Kanes story 12/18/2019-12/18/2020

Susan Mccord- Amera Basenjis - One Bad Breeder.

 We decided in 2019 after much research to get a basenji to join our family. After we found a Breeder and were waitlisted. We later learned one of her dogs was not pregnant and were recommended we contact Susan Ledbury who may have pups available. I contacted Susan and unlike the prior breeder there was little questioning on the home I could provide and more questioning on how fast I could send a deposit. 

Once her litters were born she sent few updates and little communication until I was finally notified to pick my dog up on 2/22. When I got there she had 3 pups blocked in the kitchen. I had my choice of the 3. There were others in the house I could hear but had no visibility. They were kept in another room. I picked my little girl Willow ( she called her sweat pea.) When I commented she was smaller than I thought she’d be I was told she was the runt and the litter was all “picky eaters” . Susan also said to alert the vet to check for deworming. They had already been dewormed twice. When I got Willow home I bathed her and brushed her teeth. She had very bad breath-her first sign of digestive issues.
We struggled with her eating in the first few days as well as her breath continued to be bad. By 2/26 she had her vet appt. They took a fecal sample and commented she was extremely malnourished at 3.5lbs. ( A 9 week old Basenji should be double that) The 27th she was back at the vet with extreme diarrhea. Her fecal sample showed giardia. I was given an antibiotic, panacur and prescription food. She was barely eating, and very lethargic. She showed no improvement over the next several days. By 3/5 she was admitted to Oradell animal hospital. Broader spectrum testing showed she also had canine corona ( a rare dog virus) as well. I alerted Susan to all these issues. She told me all other dogs were fine and mine was the only one with these issues. (A blatant lie). My vet told me I needed to document all my bills and invoke the lemon law on her. Which I did via email March 9th. She did reimburse the cost of the dog. Willow remained in the hospital for 3 days but when she returned home vomiting and diarrhea remained. She returned to the hospital on 4/27 and was finally diagnosed with Lymphocytic-plasmacytic gastroenteritis. This disease is often poor breeding and/or damage from long term GI issues. Cause can not be verified because of her GI issues.
Willow requires prednisone, probiotics, metronidazole, Prilosec and cerenia to keep her condition under control. She has a limited home cooked diet as we have not been able to find a prescription food that worked for her. She also needs monthly B12 shots. Although I had pet insurance from the first day I had her , none of her issues are covered as she did not meet the 30 day clean bill of health. This is considered a preexisting condition.
She is currently 20lbs and stable. We meet with her specialist every 3 months and our goal is to begin reducing some of her meds one by one. Over the last year we have spent close to 15k on medical bills. We love her dearly but she will always have this issue.
She will always be on meds. She will never be able to be crated ( since she could not control her feces as a pup she was not crate trained) and the fear of the crate aggravates her condition. When we travel we need to pay someone to stay at our house as most kennels crate. These lifelong issues alter our lives more than a healthy pet would have by far. We will continue to do all we can to give her a good life. After finding other owners of dogs from this breeder the scary thing is I am one of the lucky ones. My dog is alive. I believe an experienced breeder should have known the pups were severely underweight, she likely did know there was an issue as she told multiple people they had the runt . She was also not forthcoming in her conversations with me that other pups were sick -shows she had something to hide. By issuing these sick puppies she put many families through unnecessary hardship and trauma over the last year.
Susan Ledbury is not a breeder. She is negligent in her care of her litters in every way.