This organization promises that their adoption fee for a puppy ($300) includes spay/neuter and all shots that are needed for the age of the dog at the time of adoption. The forms say all puppies are up-to-date on their shots including parvo, distemper, and rabies. We adopted a dog from them and they were aware that we had two other dogs at home. I noticed the dog we were adopting had an eye issue and when I asked about it, I was told that he just had allergies and that it would go away. We took the dog home only to find out that he was hacking and wheezing after play, had bowel issues, and had extremely irritated eyes the next day. When I reviewed his shot records, the only record we received was of one parvo shot that the dog had received that was already out of date. After calling the agency, and being treated very rudely when I asked for the shot record, it was made known that the dog had been exposed to parvo as a puppy and also previously had an upper respiratory infection. I discovered through my own research that an upper respiratory infection is also known as the highly contagious dog infection known as Bordatellla. I had also asked the agency during our adoption if the dog had received this shot as I had other dogs at home and I was simply told that he had received the Bordatella shot.
After we did some investigating and finally found the vet office that the rescue uses we made some calls to see if we could get vaccine records from the vet office. The vet office called Ohana and were told conflicting information from what we had been told. The vet office told us that Deanna Arroyo gave the dogs the vaccines herself so there was no record of what was given and Deanna stated to them she specifically told us "the dog had received the shots that we had on our shot record form". The only shot listed was an outdated parvo vaccine. The vet office also told us that Deanna didn't always do what they recommended she do for the best health of the dogs at the shelter and they had heard from another client she recommended that the dog owner feed their dog raw meat. Who does that?
We understand that many shelters have exposure to puppy diseases. What we are most frustrated about is the lack of communication that the organization had with us. We feel like we were "tricked" into adopting a dog from and lied to from the beginning about the history of the dog. They could have fixed this problem by politely working with us to get the dog properly vaccinated and taken care of at the vet but instead they were rude, failed to return phone calls, and only agreed to pay for a stool sample and a vet check not including any medication or required shots. I'm trying to figure out where the money we gave them for the adoption fees went. The dog's sister's owner has also been having difficulty receiving shot records from Ohana.
Given that we have two healthy dogs at home, we are extremely frustrated and stressed that it was not brought to our attention ahead of time that this dog had a history of illness that could affect our other dogs. We have had to take time off from work and school to get this issue taken care of.
If you choose to adopt from this agency, be sure to ask lots of questions and triple check all of the records and shot records. Ask for proof of vaccines!!