Puppy Mill: Keisha's Story

Puppy Mills: Keisha's Story

We received the following story from ASPCA supporter Rita Vetsch. Attached was a note that read:

Would you please read my story? It’s about how bad puppy mills really are, and how the public should be more aware of them. My Keisha was bred from parents who had life-threatening allergies. The puppy mill did not give her adequate nutrition, which set her up for health failure for her ten years of life. It would mean the world to me if you could publish her article and help educate people. Even if one person turned away from a puppy mill because of her story, it would be worth it. She lived in misery for ten years just to love me and to educate me on her condition. If dogs could be saints, she'd definitely qualify to be one.

This is for you, Keisha and Rita.

Keisha’s Story by Rita Vetsch

My sister and her husband bought Keisha from a nice couple—or so they thought—from up north in Minnesota. Of course they didn’t want people to see the conditions that they were breeding in, so they offered to meet my sister halfway. Keisha was a beautiful puppy, a mix of American Eskimo and Pomeranian.

My sister’s family had small children, and Keisha’s sharp puppy teeth were hurting the children. They were not ready for a puppy yet, so I offered to take her in a heartbeat. During the first two years of her life, she seemed healthy—but that would all end soon. Keisha started licking her feet, and we didn’t think much of it until it rapidly progressed into biting the feet bloody to the bone, and rubbing her head and ears into the carpet endlessly. We tried over-the-counter remedies like lotions and sprays, but they did not offer any help. The vets we saw diagnosed her with allergies, but no one could have known how severe Keisha’s allergies would become.

We could not leave her outside for more than a few minutes because she was allergic to the grass, weeds, flowers, dead bugs, cotton, dust, mold…you name it, she was allergic to it. She loved to be outside and go for walks, but if we left her out too long, her nose was start to run with white foam, and her head would get hot to the touch. Driven mad by her itching skin, she could gnaw her feet bloody to the bone in less than five minutes. She would rub her head, ears and eyes onto anything that would offer a little relief, including the rocks and cement sidewalk. Even though she was miserable, she tried so hard for us. We loved her so much that we tried everything we could to help her--antihistamines of many different kinds, fatty acids, special foods, baths with prescription shampoo. We even trimmed between her toes to prevent yeast infections. I sewed special pajamas with feet on them for her to wear at night and made leggings for the daytime, but she bit through them all. She could take bandages and wraps off her legs in seconds.

Over her lifetime we took Keisha to many different vets, and ended up at the University of Minnesota. The allergy specialists there gave her numerous tests, and she tested positive to almost everything. We started her on allergy shots with high hopes they would help. But after six months, she actually became allergic to her own shots, and would get sick every time we gave her one.

Our veterinarians explained that it all started at the breeders. At least one of Keisha’s parents most likely had allergies. A reputable breeder would never breed a dog purposely knowing he or she had such a severe condition. Our vets concluded that Keisha did not receive adequate nutrition as a puppy, and was denied her own mother’s milk. She probably was fed a cheap off-brand food, dirty or little water, and lived in unbearable conditions. This set her up for disaster for the rest of her years. Who would have thought that a dog’s insides could actually reject everything she ate, or that the very air she breathed was detrimental to her health? She was basically allergic to her own body. The veterinarians at the University of Minnesota said that this was the worst case they had ever seen.

For the last three years of her life, Keisha had to wear an Elizabethan collar, and it hardly ever came off. You might think this sounds mean, but it was the only choice we had—because with that hood on, she actually seemed a bit more at ease and knew she couldn’t get at her feet so easily. But she’d still run from run to room as if she were running from the constant itching, as if she could out run it...but she never could. People would point, laugh and ridicule her when she was out in the yard. Even other dogs seemed to treat her differently, and she knew it. We just kept thinking that there must be something that we hadn’t tried so kept searching. They put her on two different types of steroids in addition to her other medications, but that only reduced her to a glossy eyed little girl who was still miserable and no longer her true self.

We just kept thinking, “Who puts their dogs down because of allergies?” I couldn’t bring myself to do it, until one day she just gave me that look and I knew that I had to help her the best way I knew how. I cried as my husband and I took her to the clinic. It didn’t take long, and she went limp and fell to sleep. I managed to muster up enough courage to say my goodbyes and give her a final kiss on her little head.

When I got home, I felt terrible and had so many regrets. I just wanted her back so badly and couldn’t stop crying. I didn’t know what to do. My husband and I did not take her body home, but we put together a little memorial in her treat jar. We put the “The Rainbow Bridge” poem in the jar along with her favorite ball, bone and a picture of her with our family. We read the poem out loud and buried the jar beneath a beautiful flowering crab tree in our yard. We then put a statue of an angel holding a puppy beneath the tree. I cannot tell you how much that helped us to grieve and to heal. Every time I look at that statue I get a sense of peace knowing that Keisha is in heaven with God, and she is finally comfortable in her brand new fur suit.