04/04/2024
This week, a lovely finder brought a young Dachshund puppy to us for safe keeping overnight, after finding him roaming earlier that day.
The finder had taken the puppy to be scanned at ARH Minchinbury that morning, where the vet advised that the puppy was bloated. Upon arrival at FAFSS, I noted that the puppy had diarrhoea, dried faeces on his tummy and in between his nails.
It was likely the puppy just had intestinal worms, but I also recognised that these are early signs of canine parvovirus and I took the appropriate precautions for the night: I wore gloves, kept him quarantined, used F10 and changed my clothes after handling the little one.
Considering the puppy was not microchipped, not registered, nor was he wearing an ID collar, we delivered the puppy to BARC the next morning, in keeping with NSW law.
By doing this, a local scanner said our ‘behaviour was disgusting’.
The potential owners didn’t post that he was missing until 2am that morning (15 hours after he was found alone). Once I saw their post, I commented that the puppy was now at BARC, provided the phone number to call, told them of the puppy’s bloating and diarrhoea and, as a vet nurse, advised them that he should be wormed and monitored for possible parvo.
Now, despite not actually being involved with this finder or puppy, a local scanner inserted herself and stated to her group members that:
- Our ‘behaviour was disgusting’
- We shouldn’t have taken the puppy to BARC
- ‘We should have relayed our concerns directly to the owner’, which we did, and,
- Despite not being a veterinarian, vet nurse or having any real medical expertise, stated outright that ‘there was NO risk of parvo’, while also admitting that the owner ‘just got him as a gift from another family member’.
To this scanner, let me clear a few things up for you:
- Firstly, canine parvovirus has an incubation period of 3-7 days, which you should already understand. What a potential owner tells you should never be taken as fact, which you should already realise. If the ‘owner’ only just received the puppy ‘from a family member’, you do not know its history. If you have not personally had your eyes on the dog for the past 3-7 days, you DO NOT know its history. So to state outright that there is absolutely no risk of parvo, despite potential early warning signs, shows your inexperience. As someone who transports dogs, you should be well aware of the early signs of parvo and take the appropriate precautions, however unlikely a positive diagnosis may be.
- Secondly, as a ‘rescuer’, if you are returning unmicrochipped, unregistered and undesexed animals to owners, you are complacent in the problem you claim to be fighting. You are doing the animals a disservice, allowing them to fall through the cracks, into the hands of backyard breeders, at risk of theft, exploitation and death if they get into an accident and have no registered owner to contact.
Our policy at FAFSS is to NEVER return unmicrochipped animals directly to the ‘owner’. If we find out who they are, we inform them of where they can collect their pet, and the animal leaves the shelter microchipped and registered.
- Finally, we would NEVER give an unmicrochipped, undesexed, purebred Dachshund puppy back to the person who just acquired the puppy ‘from a family member’. You should know by now that people can steal puppies and also be able to provide ‘photo evidence’ that would suggest they are the rightful owner.
In cases such as these, we have no interest in “speaking to the ‘owner’ directly”, only to be fed a story that is potentially untrue. If an animal is not LEGALLY in a person’s name and microchipped, that animal MUST go to the shelter for the safety of that animal.
Get your act together.
We hope this post will highlight the dangers of returning unmicrochipped, backyard bred animals to the people who have neglected their responsibilities as a pet owner in NSW, and we hope the ‘scanner’ in question learns a thing or two and applies these safeguards to her lost and found ‘business’.
ABN 96 780 565 855
