The evil's of getting a pet from a breeder

I have never bought a pet from a breeder, as my mom instilled in me the fact that 'homeless' pets are in need of love, security and a home more. 'homeless pets' being those in the pound or at animal shelters. And although she had pure-breed dogs growing up, my grandparents never paid for them. Because you know, back in the day...who had money to buy a pet? And I appreciate the fact that we've always rescued our pets. I've had much success with my pets that way: Scruffy came from Northshore Animal League and we had her for 16 years. Pooka and Cro`i came from Save-A-Pet, and we've had them for almost six years. As a small kid, we also got the random pet from people in front of grocery stores giving away litters. (I miss seeing that now-a-days.) The only pet that didn't work out for us, which we got from a shelter was Blaze...but she was re-adopted out and thriving.
There is also no such thing as a FREE PET. The 'free pet' falls into the category of urban legend, mythical creature, and lives somewhere with Bigfoot and the Lochness Monster. Maybe Josh Gates should search out the free pet on his adventures. Which brings me to my 'baby' Lola. The cutest pocket puggle one could ever imagine. Originally obtained for my Aunt Ida...she wormed her way in to my heart within a matter of minutes of meeting her, let alone won my mother over too.
If you do decide to go the route of buying a pet from a breeder, please make sure they're a reputable one. I suggest you ask for references, and that you are ABLE to contact the references. Don't take a written testimony as proof. Make sure the breeder and kennels are CLEAN. A clean kennel is the grounds for a healthy pup. Also make sure you have ALL RECORDS on your pet, medical as well as breeding papers.
The reason why I say all this is Lola the cutest pocket puggle has been battling coccidia for a month now. I am not sure (but believe) she was sick with the parasite prior to us getting her. And the reason why I feel this, is because the breeder told me she was under the weather. We got Lola on March 15th, and on the 16th she had dirreah, and a bit of blood in her stool which raised the red flags, and had me at the vet with her on the 17th. Coccidia is not a fatal issue (if caught quickly and treated aggressively.) But it is time consuming, and just annoying...plus between being at the vet for Lola's shots, stool samples, and office visits for the coccidia, she is costing me a small fortune. Thus my stating THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE PET.
Would I (or my family) think of trading her in? Hell no, we all love Lola so much. Are we sorry we got her? Hell no, she has brought us such joy. And am I saying that only healthy pups and dogs live in animal shelters? No.....but when it comes time to bring a pet home, just really investigate and weigh all your options.

Notice the little smily's eyeballs going 'round and 'round? Good, because that's EXACTLY how I feel these days. I am not one to complain much about the big things. I really internalize a lot, which I guess helps feed my anxiety and tummy issues. But I also feel like I am just going to implode if I don't let it out....so here it goes, in a rambling blog entry which I will try to condense as much as possible.
I guess I'll start with the work crap. Because let's face it, work sux. Each day my dream to run away, and become a beach bum becomes more and more appealing. Live the bohemian life I've always craved, and braid people's hair on the beach during the day, sipping mai tai's at night. (Ok, margarita's are more my speed.) Anyway for the past year and a half my department has heard about big changes coming down the pike, and being held accountable for our time and work, blah-blah-blah. My department felt little hits such as cut backs on overtime, and hiring freezes. But about 2 weeks ago there was a 50-person lay-off company wide. Or should I say Long Island location wide. 18 people from my building were let go, and from this number I was friends with 8 of them...(2) of them from my department. So of course the scare went out, and my department has been restructored again. I still work for the chief, but we report to a different manager (which is ok)...but there's nearly no laughter and comoderie as there was before in my office. Plus my cube-neighbor has proven to be a backstabbing snitch and now I really hate going in each day. I've opted not to move out of my house, because I'm worried if they cut more poistions and I can't make it on my own, I'll have no choice but to break my lease, and that's not cool. The upswing to that though is we're making a studio apartment in my house for me.
For the past several months I haven't been feeling myself. Just extremly run down, more frequent tummy problems, my allergies and sinus running like crazy. I all but live on my allergy meds, and have gone back on my anxiety medication too. My joints have been more achy, and even where I do not have arthritis I've had pain. Back in Februray I took a month off from dance class, just to recharge myself and although it helped slightly, I still am exhausted. Last Wednesday I went to a new primary doctor, to see if she could figure out what's going on. She told me I need to restart my fiber regimen, keep up with the allergy meds too. But she also took 4 tubes of blood to test me for everything under the sun (due to my old thyroid problem.) The doctor feels my thyroid has turned my arthritis in to rhumetoid arthritis which may explain a lot too. I am a mess, and keep plugging away. Because you know, NOT being independantly wealthy does not afford me the luxery of crawling under the covers and sleeping my days away. I get my blood work back in about 2 weeks.
Which brings me to my Lola. She is still under the weather. I feel like I'm living at the vet. Her appatite is good, and her energy levels are great. Well, it's back to the vet again this morning. (I feel like I've been living at the vet..lol.) I mean, it's not all bad because we've been going for her required shots...but I just want her 100% ok.
For the intestinal parasite, she goes back on Albon (her antibiotic) which she loves taking, because it tastes good. The vet says it's normal to sometimes have to do this 3-4 times for the parasite to be knocked out. Her appatite and energy is fine, and she's been gaining weight, so I don't need to worry about her being malnurished. Just worried about this bug.
But her fur loss has me real concerned. When we had gotten her, she scratched ocasiionally, and mom thought maybe she had a flea. But it's too early in the season, and we checked her and saw nothing. But then the scratching got much worse and I thought maybe food allergies so I switched her food. (We also had given her oatmeal baths but they didn't help much.) The food switch helped some but not much. The vet did a skin scraping onher ear, and that came up negative...but now she's losing more fur from her scratching in more places, so the puppy teacher (yeah she's in puppy kindergarten)thinks she has a skin parasite too! So it's back to the vet this morning for more skin scrapings. It just never ends.
So I thank you for listening to me bitch and moan. I know there are many people who have it 1000% worse than me. But I am just exhausted. I go to bed exhausted and wake up exhausted and have to put a smile on my face during the hours in between, which is...well honostly...exhausting. And I worry all the time over Lola and want to beat the crap out of the breeder, and wish my body would stop hurting. So if I don't seem as peppy as I usually am, or seem a bit quieter than usual...please don't think it's anything major. It's just all the little things. But I'll chug along...I have to.