Change a Pet’s Life Day: meet Regina, a former puppy mill breeder

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Regina is the winner of the 2016 1-800-PetMeds change a Pet’s Life Contest. To learn more about the contest, please check out the contest page here.

Change a Pet’s Life Day is today and to celebrate, PetMeds is helping one adoptable, former puppy mill dog receive the necessary surgery she needs to be happy and healthy!

The 2016 change a Pet’s Life contest ended January 20, 2016, and Regina from national Mill dog Rescue was named the winner, due to the 9,523 votes she received during the contest. This 4-year-old English bulldog spent the entirety of her life locked in a puppy mill cage, producing litter after litter of puppies, before her rescue in December 2015. She received minimal human contact and care during that time, as evidenced by her condition upon rescue.

When national Mill dog Rescue saved Regina, they discovered she had been sutured with fishing line from a previous surgery, causing infection and pain at the surgical site. Regina also needed dental work, hernia repairs, mammary tumor removal and spay surgery. According to national Mill dog Rescue, many rescues from puppy mills require extensive dental work, and some lose all of their teeth. Regina was one of the “lucky” ones and was able to keep a few, healthy teeth.

Currently, Regina is waiting to recover from her spay, dental, hernia repair and mammary tumor removal surgeries before she can undergo another hernia repair and the removal of more mammary tumors. once she has recovered from these surgeries, she will be adoptable through national Mill dog Rescue. As mammary tumors are hormone-driven and she is now spayed, the tumors are not likely to reoccur. While Regina will need a patient family to teach her how to be a beloved pet, she is not likely to have ongoing medical problems related to her current issues.

Regina’s story is indeed distressing, and unfortunately many puppy mill breeders and former puppy mill breeders share similar stories. These dogs are treated as livestock and are kept for the sole purpose of producing puppies for as long as they physically can. These puppies are then typically sold in pet stores and online to unsuspecting buyers who would never knowingly support the puppy mill industry. Thankfully, national Mill dog Rescue has been working tirelessly since 2007 to save dogs from puppy mills and to educate the public about puppy mill breeders. If you’d like to learn more about the harsh realities of puppy mills and their link to pet stores and online pet sales, please visit National Mill dog Rescue’s website.

If you’re interested in adopting Regina or another former puppy mill dog, please check out national Mill dog Rescue’s website and fill out an adoption application. The rescue adopts out dogs throughout the U.S. and Canada, but adopters must be willing to drive to the rescue, located in Peyton, Colo., to pick up the dog. national Mill dog Rescue will neither ship nor carry any dogs. Please be aware that puppy mill dogs may not be acclimated to life within a family and will require time, patience and a lot of love to blossom into loving family members.

1-800-PetMeds ran the change a Pet’s Life contest through its PetMeds Cares program. PetMeds Cares donates over-the-counter medications and pet products to animal shelters and rescue groups throughout the U.S. For more information or to apply for a donation, check out the PetMeds Cares website and Facebook page. For those interested in hearing more about Regina and her recovery, please stay tuned as we will share a follow-up story over the next several weeks including a video of her before and after story.

DogsPet AdoptionVeterinary Care

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