A heartbroken Scots dad has told how his family’s beloved new Border Collie puppy began pooping blood and worms before losing her fight for life.
Little Keiko was advertised for sale on Gumtree in Glasgow for £1300 and was picked up by her owners last Thursday.
The father, who doesn’t wish to be named, immediately noticed that the pup seemed abnormally quiet but was comforted when she began playing with his two young sons.
After taking the youngster out to the garden for a toilet session, the 35-year-old was horrified to discover a fully grown roundworm in the pup’s poo.
After contacting the seller, who claimed to have treated the entire litter for worms just two days before, the dad decided to keep a closer eye on Keiko who remained ‘lively’.
But during the night, she began having bouts of diarrhoea which he noticed contained tinges of blood before rushing her to the vet.
Despite initially perking up, Keiko rapidly deteriorated and her owners were by her side when the decision was made to put her to sleep on Sunday.
A Scottish SPCA investigation is underway after two other pups, who are believed to be from the same litter, have also since died.
We earlier told how Malgorzata Bujko, from Kilwinning, purchased a Border Collie pup from a seller with the same name in Glasgow.
But just hours after being welcomed into the family, little Karma began peeing blood and passed away a short time later on March 4.
A third pup, named Bear, died last week in his owner Richard Gray’s arms after also being purchased from the breeder, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Keiko’s owner said: “I thought I knew what puppy farming was but I was wrong. This wasn’t something we rushed into. We’d been planning on getting a dog for almost two years.
“We only went down the puppy route after initially looking at rescue dogs because most of them can’t be re-homed with young children and my boys are six and nine.
“We went and saw one litter that was advertised on Gumtree but we got a bad feeling about the way the woman handled the puppies.
“There were also three litters at the same time and the mum dog’s nipples seemed to hang very low although she seemed happy enough. We decided to walk away from that one because something just didn’t seem right. "
After continuing their search online, the family came across a second advert for blue-eyed Border Collie pups and swiftly made contact with the seller who claimed to be a student.
She said she was dealing with the puppies on behalf of her gran who was shielding due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She sent a number of photographs and videos to Keiko’s family who immediately spotted her amongst the litter and decided she was the dog for them.
The dad explained: “The pups were on a bed and they seemed lively and well looked after. I asked for pictures of the mum and dad which she sent.
“It all looked legit and the woman immediately offered to video call us. She was really young - I’d say between 18 and 21 maybe.
“She was very bubbly, friendly and seemed to really care about the pups.
“She fed us this whole story that the puppies mum and dad belonged to her nan who was having to shield because she was high risk to covid.
“She asked us about our house, the size of our garden and everything seemed above board.
“We decided right there and then that we wanted this wee one which had the bluest eyes we’ve ever seen.
“We asked to give a deposit but she said there was no need as she trusted us. She said she was available the next day so I offered to do a bank transfer.
“But she said that because she was a student, she couldn’t have large sums of money going into account because it could affect her bursary.
“We told her that we could get the money and we’d come collect the pup.
“She then phoned and said that maybe she could come drop the puppy off with us because her mum was a bit worried about people coming to the house because of the Covid restrictions.
“We said it would be fine and we’d just meet her outside the house from a distance.
“We went and collected the pup, handed over the money and she gave us a wee teddy that has the brother and sister’s scent on it.
“As we were driving home, the pup never made a sound. We expected her to be a bit upset being in the car for the first time.
“But she was still lively, her tail was wagging and she was quite happy to be cuddled in. When we got her home, the kids just fell in love with her instantly. She seemed really happy.”
He continued: “She had two or three diarrhoea bouts through the night but she was still drinking. We couldn’t get her to eat and by the time morning came, she stopped drinking too.
“I immediately took her down to the vet who took her in and said her stomach was completely empty, she hadn’t eaten in a while and she was completely dehydrated.
“They said they’d need to keep her in and she was given a drip. They were planning on doing that overnight and if she still wasn’t eating, they’d introduce a feeding tube.
“The vet called us later on and told us that they had contacted the vets that were named on her paperwork and they were in Ireland.
“They were completely stumped at how that puppy had managed to get from Ireland into Scotland with all the current restrictions.
“At that point, we kind of realised that something was wrong and we tried to contact the seller.
“I tried not to let on what was happening and tried to find out what worming tablets she had apparently used. But then the communication completely stopped.”
After initially being told that Keiko had a fighting chance and was starting to move around again, the family were summoned by the vet on Sunday afternoon.
The pup was beginning to suffer and the decision was made to put her to sleep.
Her owner added: “We went down and we were with her when she did go. We were shocked when we saw her because she didn’t even look like the same pup we had picked up.
“We’re all just devastated.”
A Scottish SPCA special investigations unit inspector, who cannot be named due to undercover work, said: “We can confirm that we have received a report about this incident."
A spokesperson for Gumtree said: “We take the welfare of animals extremely seriously and we were sorry to hear about this case.
“We are committed to educating our users on how to buy pets safely and responsibly, and encourage anyone considering purchasing a pet to always check medical records and to go to see the animal in person. If the conditions the animals are being kept in are suspicious, we urge our users to report the seller to the RSPCA and Gumtree immediately. Once an issue is reported to us, our dedicated trust and safety team will investigate and take necessary action, whether this means removing adverts, blocking offending users or assisting law enforcement with their investigations.
“We work with Pets Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) – the UK’s trade body covering online animal sales made up of 25 welfare organisations including Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs & Cats, RSPCA and DEFRA among others – to comply with all of their 18 standards. These industry-endorsed standards improve animal welfare in an ecommerce environment.
“We encourage anyone thinking of welcoming an animal into their family to familiarise themselves with our advice on safely rehoming pets: https://www.gumtree.com/content/pet-education/.”
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