Hi to all who reads this,
I would like to tell you my family's story of our dealings with Pomsource.com but first I would like to thank Sarah for being such a kind and thoughtful person who cares about people and pets, thanks Sarah. I am going to try to make this short as possible because there is just so much to say.
My two youngest daughters needed to both have heart surgery and this was a very difficult time for us as I'm sure you can imagine. So both girls thought this would be a good time to ask for the puppy they've always wanted. How could my husband and I say no? We felt this would help them get through this ordeal a lot better with a puppy to love and care for and we all know how a puppy can give love as well. So we found pomsource.com and we felt that it would be a safe place to deal with because they represent themselves as good Christians and that said to us they would be nice honest people to deal with. Not that you have to be Christian to be nice or honest it just made us feel more comfortable.
I only dealt with Carol Miller I never spoke or saw her husband. I called Pomsource after looking online and the girls picking out a puppy. I spoke to Carol and asked if the puppy was still available and she said yes he was and that all I had to do to get him was to send her a 200.00 money order and when I met her to pick him up I would pay 200.00 cash. I explained to Carol the circumstances regarding our daughters heart surgeries, and Carol was sympathetic and stated that she would pray for them.
We kept in constant contact with Carol until the puppy was ready. Our puppy Rocco was 5 weeks old and while we were suppose to get him when he was a bit older, Carol wrote us an email and explained that the puppies were already eating on their own and that one of Rocco's sisters had already left the property, meaning that Rocco was ready to come home with us! Carol stated that she took all the puppies to the vet and our puppy Rocco was found to have a small umbilical hernia and that it would not affect his health.
The vet said his knees, hips, and heart were all in excellent condition. The vet stated that they couldn’t find anything else wrong. As soon as my girls saw that Carol let a lady get one of our puppy's sisters go home early, they wanted to bring home Rocco early as well! I then asked Carol if instead of getting our puppy on the 14th or 15th, if we could get him on the 9th since my daughters would be home for Easter break and get to enjoy extra time with the new puppy! Carol agreed and we decided to meet Carol and the puppy halfway driving distance to pick up our new baby.
I live in Missouri and Pomsource and Carol Miller are located in Illinois. We met Carol, gave her the 200.00 outstanding balance on our puppy, whom we named Rocco. We got Rocco home and we all loved him and me and the girls took him to the vet the next day. My vet was shocked and stated that Rocco had a heart murmur and as a result of this murmur his lungs were filled with fluid.
See picture below, he was panting heavily due to his inability to properly breathe:
This news devastated my family and my girls, since they too were suffering from heart conditions. I immediately called Carol and told her the vet had stated and how sick Rocco was. Carol said she was sorry and that she could not help me because she was no longer going to breed dogs!!!
I asked Carol why she couldn't replace him with the female of the litter that was the same color and stature as Rocco, and she stated that because the other remaining puppy was a female he would have to be replaced with a puppy of equal or lesser value. Rocco cost $400.00 and the comparable female was $500.00. After Carol refused to amicably "replace" our Rocco, we decided to go ahead and try and treat all of his medical problems. Rocco needed immediate surgery, and our daughters had found a bond with Rocco in they all had heart problems. Our daughters were terrified, and felt that Rocco's dying would mean that they too would die from their problems. Rocco was operated on at 6 weeks, one week after we received him. How awful is that?
Our family then decided to contact the Attorney General's office and filed a report on Pomsource. We only asked to be reimbursed the initial purchase price of Rocco, being $400.00, we did not request compensation for the $5000.00 surgical and medication costs. Pomsource replied and called my family liars and told the Attorney General's office that they would replace our puppy with another puppy. I told the Attorney General's office that Carol Miller says one thing, but does another. Carol Miller is the liar and is an extremely uncaring person. Carol then told them she would replace him, but that I would have to return Rocco to her. Let me tell you.... There is NO WAY I would have given Rocco back at this time. Not only because my family had spent a considerable amount of money fixing his medical problems, but more importantly because my family loved Rocco as you would a child. At this point, I felt that sending Rocco back to Carol Miller of Pomsource would be a death sentence for Rocco, as I'm sure she would not forked over all the money to keep up with his medical problems.
Our Rocco had a VI/VI continuous heart murmur which was a PDA. This PDA and the resulting murmur had caused Rocco's heart and arteries to become enlarged, and his lungs to become congested with fluids. Rocco also had a congenital keratoconjunctivitis sicca which is an eye condition. This eye condition is a life long disease that will always need to be treated because it caused Rocco to develop corneal ulcers. Rocco could not make his own tears and required medicine in both of his eyes 4 or more times a day. In addition, Rocco had to take diuretics daily.
Rocco was 1 pound 9 ounces when he had his operation and 1 pound when he came home. Due to his lungs being filled with fluid and the stress of the surgery, he developed anorexia. When we brought Rocco home I hand fed him and he did well. See his after surgery picture below:
I'm extremely sad to say that despite all of my family's efforts, and the veterinarians efforts Rocco died.
Rocco died because of his heart and lung conditions, which were congenital problems he had since birth.
Rocco will be deeply missed. Rocco was special he lived a rough 12 months but his courage and strength got my girls through their surgeries and brought my family endless joy. We loved him more than you could possibly know.
This ordeal brought so much heart ache to my family, and it’s terrible to know that Sarah went through this as well.
People please beware of the puppies from Pomsource. Both mine and Sarah's puppies were pronounced in "excellent health" from Pomsource, and ended up having congenital heart defects!
I am happy for the people who had better experiences with Pomsource, but I am sure there may be more puppies that have had similar problems. My family always feared this would happen to someone else, and eventually I stumbled across Sarah's blog and discovered it had happened again.
Thanks,
Tanya
St.louis, Missouri
