might treat her for less. They stated that it was highly probable that Tina had this virus prior to my purchasing her because the incubation period is 3 to 7 days and she began having symptoms on the 2nd day after I had purchased her. I called Pam at 9:56 am, 9:59 am, 10:00 am (at the 303 number, received a call stating that she always receives calls for this organization but is not affiliated with them), and at 10:07 am. I left a voicemail explaining to her of who I was, which pet I had adopted, when I had adopted Tina, and what was going on with her health. In addition to leaving a voicemail, I texted Pam as she advises callers to do on her voicemail; I asked her to please call me regarding Bandaid and that this was urgent. I took my children home and went back to Brown’s Vet. I informed them that Pam had not returned my calls or messages and that I did not have the money to pay for Tina’s care. I asked them what my options were. They said that if I could not afford the care that I could put her to sleep. I attempted to call around and try to gather the funds to pay for her care but was unsuccessful. I signed the papers to have Tina put to sleep and they asked if I wanted to say goodbye and I said yes. When they came back into the room, they gave me another option. This was to sign Tina over to them and they would provide the care for her but she would no longer be mine. Of course I did this because it was my only option to save her. I signed the papers and went to get my oldest daughter so that she could say goodbye. When I got back we said goodbye to Tina and left.
From there I went to Petco to speak with a manager about what happened and the associate informed me that R.U.F.F. Rescue was not allowed to sell from Petco at this time because of issues with the Department of Agriculture. I asked her to please have the manager call me because I hadn’t received any calls or messages back from Pam. I finally heard from Pam at 1:41 pm and I told her what happened and that I had to sign Tina over so that she could begin getting the care that she needed. Pam asked what Vet Tina was at and said that she would call me back. She never did. The Petco store manager, Christina called me at 2:33 pm, I informed her that Pam called me and said that she would call me back and she stated ok and to call her if I needed any further assistance.
The next day, the 18th, I attempted to call Pam twice from my work phone and got no answer so I texted her. The responses are attached. She was not sympathetic and took absolutely no responsibility for selling a sick puppy. All she had to say was that I violated the contract by signing her over. Pam then told me to call “her” meaning Myra, (the associate /volunteer) that worked with her and sold me Tina to discuss this. I did and Myra was rude, talked down to me and insulted me. She stated how does she know that Tina didn’t get the virus in my care, that I should have checked every bowel movement that Tina had for blood and that it is my fault for not noticing and calling them sooner. I reminded Myra that she informed me that diarrhea was likely in the first few days and to give Tina rice. She then continued to be rude and told me that she is a stay a home mom and therefore has time to properly care for her dogs and that she checks her dogs’ stools every time they have a bowel moment. I told her that no one does that and she stated that she does and to each their own. I then told her how wrong it is to sell a sick puppy and that she has caused emotional distress to me and my family by her actions and she told me that she is sorry that I don’t know how to tell my 13 year old no. I said the same 13 year old that you handed legal adoption papers to and told her it was ok to fill out for her mother after you continuously waved the dog in her face to get her attached so that she would attempt to perused me. And then I told her I believe that she knew Tina was sick by the way she was pushing me to purchase Tina. She stated that “I’m sorry if you, a 30 something year old woman, would allow yourself to be persuaded by a 20 something year old woman (meaning her) to purchase a puppy.” I informed her that I did not initial the part of the agreement that says I haven’t been persuaded because she did in fact do that. The only thing she replied with outside of further insults, was the dog is sold as is, not their fault/problem, and to read the contract.
Myra then began to say that I violated the contract between R.U.F.F. Rescue and myself because I signed Tina over to the vet. I responded with that was the only choice that I had after I received no returned calls or messages from Pam. Myra told me in a sarcastic voice, “I’m sorry that Pam didn’t call you back but this is still your problem because you broke the contract.” Then she stated that the dog is now their property again and that they are paying her medical bill because the contract between me and the vet is null and void. I informed her that if that is true, then the dog still belongs to me because I never signed her back over to R.U.F.F. Rescue. She then stated that the dog is not mine because the contract between R.U.F.F. Rescue and me became null and void when I signed her over to the vet because I am supposed to return her to them in the event that I can no longer keep her. I told her that if our contract is null and void than she must refund my money because that is saying that the contract basically no longer exist. She told me no refunds. I told her you cannot have it both ways. Eventually after holding my tongue and trying to not stoop to her level of ignorance, I informed her that I was ending the conversation because it was not going anywhere and they refused to take any responsibility for this. The puppy passed away a week after the vet began treatment.
RUFF Rescue Reviews
I purchased a chow mix puppy, Tina, from R.U.F.F. Rescue inside of Petco on February 8th approximately between 7 and 8 p.m. The representative that sold me Tina was Myra. When I went into Petco that evening, I went to purchase a new fish tank for my younger daughter. I stopped at the front of the store where R.U.F.F. Rescue was set up selling the dogs. I looked at Tina while my older daughter viewed some of the other pets. I pointed Tina out to my daughter and then my daughter and Myra came over. Myra began talking about Tina and how cute she is and that we should adopt her. Myra handed Tina to my daughter and she held her for a while. Then I told my daughter to give her back and come with me. My daughter asked if she could stay a little longer while I went to shop for the items I originally came to the store for. I told her that would be ok as long as she understood that we were not purchasing a puppy today. I went to the fish area and was speaking with a store associate about the fish I wanted to purchase when my daughter came up to me with partially filled out paperwork asking me if we could purchase Tina. I told her no and she began to cry and asked if she could have her as an early birthday present. She told me all of the things that Myra had informed her about Tina including how big she would get and continuously encouraged her to go find me to get me to sign the papers to adopt Tina. I then told her that I would think about it and that when I finish my shopping I would let her know.
Once I finished putting the items I intended to purchase in the cart, I went over to where Myra and my daughter were when I finished and talked to Myra more about the adoption of Tina. She informed me that Tina has had all of her shots and is a healthy, happy puppy ready to go to a good home. Myra then persuaded me to hold Tina by repeatedly putting her up to me and saying hold her, see she wants to go home with you. I figured that this is why my daughter was crying about Tina because Myra can push until you to do things unless you just are downright rude to her because “nice no’s” don’t work. I agreed to purchase Tina and began to look over the paperwork as Myra explained to me about chipping, spaying, and vaccinations. Myra also informed me that stress from relocating for dogs can cause diarrhea over the next few days and if this were to happen to give her rice to help settle her tummy. Myra stated that the vaccinations were up to date and handed me a “shot record” along with the adoption application that I filled out. I gave Myra my debit card to charge the $220.00 and a $50.00 check for a security deposit for spaying. I checked out of Petco and went home with Tina.
The 1st night went well and the 2nd day did too. On day 3, Monday, the 10th, I am not home because I am at work from 7 am to 5:30 pm then in class from 6 pm to 10 pm. My mother is there with my children and my pets. When I came home that night, Tina was in her kennel and began to whine. I figured she must need to go outside to relieve herself so I took her out. Tina urinated and for a moment I thought she urinated a 2nd time because her stool was like water. I held her because her tummy was upset and gave her rice as instructed to do by Myra. Tina seemed to do a little better as far as her bowel movements on the 4th day but her appetite and activity level was down. I figured it was stress and just kept an eye on her to see if her condition changed. Over the next few days, Tina kept the diarrhea and continued to eat less and began to drink less. On Friday night, Tina had a diarrhea episode in which my son cleaned up. He later informed me after I talked to the Vet on Monday that there was what appeared to be blood in the stool but he could not be sure. On Sunday night, the 16th, I got up from bed to go and check on her because I know she has been acting as if she was feeling really bad, such as laying in the flower bed when outside rather than running and playing. Tina had to projectile vomited and released her bowels simultaneously while in her kennel. I cleaned up the mess while my daughter gave her a bath. I did not see the color of the stool because it was dark outside and I did not see the color of the stool when the kennel was inside because it obviously has a cover and I wasn’t going to remove it inside. The only thing that was on the floor was vomit that shot out from the front of the kennel.
The morning of the 17th, I called the vet at 8:10 am and took Tina in as a drop off walk-in so that she could be seen because there were no available appointments. The vet’s assistant gave me a plan of action to examine, test for parvovirus and proceed from there with a blood panel if the test was negative, the estimate was $218. I informed her that I was informed that the Recue representative stated that she has had all of her shots and I thought that she was just stressed until she began to vomit. I agreed to the suggested plan of action and left to take my son to an appointment. When leaving my son’s appointment, I received a call from Brown’s at 9:54 am stating that Tina had tested positive. The provided me with information about the illness, the survival rates, and the costs. Then they advised me to attempt to call the R.U.F.F. Rescue to speak with them about covering the medical cost and to find out if they had a preferred vet that might treat her for less. They stated that it was highly probable that Tina had this virus prior to my purchasing her because the incubation period is 3 to 7 days and she began having symptoms on the 2nd day after I had purchased her. I called Pam at 9:56 am, 9:59 am, 10:00 am (at the 303 number, received a call stating that she always receives calls for this organization but is not affiliated with them), and at 10:07 am. I left a voicemail explaining to her of who I was, which pet I had adopted, when I had adopted Tina, and what was going on with her health. In addition to leaving a voicemail, I texted Pam as she advises callers to do on her voicemail; I asked her to please call me regarding Bandaid and that this was urgent. I took my children home and went back to Brown’s Vet. I informed them that Pam had not returned my calls or messages and that I did not have the money to pay for Tina’s care. I asked them what my options were. They said that if I could not afford the care that I could put her to sleep. I attempted to call around and try to gather the funds to pay for her care but was unsuccessful. I signed the papers to have Tina put to sleep and they asked if I wanted to say goodbye and I said yes. When they came back into the room, they gave me another option. This was to sign Tina over to them and they would provide the care for her but she would no longer be mine. Of course I did this because it was my only option to save her. I signed the papers and went to get my oldest daughter so that she could say goodbye. When I got back we said goodbye to Tina and left.
From there I went to Petco to speak with a manager about what happened and the associate informed me that R.U.F.F. Rescue was not allowed to sell from Petco at this time because of issues with the Department of Agriculture. I asked her to please have the manager call me because I hadn’t received any calls or messages back from Pam. I finally heard from Pam at 1:41 pm and I told her what happened and that I had to sign Tina over so that she could begin getting the care that she needed. Pam asked what Vet Tina was at and said that she would call me back. She never did. The Petco store manager, Christina called me at 2:33 pm, I informed her that Pam called me and said that she would call me back and she stated ok and to call her if I needed any further assistance.
The next day, the 18th, I attempted to call Pam twice from my work phone and got no answer so I texted her. The responses are attached. She was not sympathetic and took absolutely no responsibility for selling a sick puppy. All she had to say was that I violated the contract by signing her over. Pam then told me to call “her” meaning Myra, (the associate /volunteer) that worked with her and sold me Tina to discuss this. I did and Myra was rude, talked down to me and insulted me. She stated how does she know that Tina didn’t get the virus in my care, that I should have checked every bowel movement that Tina had for blood and that it is my fault for not noticing and calling them sooner. I reminded Myra that she informed me that diarrhea was likely in the first few days and to give Tina rice. She then continued to be rude and told me that she is a stay a home mom and therefore has time to properly care for her dogs and that she checks her dogs’ stools every time they have a bowel moment. I told her that no one does that and she stated that she does and to each their own. I then told her how wrong it is to sell a sick puppy and that she has caused emotional distress to me and my family by her actions and she told me that she is sorry that I don’t know how to tell my 13 year old no. I said the same 13 year old that you handed legal adoption papers to and told her it was ok to fill out for her mother after you continuously waved the dog in her face to get her attached so that she would attempt to perused me. And then I told her I believe that she knew Tina was sick by the way she was pushing me to purchase Tina. She stated that “I’m sorry if you, a 30 something year old woman, would allow yourself to be persuaded by a 20 something year old woman (meaning her) to purchase a puppy.” I informed her that I did not initial the part of the agreement that says I haven’t been persuaded because she did in fact do that. The only thing she replied with outside of further insults, was the dog is sold as is, not their fault/problem, and to read the contract.
Myra then began to say that I violated the contract between R.U.F.F. Rescue and myself because I signed Tina over to the vet. I responded with that was the only choice that I had after I received no returned calls or messages from Pam. Myra told me in a sarcastic voice, “I’m sorry that Pam didn’t call you back but this is still your problem because you broke the contract.” Then she stated that the dog is now their property again and that they are paying her medical bill because the contract between me and the vet is null and void. I informed her that if that is true, then the dog still belongs to me because I never signed her back over to R.U.F.F. Rescue. She then stated that the dog is not mine because the contract between R.U.F.F. Rescue and me became null and void when I signed her over to the vet because I am supposed to return her to them in the event that I can no longer keep her. I told her that if our contract is null and void than she must refund my money because that is saying that the contract basically no longer exist. She told me no refunds. I told her you cannot have it both ways. Eventually after holding my tongue and trying to not stoop to her level of ignorance, I informed her that I was ending the conversation because it was not going anywhere and they refused to take any responsibility for this. The puppy passed away a week after the vet began treatment.