- Report: #540841
Complaint Review: Tropico Kennels Southern Cal Kennels - Palmdale California
Reported By:
Christine -
Sacramento, California, U.S.A.
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
Tropico Kennels Southern Cal Kennels
Palmdale, California, United States of America
Phone:
(661) 947-7728
Web:
www.tropicokennels.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
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Tropico Kennels Southern Cal Kennels - golden retriever with hip dysplasia and allergies - Palmdale, California
After coming across these other ripoff reports for Tropico Kennels, I feel obligated to tell our story. We purchased a white Golden Retriever from Lisa at Tropico in November 2003. We named her Kiki, and she is beautiful, sweet, calm - everything you'd expect from a Golden.
However, when Kiki was 6 months old, she started walking funny and had trouble getting up. Our local vet, as well as a specialist at the UCDavis School of Veterinary Medicine, diagnosed her as having hip dysplasia in both hips AND elbow dysplasia in her front legs. Because she was already clinical, we opted not to have the TPO surgery at that time and went with a more conservative management of her conditions, using NSAIDS and other supplements. At this time, she is 6 years old and, athough she manages to get around okay, she does have trouble getting up and limps on her front right leg most of the time. We may look into surgery later if it continues to worsen.
After the diagnosis, we were obviously devastated. We contacted Lisa at Tropico who offered to replace our 6 month old puppy with a new one, only if we send Kiki down to Southern CA so Lisa's vet could diagnose her. By this time, we were completely attached to Kiki, and there was NO WAY I was going to send her back to Lisa and get a different puppy. The idea seemed absurd to me. At any rate, we didn't get a refund and there was no further contact with Lisa.
In addition to her hip and elbow dysplasia, Kiki has terrible allergies. She started gnawing on her feet/forearms and getting constant ear infections a few years ago. So we took her to a allergy/dermatology specialist. Turns out she is allergic to several species of grass, weeds, trees, you name it. This condition has turned out to be more problematic for her and us than the dysplasia! In addition to her dyplasia medications, she is now doing allergy shots and needs constant maintenance on her ears, feet, and legs to prevent an infection (brought on by her allergies). And she still gnaws on her feet most of the day.
Kiki is part of our family and we love her, but it makes me so angry that she has to live like this. Not mention the thousands of dollars we've spent on her health care thus far. We are absolutely done with breeders and will only be getting mixed breeds from the shelter from now on.
I just wanted to share our story in case someone was considering getting a puppy from Tropico Kennels. I would strongly advise against it.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Lisa
Panorama,California,
U.S.A.
Tropico Kennels- The Breeders Rebuttal
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, March 09, 2010
I'm sorry your dog has allergies, but allergies, hip dysplasia, heart disease, epilepsy, cancer, elbow dysplasia, these are all VERY common to Golden Retrievers. Every breed has their specific genetic problems, so buyer's should do their homework about the breed before buying a dog. A dog is going to be a big investment and should not be taken lightly. You can't say I wasn't going to honor my guarantee, because I offered you another dog, you didn't want one, so that was your decision. Had you done surgery on your dog for the hip problem, I would have considered giving you a refund and allowing you to keep your dog, but that was not the case, because you opted not to have surgery, which would have fixed the problem, so why not have the surgery done? Yes I requested a second opinion from my vet, which is a VERY common practice for any breeder to want to verify the condition. Even California state law says that the breeder is entitled to a second opinion from a vet of their choosing and the dog must be made available for the second opinion. You may have gotten a Golden Retriever with some problems, but there are far more people who have gotten Golden's from me with absolutely no problems at all. I'm not creating these puppies in a test tube and guaranteeing perfection, they are living breathing things and can have problems just like humans can have problems. I chose not to breed Golden's anymore, because they have so many problems. The Standard size Goldendoodles also get similar hip and elbow problems as Golden's get, that's why I have chosen to only breed dogs under 50 pounds, they are healthier in every way. Some smaller breeds do get hip problems, but that's why I did not choose those breeds, like Bichon's (Bichon Frise). Any dog can develop allergies, just like humans can, but the Goldendoodles in general do not seem to have allergies as commonly as Golden's do. Also it is nice to rescue dogs from the pound, but then you might get yourself into a wide range of genetic problems, so that's not the answer to eliminating genetic problems. And if genetic testing was the answer, then offspring from tested dogs wouldn't need to be tested, but that's not the case, because even parents that passed testing can produce offspring that fail testing, so again buying a dog is a substantial investment and should not be taken lightly. It's unfortunate that you do not include the information about your "entire" experience, because I'm sure you would agree that my home and kennel are very nice and clean, that my dogs seem happy and friendly, that I was nice to you and friendly, that I took great care of the puppies. It's unfortunate that your dog has these problems, but I don't feel you should blame me, you read your contract/guarantee, you agreed to it at the time you purchased your dog, so you can't get mad now because you don't like the guarantee that you willingly agreed to and signed. Again had the circumstances been different you don't know what might have transpired, number one you never let my vet examine your dog to see if he agreed with the diagnosis. You also didn't want to do the surgery that would have fixed the hip problem (if there was a hip problem, without a second opinion I can't verify it). And as far as any allergies are concerned, you never made me aware of your dog having allergies. So that is my response to your report.
Best Wishes, Lisa-
