Member- megz06
- 4 years ago
- Wedding: July 2012
Are you guys sick of my pet questions yet?? Hehe. If you don’t know about my situation you can read it at http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/pet-epilepsy and http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/pet-epilepsy-update
As most of you that follow the pet boards know I’m the mommy of a puppy that seizures. He is a 3 month old St. Bernard. We drove all the way to WI to get him.
I won’t go into the story since you can read it above, but we’ve been in contact with the breeder regarding Napoleon’s situation. I haven’t talked to her in about two weeks now, and she e-mailed me today to ask how he is and said that while she has been busy, she is thinking about him and his situation.
When I first told her about his episodes, she said she would understand if I wanted to return him. I told her we couldn’t because we had already fallen in love with him, but I wanted her to know so she could assess whether it is safe for her to breed anymore. We prepared to do everything we could to make him better, and we have done that. He’s on phenobarbital to curb the seizures.
His blood tests were great, and typically when that happens they just assume that the pet is epileptic. The only true way to find out for sure is to get a scan of his brain done (cost is typically around $1500), and the nearest place for us to do that is the University of Minnesota.
My DH has said that we should ask the breeder for some compensation because:
1. We spent over $800 for a “sick” pup (the breeder did know that he had episodes, but when she took him to her vets they claimed it was a result from his coccidia, which could very well have been).
2. We have spent over $200 in vet bills and medications alone already to get this under control (blood tests, vet visits, and the phenobarbital), and he will need to be on meds the rest of his life (which the vet assessed would be 2 years although it could be more).
3. Rather than passing this “burden” on to her to take care of, we have been doing it ourselves (although I told DH, as morbid as it sounds, it wouldn’t be a burden for her ebcause it would take only a few bucks to put him down rather than the money we have been spending keeping him alive). But we have chosen to keep the dog. That is our prerogative.
While I agree a GOOD breeder would want to keep her good name and offer compensation (I know I would in this situation), I am not sure if we’re really entitled to any or have any right to ask. This may or may not have been her fault. There are so many reasons dogs can seizure like brain lesion, genetics, the way mama carried it at birth or the way mama birth it.
DH thinks we should ask anyway. So how do I even go about asking that? Do I have a right to? Regardless on if I do or not, I am still sending her a list of totals we have spent as well as the video I took of him seizuring so she knows that we aren’t bullshitting her, and that this is real, and she could have future litters bred this way.
Thanks, Bees!
