Oprah and Sadie.
Tragedy has struck Oprah Winfrey's doggie household. One of the cocker spaniel puppies Oprah adopted from the PAWS animal shelter in Chicago is reported to have died from the deadly canine parvovirus (CPV or "parvo" for short.)
A controversial group, the American Sporting Dog Alliance, alleges that Oprah adopted a second puppy Ivan who died of parvo and that the first puppy she adopted, Sadie, is fighting for her life.
(The American Sporting Dog Alliance promotes the use of "covert" and "subversive" tactics to infiltrate animal rights and anti-hunting groups for the purpose of "creating fear and confusion within the ranks of those who attack us.")
For those who watched the Friday, March 6 episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, you may recall that Oprah excitedly introduced her new cocker spaniel puppy Sadie to the world.
Our ooh's and ahh's over adorable Sadie escalated to squeals and screams when Oprah brought out Sadie's three blonde puppy brothers and announced that they needed homes too.
"Ivan, Webster and Gordie are hoping for homes too," said Oprah as staff members from PAWS Chicago brought out the three male puppies.
During the March 6 show, Oprah deliberated on camera about adopting one of Sadie's brothers. "I'm going to have to decide today whether I'm going to take another one," Oprah said. "If I don't decide today, these dogs will be gone in an instant."
Apparently, Oprah decided to adopt Ivan, the puppy sitting nearest to Oprah and Sadie and being cuddled in co-host Ali Wentworth's arms.
But the story has a sad ending. (More, below.)
Winfrey fell in love with Sadie and asked to adopt a second puppy, which was a male named Ivan. Ivan and some of his littermates appeared on the Oprah Show on March 6.
But Ivan came down with a serious illness at some point after Winfrey took him home, and she rushed him to an emergency veterinary clinic. Ivan was diagnosed with parvovirus and died last night [March 12].
The disease is most often fatal to young puppies, which are very susceptible if they are exposed to it. Parvovirus is highly contagious and is spread very easily.
Winfrey reportedly is fighting now to save the second puppy’s [Sadie's] life. Emergency clinic veterinarians...have fought round the clock to help Winfrey to try to save the two puppies.
--John Yates of the controversial group, American Sporting Dog Alliance
In an article critical of PAWS--calling it an "extremist Chicago animal rights shelter"--Yates alleges that Ivan contracted parvo while at the PAWS shelter.
UPDATE: Several phone and email messages left for a PAWS public relations official were not returned, but the story has been confirmed as true.
It is not clear how Sadie is doing. When she appeared on television, Oprah mentioned that Sadie had been taking antibiotics to fight off an undisclosed "virus." Our hopes and prayers go out to the little pup and Oprah. And Ivan.
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Oprah shows off Sadie on her show! (VIDEO)
Comments
I am so sorry Oprah's puppies had Parvo. What a shame she has to suffer because of PAWS' irresponsibility.
Maybe she should have thought twice about getting a "purebred" puppy from a shelter, instead of going to a responsible breeder.
I wonder what the spin will be on the shelter vs. breeder issue. "Clean" doesn't mean a thing when puppies (or kittens)aren't isolated before they get all their shots. The cost of just the chandelier she mentions in the PAWS shelter would have paid for multi-vaccinations for multi-dogs- and maybe she would have been spared this heartache..
Let me guess, wlpresvd; you would be one of those "responsible" breeders? It is very sad that this has happened, but if there weren't so many "responsible" breeders out there, our country wouldn't be euthanizing millions of animals every year. Blaming PAWS for this unfortunate happening is ridiculous. "Responsible", my eye! Please, sell "irresponsibility" somewhere else. Every shelter and breed-specific rescue in this country is overloaded with it.
Lovemydogs.... get real! Get the facts! There are over Way FEWER dogs getting euthanized now than there were just 20 years ago! The goal of HSUS and PETA is the ELIMINATION OF ALL companion animals. Not just overpopulation. You say you love your dogs... If HSUS and PETA get their way, you won't be able to have ANY dogs to love. Of all the Millions of dollars that HSUS and PETA raise each year virtually NONE goes to help dogs... It goes towards eliminating your and my right to own companion animals. HSUS doesn't give ANY money to local Human societies. There are shelters in various areas of the country that ship puppies in because they don't have enough dogs for people who want them. (The humane socienty in county I live in sends puppies up to NY and CT several times a year).
Responsible breeders do look out for their puppies. They health check the parents to make sure they are free of genetic problems, they make sure their puppies get placed into homes where they will be loved and cared for, AND most importantly they REQUIRE that if they new owner can't keep the puppy it comes back to the Breeder. It doesn't get put into rescue, or the local pound. I would much rather go to a responsible breeder than ANY HSUS or PETA sanctioned slaughter house. Just my two cents! There are plenty of places on the internet to get the REAL facts, not the PETA/HSUS fed drool that is WRONG!
wipresvd, You have know idea what you are talking about.
"Blaming PAWS" is correct, since PAWS had the duty to ensure the dogs were not sick, which is what all animal rights groups *accuse* all owners,re-homers,sellers,breeders,pet stores,kennels,etc. The bottom line is animal rights like HSUS,Peta,Last Chance for Animals,PAWS,et al, know very little about dog breeding,whelping,training, but want to make the rules/laws for ALL animals, such as the Louisville KY ordinance (more like debacle) which is in Federal Court now due to unconstitutional provisions.HSUS pushed PA law, that is also in Federal Court now for same reasons, unconstitutional. For example, Louisville KY law says an animal that scratches is either dangerous or potentially dangerous.Absurd!
HSUS kills puppies/dogs,pushes laws w/no due process,helps draft laws which result in illegal search/seizure,and took donations of approx $34million for Katrina pets but can only account for $7million ??! HSUS misleads the public by using cute pups/kittens on marketing ads, yet is passing anti-pet laws in 20-34 states, even attempting to close off animal rescues/shelters. HSUS does this by making LAWS so rescues can't house dogs, or can't afford the red tape re regulations so stringent they are more complex than owning a child care center.Like petdefense (on wordpress) has said, PAWS is linked to HSUS and even their $9mil facility still failed Oprah's dog.
Parvo happens. This shouldn't be a shelter vs. breeder issue. Paws obviously has some issues, but not every shelter operates like this.
I've seen more breeder related issues in dogs than shelter related. The biggest one: PET OVERPOPULATION.
This is what happens in shelters that are overtaxed and full. Maybe if we all worked together to fix this problem instead of making it into the "breeder" vs. "shelter" argument, we'd have some more progress.
Overall, there are ton more medical issues with many,many purebred dogs vs. shelter dogs.
If Sadie has Parvo too, I hope she will receive Fresh Frozen Plasma from Hemopet (W.Jean Dodds, DVM founder) Animal Blood Bank in Garden Grove, California. All blood obtained from the rescued greyhounds that donate. My daughter had a dog with parvo and the fresh frozen plasma saved his life.
Blaming PAWS is wrong. I'm sure they do everything they can to assure puppies are healthy. A puppy can test negative one day for parvo and positive the next. Parvo can have an incubation period of about 7-14 days.
Unfortunately parvo happens. It is always there lurking. It's not a breeder vs rescue disease. I've seen breeders' dogs and rescues' dogs get it. I'm sorry it happens to anyone.
I don't think this report is even true. If it were, the major news organizations would have picked it up, which is not happening. This story originated from a single source, and is being circulated without any collaboration.
PAWS had the duty to ensure the dogs were not sick, which is what all animal rights groups *accuse* all owners, breeders,pet stores,kennels,etc. The bottom line is animal rights like HSUS,Peta, PAWS,etc, know very little about dog breeding,whelping,training. Oprah should have gotten her puppy from a responsible breeder rather than an organization without knowledge on how to bring up a healthy puppy. Hopefully she learns from this tragedy!
Parvo is very serious and contagious. All the dogs on the show would be exposed as well as the audience bringing it home to their pets. PAWS is an irresponsible group. Vaccinations should have been done. It is sad for the dogs and those infected. Note also PAWS exagerates a lot On the website they claim a lab was forced to have over 1000 puppies. Do the math if the dog had the max of 2 litters a year and had 12 puppies she would have to be over 42 years of age. There are great local rescues and this is not one. Second the laws PAWS is trying to get through Chicago are ridiculous.
Everyone does have the responsibility to sell/adopt animals that are healthy. As there are many healthy animals sold, there are many healthy animals adopted out. Some dogs never get immunity to parvo (vaccinated but still contract the disease because it mutates). Also, people do not always listen when advised not to put their puppies in public areas until fully vaccinated. Again, not a breeder vs rescue problem.
A while back Oprah had an episode basically condemning what she called “Puppy Mills.” Last week both her adopted shelter dogs DIED from Parvo, the Number 1 killer of dogs. May this be her lesson on “Puppy Mills.” Yes there are bad breeders but for every bad one, there are 100 reputable breeders. If this puppy had been properly vaccinated with a single antigen, high-tittered Parvo vaccine, in a Quality vaccination program, then this WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. Instead, she went to a shelter where there are no vaccination guidelines, dogs aren’t socialized, and ONLY 20 dogs were housed in thisMulti-million dollar facility. Oprah if you read this, maybe you should do a special on QUALITY vaccines that protect against Parvo, and QUALITY breeders who follow Tested, Rigorous health guidelines backed by the United States Department of Agriculture. If you are reading this and are against Puppy Mills, maybe you should reconsider! Do you realize that shelters have NO required vaccination schedules, NO required Deworming protocol, NO sanitation requirements and basically can go UNGOVERNED. Let me fill you in on a little secret. The seizures of dogs by these Liberal Animal Rights Wakos are usually publicized heavily, so you will donate for the cause. They seize puppies worth hundreds, sometimes thousands to the breeders who have a vested interest in the health of these puppies. They then give the puppies away only after collecting a stiff adoption fee. And if they don’t sell the pups here, they TRANSPORT them across state lines to other shelters to adopt out for an even higher adoption fee. This is RIDICULOUS! There are mutts that do not have homes, and I do believe that some shelters have a good purpose, but most DO NOT! May you be informed before commenting, and be aware that I work EVERYDAY with both shelters and kennels.
For every bad shelter, there are also a hundred reputable shelter filled with people taking the animals that don't have a place anymore. Reputable shelter/rescues follow good vaccination protocols (and worming etc) also. Every dog/pup I have adopted over the the years has been fully vetted. Even my lab that was hit by car, owner didn't want after injury. She needed surgeries, including an fho before adoption. Her adoption fee was the same as the other dogs there but I know she cost more to fix.
Again, not a rescue vs breeder issue.
Matt,
You want Oprah to reconsider her stance on puppy mills because her dog from a shelter got sick?!! Are you insane? If you are a responsible breeder you would also be against puppymills.
My girlfriend and I adopted a puppy from PAWS over Christmas. Our puppy died from Parvo too!
We are still devastated.
omg that was soooooo saddddddd
Parvo virus can live in the enviroment for up to 7 years. It can be brought in on the shoes of a visitor to the rescue. It is very sad that multiple pets from PAWS died from this preventable disease. Another thing to keep in mind is that just because a puppy has one vaccine it does not mean that puppy is fully protected. Puppies should continue in a series of vaccines to build immunities. If you adopt a puppy from a shelter, breeder, storefront...If you adopt a pet make sure you follow a veterinarian recommended vaccine schedule and do not expose your puppy public areas to soon.
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