Heart 4 Animals

Although it has been over 30 years since an amendment to the federal Animal Welfare Act imposed minimum standards on wholesale breeders, the fact remains that life is still brutal in the mills, whose operators often refer to themselves with the much less threatening title of “dog farmers.”

Numerous eyewitness accounts from puppy mill raids describe animals being fed maggot-infested food and confined to chicken coops filled with their own excrement. The pups, who virtually all suffer from various skin infections and open sores, receive very primitive or most often no veterinary care. Kennel cough, diarrhea, parasites, and chronic ear infections are routine.

Private animal rights investigator, Jamie Reno was recently hired to report her findings of one puppy mill in Kansas. She says, “I’ve seen so many things, from bleeding paws to absolutely filthy dogs, especially the popular breeds with longer hair, like Pomeranians and Yorkies and so forth. But the most disturbing thing for me is the behavior of the dogs. They don’t behave like your dog or my dog. They are wary of humans. They want to reach out and want your attention, but they’re afraid of you at the same time. There’s the endless circling in cages, which indicates that the dog is not well adjusted. It’s the consequence of living in a small cage his whole life.”

Moreover, the puppies have not been socialized and tend to act in other disturbing and aggressive ways, making them poor companion animals and uncharacteristically poor pets. They are touted as purebred, but their lineage is often haphazardly inbred, resulting in eye and heart abnormalities, hip dysplasia, and other genetically linked health problems.

Life is undoubtedly miserable for the puppies but, incredibly, is still worse for their mothers. “They are kept in tiny cages their entire lives and receive no care and are inadequately nourished,” says Doug Hanbicki, a companion animal specialist for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The dogs are bred during their first heat and continually for every six months thereafter until their reproductive capacity drops at the age of four or five usually because their reproductive organs have been virtually ripped out from being overworked; then they are mercilessly killed, asserts Hanbicki and others working for the reform of animal abuse. …read more of the article by Amanda Burke
Source:  Puppy Mills by By Amanda Burke