The Tragedy of Puppy Mills
 

Approximately 500,000 puppies per year are bred in puppy mills, facilities known for their filthy, overcrowded conditions and the unhealthy animals they produce. Each of the 4,000-5,000 puppy mills in the U.S., most of which are located in the Midwest, houses between 75 to 150 breeding animals. Only half of the dogs bred at puppy mills make it to the pet store; the other half die from the mill's squalid conditions, hypothermia, starvation, or other horrors of transport. Cat breeding occurs on a smaller scale but under similar conditions. Most of the dogs sold in pet stores come from puppy mills.

Mill Life
Puppy mill kennels generally consist of small, outdoor wood and wire cages or crates. The animals are cramped into filthy cages. Their eyes are filled with puss and their fur with excrement. Many of the puppies suffer from malnutrition and exposure; they usually remain outside year round, enduring both freezing temperatures in the winter and intense heat in the summer. Like pet store owners, breeders save money, and thus maximize profits, by spending little on food, shelter, and veterinary care. Puppies consequently receive below standard food, minimal if any veterinary care, and inadequate shelter which, combined with the inbreeding prevalent in puppy mills, produce animals with genetic diseases and abnormalities. Puppies' legs often fall through the bottom of their wire cages, causing additional injuries. Because they are mistreated (instead of socialized by humans) during an important developmental period, they may be excessively timid or ferocious and thus unsuitable as house pets.
"Brood Bitches"
Dogs that are kept in puppy mills their entire lives are called "brood bitches." They are typically undernourished and receive little veterinary care, in spite of being kept perpetually pregnant. Their puppies are frequently taken from them before being weaned; as a result, some puppies do not know how to eat and die of starvation. At approximately six or seven years of age, when they can no longer breed more puppies, "brood bitches" are killed. 

 Transportation and Sale
At four to eight weeks of age, puppies are taken from their mothers and sold to brokers (or retail businesses). The brokers then pack them in crates and transport them for sale at various pet shops. Frequently, the puppies are not provided with adequate food, water, ventilation, or shelter during transport; consequently, many die en route. Those that are not sold will be killed, brought back to the mill to breed, or sold to laboratories for research.


 Diseases Common to Puppy Mill Dogs

  • Deafness 

  • Epilepsy 

  • Cataracts 

  • Eye lesions 

  • Retinal degeneration 

  • Glaucoma 

  • Hip dysplasia 

  • Retardation 

  • Personality disorders such as excessive aggression 

  • Dislocated kneecaps 

  • Periodontal disease 

  • Mammary tumors 

The Problem with Pet Stores

  • Most of the puppies sold in pet stores come from puppy mills. Purchasing pet store animals entails not only supporting the cruel puppy mill industry but also taking a home away from one of the 17 to 20 million unwanted animals who are killed each year. 

  • Because of the inbreeding and filthy conditions common to puppy mills, they often produce animals with serious health problems, which typically result in hefty vet fees for adopters. 

  • Pet stores generally do not socialize their animals; the puppies may consequently develop behavioral problems which make them far from ideal pets. 

  • Most pet shops do not check the references or histories of their customers. They therefore send animals home with potentially abusive and irresponsible "owners" without taking even the slightest precautions. 

  • Pet shops dispose of unsold animals in, at times, unscrupulous ways. For instance, former pet store employees have reported finding animals starved or frozen to death. 

  • Cockroach and rodent infestation may spread disease to animals in pet shops. 

  • The overcrowding common in pet stores sometimes causes animals such as birds to beat up on one another. 

Ailments Common to Pet Store Puppies

  • Parvovirus 

  • Distemper 

  • Upper respiratory disease 

  • Diarrhea 

  • Ear infections 

  • Eye infections 

  • Worms 

  • Mange 

  • Coccidia 

  • Giardia 

The American Kennel Club
Although the AKC claims to be devoted to advancing the health of purebred dogs, it typically spends only about 2% of its total yearly income on research towards that end. Moreover, AKC papers do not guarantee the value or health of a puppy. The organization does not try to work with breeders to improve mill conditions, perhaps because breeders pay the AKC millions of dollars in registration fees for purebred dogs each year.

The Law
Anti-cruelty laws are rarely enforced in the rural areas where most puppy mills are located. The United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for inspecting puppy mills to ensure that they are complying with the Animal Welfare Act, but kennels are inconsistently inspected. When violations are found, puppy mill operators are allowed to remain open while they remedy them. Repeat offenders often refuse to allow Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service workers to enter and inspect their facilities; those kennels sometimes remain licensed in spite of this noncompliance.


You Can Help

  • Adopt from an animal shelter or rescue group; never buy from a pet store. Remember that 25% of shelter animals are purebreds. 

  • Do not shop at stores that sell animals. 

  • Volunteer at your local animal shelter or rescue group. 

  • Ask your elected officials to outlaw puppy mills. Urge them to demand that the USDA enforce the Animal Welfare Act. For your senators' and representatives' contact information, visit www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml 

  • Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers about the horrors of the puppy mill industry and its connection with pet stores. 

  • Distribute brochures about puppy mills and pet overpopulation outside of pet shops 

  • Ask shopping mall managers not to renew the lease of the pet store on their property. 

  • Report pet store abuses to whomever is responsible for enforcing anti-cruelty laws in your town. Write a detailed statement of the abuses and take photographs, if possible. 

  • Educate others about the cruelties of puppy mills and the importance of adopting from shelters 

  • You can Contact the Humane Society of the United States athttp://www.hsus.org/ace/13544

 

Pet Shop Puppy

I'm a little puppy, so cuddly, sweet and small

  I live inside a cage, you see at a Pet Store in the mall.

    I'm not an only puppy, my sisters are all here.

    My brothers, too, except for Ralph who died coz he was scared.

         It's lonely here at nighttime when all the lights go dark,

           We tremble in our cages and we whimper and we bark.

               But no one comes to hold us or pet our fears away.

             We sit all night in terror til the store opens next day.

              We don't remember mama, left so far behind.

                    she did the best she could for us til Man said "It is time."

       He crammed us all in cages too small for us you see.

                 We rode for hours; we could not help but lay in poop and pee.

                   And now we sit in a Pet Store where kids come taunt and squeeze.

                     They do not hear our whimpers or understand our pleas.

                     We're miserable and it's scary here we all would rather die.

                    But since we don't we do our best to run away and hide.

                   I know you think my story too sad to leave me be.

            You want to take me home with you, a happy little puppy.

            But please, though it is fearful to live here against our will.

                  If you take me that leaves a spot another pup will fill.

                 You can stop our suffering but not by taking us home.

                   You must be strong and leave us here, unsold and all alone.

              For if you do not take me, then another pup won't come.

                   And maybe he will not be shipped so far away from home.

                    Tho some of us may not survive the cycle 'ere it falls.

                          If we don't sell they will not need more puppies in these halls.

                And if they need no puppies then the Man will not bring more.

                     Eventually it can all stop! You CAN close the door.

                          So when you see a puppy face so sad and sweet and small.

                           In a cage at a Pet Store at your neighborhood shopping mall.

                     The best thing you can do for him is leave him sitting there.

         That is the best way you can tell all dogs how much you care.

 

                                            Poem from critterhaven.org, Author unknown