Canis Maximus Selling Sick Dogs Broad Run Virginia

On 5/18, I purchased a 12wk old doberman puppy from Canis Maximus.  Looking back all the signs of a "back yard breeder" were there. Irina would not allow my family and I to come to her kennel to see the pups, claiming she was too tired and could only meet us in a PetSmart parking lot.  Driven by the excitement of a potential new family member, we complied.  Upon inspection of the pups, they all had extremly large golf ball sized lumps on their necks and Irina claimed that was normal due to the recent vaccinations they recieved (later to be disproven by my vet).  As the pups played with my kids, one in particular, remained sitting at my wife's feet.  We interpreted this endearing behavior as that of a loyal, potentially mature pup and so chose him. Little did we know his behavior was symptomatic of a larger issue.  The pup's tail had sutures from a recent docking that were torn and so we agreed to have her vet re-suture and complete the sale on Thursday, 5/18.  On that day, Irina gave me a series of drugs accompanying the pup, that I was told were related to the healing and pain of the sutures.  

The pup was excited and romping around in his new home the first 2 days, however Sat morning (5/20) brought with it a terrifying sight.  As I attempted to bring the pup out for his morning duty, he could barely get up.  His back legs failed him as he looked back at them with confusion.  I carried him out and once standing he could walk, however his legs continually gave out and he conceeded to laying down to urinate.  I rushed him to the vet (#1 Rated Stephen City Animal Medical Center in Virginia) and upon review of his medications my vet was very concerned a pup so young was on a steriod (and asked if I was made aware of any pre-existing conditions), which I was not.  I later called Irinia's vet and was told the steriod was to expediate the tail healing.  However, my vet explained steriods would actually delay healing of an open wound.  Furthermore, my vet explained cosmetically, the nodules of scare tissue lining his cropped ears was b/c the sutures were left in way too long and they would not be going away (further discrediting her so-called vet). More importantly, he explained the pup had fluid on it back hock joints and they were both very inflamed, thus causing the lameness.  The vet ran a culture among other tests on my puppy and I was notified he had Ehrlichia (EC-EE) a blood-borne tick disease.  While ticks are admittedly very common, my vet said it was very rare for a puppy so young to have this.  More importantly, the long term impact of the dogs developmental health (growth platelets, joints, etc) was at risk. B/c of Irina's neglect the puppy was already in the the 3rd stage of the disease.  My vet confirmed there was no possible way the pup could have contracted the disease and exhibited symptoms of it in the short 3 day period before he was seen.

Disease Overview:

Dogs get ehrlichiosis from the brown dog tick, which passes an ehrlichia organism into the bloodstream when it bites. It is also possible for dogs to become infected through a blood transfusion from an infected dog.^[1] There are three stages of ehrlichiosis, each varying in severity. The acute stage, occurring several weeks after infection and lasting for up to a month, can lead to fever and lowered peripheral blood cell counts due to bone marrow suppression. The second stage, called the subclinical phase, has no outward signs and can last for the remainder of the dog's life, during which the dog remains infected with the organism. Some dogs are able to successfully eliminate the disease during this time. In some dogs the third and most serious stage of infection, the chronic phase, will commence. Very low blood cell counts (pancytopenia), bleeding, bacterial infection, lameness, neurological and ophthalmic disorders, and kidney disease, can result. Chronic ehrlichiosis can be fatal.