PERTH EAST – A family in Milverton is heartbroken over the loss of their new four-legged family member, after the puppy recently passed away from parvovirus. And they are looking to the veterinarian who signed off on his vaccinations for answers.
On Sept. 13, the family, wishing to remain anonymous, picked up their new puppy from a supposed kennel breeder in the Millbank area, who was seemingly healthy and full of energy.
“His eyes were bright,” said a source from the family, “he was a super healthy puppy.”
Or so they thought. Later that week, the puppy became very sick. The illness consisted of constant vomiting and diarrhea. They immediately took him to the Pauly Veterinary Clinic in Milverton the following Monday as the puppy’s health was quickly declining. The vet took countless tests and rushed the results, which came back positive for parvovirus.
According to Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine from the Baker Institute for Animal Health, “canine parvovirus (CPV) is a highly contagious viral disease of dogs that commonly causes acute gastrointestinal illness in puppies. The disease most often strikes in pups between six and 20 weeks old.”
The family was left with two options: pay an exorbitant amount of money to rush the puppy to an animal hospital or take him home, give him the proper medication and hope for the best.
“The vet told us that we had a very sick puppy that had a less than 50 per cent chance of survival,” explained the source.
The vet had sent them home with all types of medications, with the family performing IV injections every two hours. Eventually, the puppy began to defecate and vomit blood. Exactly one week after getting the puppy, it eventually died from parvovirus.
“We went from having what we thought would be our daughter’s new best friend, only lasted days basically,” stated the source. “It was horrible to watch.”
The family then began looking into what had happened leading up to the puppy’s death. They had received a billfold from the breeder in Millbank, with a clean bill of health and proof of vaccination and deworming. It was stamped and signed off by a vet named Dr. Tejwant Chahal.
However, once they began looking more in depth into Chahal, they found out the vet has an apparent bad reputation and dozens of scathing reviews online.
“I was gobsmacked. My stomach flipped, like how did we miss this,” expressed the source.
There are a multitude of formal and informal accusations against this vet. He is said to be a known vet who services puppy mills in North Perth and Perth East, as well as all over southwestern Ontario.
Having his veterinary base located in Brampton, he is a mobile vet that travels to different licensed and unlicensed breeding kennels and is supposedly vaccinating these puppies against viruses like parvo. However, if a puppy is properly vaccinated, they have a very slim chance of catching the highly-contagious virus.
The vet is being accused of not properly vaccinating these puppies and dogs, and in certain circumstances, selling a blank billfold with his veterinary stamp to create a false sense of health security when buying that animal. He is also accused of going by different names and pseudonyms by multiple sources.
The reviews on Google and pages on Facebook are all filled with the same story as the Milverton family. It has been claimed that he is either not vaccinating at all, or vaccinating too young. This vet is allegedly signing off on breeder billfolds, that these puppies are healthy and vaccinated only to have issues arise regarding the puppies’ health once sold. The puppies often have undiagnosed health issues. These falsified billfolds provide a false sense of security regarding the health of these puppies.
“Our vet is dealing with people coming in with [Chahal] vetting their dogs, and them being sick, having worms, kennel cough, etc.,” stated the source in a recent interview.
After the family asked to see Chahal’s licence and to tell them more information regarding their deceased puppy vaccinations, Chahal blocked their number and ceased all contact.
The Banner attempted to contact Chahal for comment, but did not receive a response.
The family feels like they have been misled, and are even unsure whether the puppy was the breed the kennel claimed it was.
“I don’t know what to believe at this point,” said the source.
The family sent a 10-page letter to the College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO), to which they received a response that Chahal is currently under investigation, and has been for two years, and that there can be a wait time of up to 26 months before any action is seen.
“A lot of harm can be caused in 26 months,” expresses the source.
Donna Power, animal activist and member of Ontario Puppy Mills – Stop This Now, states that her count is at approximately 14 official separate complaints to the CVO about the alleged unethical behaviour from Chahal, and she cannot believe he is allowed to continue practicing until formal action is taken.
Power, who expressed her frustration with the CVO’s lack of action, states that “he is violating his oath and code of conduct with the CVO.”
“He’s making a lot of money, and… if you Google him, there are horror stories about him,” stated Power.
“Veterinarians usually administer the CPV vaccine as part of a combination shot which includes, among others, the distemper, canine adenovirus, and parainfluenza vaccines. These shots are given every three to four weeks from the time a puppy is six weeks old until he is at least 16 weeks of age. A booster vaccination is recommended one year later, and then at one at three-year intervals thereafter,” states the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine’s description of parvovirus.
“When it’s signed off by Chahal, it’s like the puppy has never seen a vet,” stated Amber Rooney, owner of Misfits Rescue, a high-risk dog rescue in Wingham which often takes dogs who originated from puppy mills. She has rescued dogs before that have been signed off by Chahal, but fortunately none have been sick.
“There is something with that vet in particular, I don’t trust him,” explains Rooney, “every time I take one of [the dogs signed off by Chahal] and they are like ‘it’s vaccinated’, as soon I get that paper and see his name on it, I revaccinate because I can’t be sure they were ever actually done.”
“All the vets are saying the same thing, ‘if that puppy was [properly] vaccinated, he wouldn’t be here right now dying of parvo[virus]’,” says Power.
“There are dead puppies, very, very sick puppies and false records,” added Power.
There is a public demonstration taking place Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. in front of the CVO building in Guelph, as a peaceful public demonstration against the lack of action being taken by the CVO in regards to the accusations placed against Dr. Tejwant Chahal.
