Menu
Login
We adopted our puppy, Zoë, from Golden Star Family Puppies (GSFP) three months ago and our family has been extremely disappointed with this breeder. We took Zoë to our usual vet 2 days after adopting her and our vet immediately noticed she had a rash around her vulva and that her vulva was very inverted. He told us we'd need to keep a close eye on these conditions. Several days after that initial vet appointment, we noticed that Zoë had blood in her urine, so we took her to an emergency vet where they administered IV antibiotics & prescribed a 2-week course of antibiotics for a severe UTI. The emergency vet also noted Zoë's significantly recessed vulva & wrote in their medical report that Zoë "may need surgery in the future if the anatomy does not improve as she grows, or she may have congenital issues with the urinary tract." We found it disturbing that Golden Star failed to mention Zoë's recessed vulva in their vet records for her since apparently it's very easy to diagnose and, critically, is genetic. If GSFP had been transparent & honest with us from the beginning, we still would've adopted our little girl and, critically, we would have been aware of her specific health needs as soon as possible.
We reached out to Golden Star Family Puppies via their website (as they requested we do outside of business hours) to inform them of Zoë's diagnosis. We thought other adopters should know this as soon as possible so they could give their puppies the best care from the get-go. We never heard back from anyone at Golden Star. Several days after we finished the 2-week course of antibiotics, Zoë was still having considerable discomfort & we took her to the vet again for a recheck. We reached out to Golden Star Family Puppies yet again to give them the benefit of the doubt and give them another chance to respond, this time reaching out via text message. Again, no response. We find it disheartening that Golden Star shows so little care for their dogs, both in failing to disclose important medical information about them & in failing to respond to adoptive families to ensure dogs receive good care in their new homes.
In talking with the various vets we've taken Zoë to since we adopted her, we've learned that this can indicate that a breeder is more of a puppy mill than a reputable, ethical business. When we went to visit the puppies, we saw them in a business office, which itself was beautiful & very clean, rather than where they were raised. Unfortunately, we were unable to see where the puppies & breeding dogs actually live due to COVID-19. At first we didn't think anything of it because of how nice the visiting room was, how accustomed we have become to COVID-19 restrictions, and how official things seemed at Golden Star. However, due to the extremely poor level of communication Golden Star has had with our family, we're concerned about the possibility that GSFP could be yet another puppy mill posing as credible breeders. We sincerely hope any other dogs in their care are getting the care they need in order to live happy, healthy lives.
On their website, Golden Star emphasizes that, "Communication & Relationship building is of the utmost importance to us even after your new puppy arrives home." We have not at all found that to be the case.
We are filing this complaint because, in addition to trying to get in contact with the breeders to no avail, we have tried to post negative Google reviews several times and the reviews do not reliably show up. Meanwhile, more and more glowing reviews for this business keep showing up without issue on Google, and the owners of the business take the time to respond to some of those but not to critical reviews like ours. We are deeply concerned that we've never heard back from Golden Star Family Puppies about our puppy's health issues.
