Heartbroken family hits out at puppy farmers after ‘Jack Russell’ dies in days

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A family is devastated after being sold a sickly puppy by cold-hearted traders that died after "five days of hell".

William and Maureen Mackenzie bought little Sandy to celebrate Maureen's 50th birthday, but were left heartbroken when he died of parovirus just days later.

The couple had bought the Jack Russell on Gumtree and forked over thousands of pounds to the seller, who insisted on dropping him at their Glasgow home.

"He said he wanted to see the house and check out the environment the puppy would be living in," William told the Daily Record.

"At first we thought he would come out and have a look and not bring the pup but he came with the puppies.

"I sort of twigged straight away… one of the pups looked really sick and had a limp.

"One of them ran straight to my wee 10-year-old and started licking her and it was all over her. The full time he was saying 'I see how well she's taken to the dog'.

"It felt right at the moment. Something in me did say this is not right but with the wee one so taken with the dog I just went with it.

"The first night he was okay – he had diarrhoea with some bleeding but I phoned the vet straight away and they said it could be from the travelling or change of environment.

"Then on the Tuesday night he was really sick and there was a lot of vomit. We took him to the emergency vets and he never came back."

William, Maureen, daughter Milly, 10, and two sons Lewis, 20 and Josh, 22, have all been left distraught at Sandy's death.

As well as initially paying £1,200 for the pup – named after William's late father – the family forked out an additional £3,600 on vet fees.

William described the seller as Irish and kitted out in designer gear.

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The SPCA has been inundated with complaints of people being duped by callous puppy farmers and are urging buyers to remain vigilant.

The Mackenzie family are now desperate to make sure no one else goes through the same ordeal.

William added: "It's been absolutely heartbreaking, as a father as well as a husband watching my wife, kids and the pup go through that.

"Everything seemed to fall into place but little did we know what we going to go through for six days.

"I hope we can help other people not go through the anguish we have."

A spokesperson for the Scottish SPCA said: "Every day we are inundated with stories where puppies have become sick or pass away due to being involved in the low-welfare puppy trade. Bad breeders are putting money first. Animal welfare is not even on their radar.

"We are investigating all cases reported to us, alongside the other leading agencies, and we are doing what we can to disrupt the multi-million pound low-welfare industry.

"Please do not accept any excuses for someone to drop a puppy off to you. These people are master manipulators and no matter how legitimate it seems, you must insist on seeing the puppy with mum.

"Be very careful about buying a puppy online as this is where bad breeders are thriving just now. Make sure you do your research and visit www.saynotopuppydealers.co.uk to find the signs of a bad breeder.

"If in doubt, walk away and call us on 03000 999 999. Calls can be treated confidentially."

• Family
• Dogs

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