Store sold puppies with diseases, parasites, NY lawsuit says. Some died ‘within days’
A pet store sold puppies with “serious illnesses” — including diseases and parasites — and some “died within days” of sale, according to a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
This cost “heartbroken customers thousands of dollars to treat,” the lawsuit said.
Shake A Paw is accused of knowingly selling the puppies with “serious physical injuries or contagious infectious diseases” despite telling customers they were healthy in the lawsuit filed by James.
Shake A Paw allegedly acquired “sick puppies that came from dangerous puppy mills,” James said in a Dec. 16 statement about the store’s two Long Island locations.
The store is also accused of refusing “to reimburse consumers for veterinarian bills,” a news release said, noting that 408 veterinary records of puppies sold and several consumer complaints were analyzed in the investigation.
Shake A Paw denied the attorney general’s accusations in a statement provided to McClatchy News from its lawyer, Richard Hamburger.
“Shake A Paw has never knowingly sold a sick puppy, or knowingly misrepresented the pedigree, or breeder from whom the puppy was acquired,” the statement said.
“As required by law and in accordance with the owner’s wishes, on the rare occasion when a sold puppy has taken ill, Shake A Paw has reimbursed veterinary bills up to the sales price, given a full refund, or exchanged the puppy for another,” it added. “Shake A Paw does not purchase puppies from ‘puppy mills,’ and Shake A Paw takes great pride and spares no expense when it comes to the care of its puppies.”
Of the hundreds of veterinary records analyzed by James’ office, 54% of puppies were infected with parasites, 52% “presented coughing, sneezing, an upper respiratory infection, and/or breathing problems” and nearly 10% had pneumonia, the release said.
Parasites mentioned in the lawsuit include giardia, coccidia and mange.
Shake A paw is also accused of selling puppies “suffering from canine parvovirus infection,” described as “a highly contagious deadly disease that is easily preventable by an appropriate vaccine regime,” the lawsuit says.
Other animals had life-threatening heart defects and eye defects among many illnesses described, according to the lawsuit.
“In several cases, the sick puppies died shortly after purchase,” it stated.
One customer’s puppy is said to have died six days after purchase following a Shake A Paw employee’s assurance that the animal was “fine,” the lawsuit detailed.
Some “dogs had visible signs of illness, such as coughing, sneezing and nasal discharge, which the Shake-A-Paw employees downplayed to the customers, claiming that these symptoms were inconsequential,” according to prosecutors.
“The illnesses and congenital defects in these animals were found to be consistent with puppies that are purchased from puppy mills,” the release said, adding that the attorney general’s investigation “found thousands of puppies from known puppy mills that were shipped to both Shake A Paw locations on Long Island.”
The store is accused of sidestepping customers’ “concerns about buying dogs bred” in such mills, according to the lawsuit.
Alongside newly purchased sick puppies, customers were “left with hefty veterinarian bills shortly thereafter,” according to James’ office’s release.
“Shake A Paw would often give consumers the run around when they called to ask for reimbursement, were hung up on, and/or told that they were not entitled to their money back,” it added.
The lawsuit seeks restitution for customers described as the shop’s “victims,” civil penalties and a ban “preventing Shake A Paw from selling, importing, exporting, bartering, exchanging, or gifting any animals in the future,” according to the release.
After the lawsuit was filed, James has now secured a court order that bans the two Long Island stores “from purchasing or adopting any new animals for resale in New York,” according to a Dec. 21 news release.
Additionally, a veterinarian appointed by James will examine all puppies that Shake A Paw currently has before their sale, and the shop’s bank accounts are frozen “to potentially pay restitution to impacted families,” the release said.
“Shake A Paw’s actions of deceiving consumers into purchasing sick or injured dogs is unconscionable and illegal,” James said.
This story was originally published December 20, 2021 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Store sold puppies with diseases, parasites, NY lawsuit says. Some died ‘within days’."
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