Demand the shut down of Puppy Mills

                A pet shop is usually a place of joy, where families go to find a new, loving member of their family, but unfortunately, this can also be a place that houses animals that won’t last very much longer. This isn’t the fault of the pet stores, but the place where the pets come from, more namely, puppy mills.

                Puppy mills are places where, as the name suggests, puppies are made. The problem is, however, that these places are in low standards in regards to how the animals are taken care of. Animals are crowded in, sometimes hundreds at a time, and forced to breed to create what the breeders basically consider livestock. The keepers of these animals care little to nothing about their wellbeing, only about the amount of money that they can produce.

Disease is nothing short of a guarantee in situations like this, and many of these poor animals develop diseases such as:

• Epilepsy
• Heart disease
• Kidney disease
• Musculoskeletal disorders (hip dysplasia, luxating patellas, etc.)
• Endocrine disorders (diabetes, hyperthyroidism)
• Blood disorders (anemia, Von Willebrand disease)
• Deafness
• Eye problems (cataracts, glaucoma, progressive retinal atrophy, etc.)
• Respiratory disorders

Unfortunately the mass amounts that die at the mills are the lucky ones. Most who survive develop illnesses in life, such as:

• Giardia
• Parvovirus
• Distemper
• Upper respiratory infections
• Kennel cough
• Pneumonia
• Mange
• Fleas
• Ticks
• Intestinal parasites
• Heartworm

The problem with puppy mills is that they don’t just reach out to pet stores. They do whatever they can to dump the poor (sometimes) disease ridden animals onto unaware people just looking for a loving dog. The internet has given these people a horrible advantage in this, and most people discover too late that their animals are in horrible conditions.

The worst part of all of this is that the conditions these dogs are living in is LEGAL. In fact, in most cases, the standards that breeders are required to meet by law are extremely minimal. Under the federal Animal Welfare Act, it is completely legal to keep a dog in a cage only six inches longer than the dog in each direction, with a wire floor, stacked on top of another cage, for the dog's entire life. Conditions that most people would consider inhumane, or even cruel, are often totally legal.

This petition is a stepping stone to getting puppy mills not only shut down, but banned! No dog deserves to live in these kinds of conditions, and we need your help to stop these atrocities from continuing.