Adopted puppy dies, Tucson family demands PACC pay vet bill

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TUCSON - Some Tucson newlyweds were hoping a new puppy would "complete" their family this Christmas. However, when they brought the black lab named Bella home from Pima Animal Care Center, she died a week later from parvo.

Now, Dawn Crayton says the family is stuck with a $400 vet bill and a little boy who's traumatized. Crayton said, "She was literally here for two full days before she got sick."

The vet diagnosed Bella with parvo one week after Bella was adopted. Crayton says the vet bill was $389 dollars. "Just to go and have them tell me hey, your dog has parvo and we have to put him down," Crayton said.

The family went back to Pima Animal Care to plead their case. "They're main concern was, well you signed paper work that said you would be responsible. But I told them, yeah, but you signed paperwork saying the dog was healthy," said Crayton.

Animal Care spokesperson Jayne Cundy says adopting out the sick puppy was not intentional. She said, "When you deal with the amount of animals that we deal with, sometimes some slip through. And this case is very sad."

She explained the reason Bella's parvo test came back negative at first is because the adoption time overlapped with the virus incubation period. Cundy said, "That could take up to 30 days to manifest."

The Craytons say it's only fair the county helps with the vet bill. "We thought having a puppy for the holidays would be really nice for their young child. We just moved into the house, we just got married. The dog was supposed to be like completing the family," she said.

Cundy says Animal Care refunded the $25 dollar adoption fee and she's working with the county's Risk Management Department to help pay the vet bill. "All I can try and do is aid in the process and make a bad situation a little better... It was just an unfortunate situation. I think the message goes back to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate,"she said.