I think I've already said that we adopted Nyxa through a great rescue organization, Adopt A Lab, which was highly recommended by a former colleague of mine. They spay or neuter the dogs before adopting them out, and they give them a number of vaccinations, too. However. However. We have been very disappointed with the communications we've received from them, the spotty responses, and the incredible attitude we've gotten from them.
Before we went to pick up Nyxa, it was all I could do to get an email or phone response from them. I'm sure they must be incredibly busy, and more than likely their staff is made up of all volunteers, so it wouldn't be possible for them to respond quickly all the time, and that's completely understandable. Nonetheless, on multiple occasions I just got no response whatsoever, not even a brief response or a let's-discuss-over-the-phone response, nothing. The whole thing felt very impersonal and strange to me: I emailed an application, heard back quickly, frantically had to jot down what the woman was saying over the phone, and was then sent the form email with pickup directions on it. That's it. When I tried emailing with further questions, calling, etc., nothing. A couple days before the pickup I did get a confirmation email, which was my only indication that the adoption was still happening.
I'd been told that we would be able to ask questions while we were there to pick her up, so I didn't think too much of the radio silence. I brought a list of questions to ask (how much have you been feeding her/how much should we feed her? how old is she? [there was a lot of inconsistency there -- the website had said 9 weeks, the woman over the phone had said 11 weeks, the health records we'd gotten had no DOB or age listed at all], etc.), figuring they'd all be friendly there, because how could they not be, if they were the kind of people who rescue animals?
It turned out they were doing a HUGE adoption day, which we hadn't expected, so we waited on a line for about a half hour before we got up to the front and saw our sweet little puppy playing with the other puppies. A woman asked who we were picking up, we told her the name, and she told a little girl, who picked up Nyxa and handed her to me. (Spoiler alert: my heart grew three sizes and we lived happily ever after.)
And then we got to the front of the line, where a woman was handing out folders and medicine (for kennel cough, as a preventative measure, to be given if needed -- which, as it turned out, it was). We tried to ask her questions but she said she was just a volunteer to help give out folders and we should ask a man, Lee, farther up. Okay, fine. We got to Lee, prepared to ask a few questions, and he immediately said he didn't know the puppy's information, didn't know how much to feed her ("read the bag" -- gee, thanks), and, "look, she's a rescue puppy, we don't get much information about them." Okay.... I had a bundle of squirming, lickety puppy love in my arms, plus another couple dozen people behind us waiting to get through, so we didn't press the subject.
She did have kennel cough, and we gave her the medicine, and she was fine. She had a nasty still-healing scar from when she was spayed, and I have to say it was pretty sloppily done, a scar covering a big chunk of her belly that will be there forever and so many internal stitches, our vet said, it will take at least a year for them all to dissolve (!). And if that had been it, I wouldn't have thought anything of the rest of the process, brusque as it was.
But.
At the first visit we found out that Nyxa had not only Giardia, but also (related to me over the phone, after my last post) tapeworms and fleas. What?? She'd already been treated for fleas, first of all, as stated on the health records we received from Adopt A Lab. And, okay, she probably got the tapeworms through the fleas, and it's possible she got the Giardia after she'd been with us, but the vet thought she'd would've gotten it before from the other puppies. And she also has some skin condition, where she has random bald patches, which the vet said is just a puppy dermatitis something-or-other, which she'll outgrow. But still, all of this cost hundreds of dollars to take care of, before we'd even had Nyxa a few weeks.
And then.
It was clear from the moment he answered that he had no idea who I was, which puppy I was talking about (though I gave him all the relevant info -- and in all fairness, I'm sure he deals with lots of dogs, so I didn't really expect him to remember any one dog), or why I was calling. I explained the situation, and he immediately got defensive. "Well, if you want to return her, we can arrange a pickup."
What??? That was his first response. His default. Problem? Give her back.
Me: "No, we don't want to give her back, we just wanted some more information about her litter, if possible."
Him: "Look, I don't know. Whatever was in the information we told you is all we have. What is this vet's problem, anyway? Do you want me to call him myself and find out what his deal is?"
Me: "I don't know what you mean. Problem?"
Him: "Well, I can't believe he'd ask you to call us about this just from what you told him over the phone."
Okay, fine, so I explained the other symptoms to him (the ones listed above), even though he's not a vet.
Him: "Well, come on, those could be anything, and more than likely she didn't get them from us."
Me: "I'm just trying to find out about this one thing, the spots on her belly. Do you have any information you can give me?"
Him: "If you're having a problem, we're happy to provide medicine, and giardia is common in puppies anyway."
Me: "..."
Him: "Can you hold on?" (puts me on hold) "Okay, I took a look at her record. It looks like the vet who treated her also treated her brother, and they both had these spots on their stomachs. She determined that they didn't need treatment and that the spots would resolve themselves, which it looks like they did when you got her."
Me: "Oh." (wondering why this wasn't indicated anywhere on her records and why I had to fight just to get him to look it up for me) "But they came back. So should we be concerned?"
Him: "I'm not a vet. If you want to give her back, we can arrange that."
Me: "I already said we're not going to give her back. She's a member of our family."
Him: "Well, like I said, I don't know what your vet's problem is........." (etc.)
I don't know who, if anyone, is at fault here, but I do know that the customer service at Adopt A Lab is atrocious. I thought it would be worth warning others. So, there you have it. Be warned.
That said, we're still thrilled with Nyxa and we can tell she was treated well by the agency before we got her: she's brave, happy, hasn't been abused, etc. Would we adopt from them again? Absolutely, yes. But still, it would have been good to have known up front about what we would have to deal with.
Sorry for the downer post, everyone. Coming up next: fun pictures! And happier stories.
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