Puppy diagnosed with distemper from a breeder with missing records
Bringing home a puppy that quickly falls severely ill with diseases like canine distemper leaves owners shattered, grieving, and searching for answers about what actions they can take against an unethical breeder. Dealing with sudden vet emergencies, missing vaccination records, and the devastating loss of a pet makes it hard to cope day to day while managing anger over how the breeder handled the situation.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1taking the puppy to the vet immediately for examination and treatmentDid this help you?
- 2demanding missing vaccination records and registration certificates from the breederDid this help you?
- 3seeking legal advice or considering small claims court action against the sellerDid this help you?
- 4posting warnings online and in local city subreddits about the breederDid this help you?
- 5letting yourself cry and not trying to hold it togetherDid this help you?
- 6giving yourself permission to ugly cry in the shower then being present with the dogDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“About 15 days after bringing Cosmo home, she suddenly became very inactive. We took her to the vet immediately. On the first day, they suspected a mild fever. The next day, she started having head twitches and muscle spasms, so we rushed her back to the vet. That's when she was diagnosed with canine distemper.”source ↗
“Two days ago, we lost her.”source ↗
“We are absolutely shattered. We loved her so much in the short time she was with us. At the same time, we are extremely angry about how the breeder handled everything, especially the repeated excuses and the missing vaccination records.”source ↗
“Has anyone dealt with something similar? Is there any action we can take against the breeder?”source ↗
“Just found out today that my sweet baby, my soul doggy, Zara very likely Is very, very ill. I don’t know much yet, as she’s being evaluated.”source ↗
“How do I manage this without bawling my face off all day? Anybody got anything thats worked for them?”source ↗
“When my dog was going through a rough patch I basically just let myself be a mess for a bit. Trying to hold it together makes it worse somehow, at least for me.”source ↗