Hello all,

Before I start anything, please let me introduce myself
My girlfriend and I was a proud owner of a Yorkshire Terrier named Tiffie whom we bought from Irene Kang of Starhill Kennel

http://www.starhillkennel.webs.com/

This is her website..
The reason why I am writing this is to expose some of the problems we have with this breeder and to save potential heartache for potential owners
This will also be a long article..
But I suggest that potential or interested owners please do yourself a favour and read this
This is to save you from future unnecessary grief and to help give you pointers when searching for a good breeder
*not just for Yorkshire Terriers but also applies to other dogs

Tiffie was born on the 29th September 2009
From the day we got her, her fur was unmanaged and messy, and smelly
She was not given proper grooming prior to being sent to us from Penang
(**At this juncture -> Irresponsible breeder alert)

On top of that, she has many problems with her skin (i.e. skin diseases, rashes etc)
At first we thought nothing of it, thinking it was just puppy rashes
(even the Vet thought so)

However, she also frequently gets sick
(And we thought maybe it was the dirty environment she was in at home)
We did some spring cleaning and yet she still falls sick frequently

Our vet trips cost us a lot of money
From medication, to Vitamin E for skin, Sometimes her stool would have blood and we would get worried..

We have never contacted Irene Kang thinking maybe it was an inherent problem with only our Yorkshire Terrier
And we never complained because she was our love and joy
We took it all in our stride..


However a recent event caused us much heart ache and this prompted me to do some researching

Course of Events

10th of June 2011,

We found her abdomen bloating
And thus sent her to the vet.
The vet found out she might have heart problem
This was confirmed after doing an X-ray on her chest

11/6/2011

We were referred to a specialist at the Jalan Gasing Vet Hospital
There we did an ultrasound and it is confirmed (again) that there is a hole in her heart (VSD)
We were given medication to help improve her heart condition and to stabilise the pressure in the heart

23/06/2011

Things got worse because she's not eating anymore
Even with her favourite snacks
We brought her back to vet who then said that she has only a few more days left
She lost her ability to control her bowel & she can no longer walk straight

25/06/2011

We decided to put her to sleep because she was suffering very badly

*We did not put her to sleep earlier because we thought the medication would help
*We did not at any time know that her condition would deteriorate so fast
(only 15 days from the start of symptoms)
____________________________________________________________

What I would like to point out first and foremost is

Hole in the Heart
Congenital Heart Disease

I quote:
"If you hear your veterinarian use the word "congenital" when describing your dog's defect, that means that the defect has been in existence since the birth of your dog"

Why do I say these?

Apparently, there were other furry owners who experienced the same problem
When they contacted Irene Kang of Starhill, [COLOR=red]she blamed the owner and/or their vets
Can you imagine a grieving owner seeking out the problem with her and he gets blamed in return?

This was the story of a West Highland Terrier who bought a puppy from Irene Kang only to his horror to find her puppy dead 2 weeks later
Another owner did the research and found that out...

I quote her:

"One of her buyers from her 1st Westie litter contacted me. She shared that their puppy (Taco), died 2 weeks after collection because he was infected with Canine Distemper Virus. Did Irene Kang sell them a defected puppy at RM3,000? What did Irene Kang do? She hung up the phone on them. Washing her hands clean from any responsibilities!"

You can read more about Scubby the White Warrior Here
There are several parts to it
This lady has already did some research in which I will not dwell upon in this article

As you can see,
Irene Kang blamed every one else but not herself
A congenital heart disease is whereby the puppy was born with a defect
That defect could have came from anywhere up in the line of genetic tree as a result of breeding

Now please note this:

WHILE THERE ARE NO RULES/GUIDELINES/LAWS THAT DOGS WITH GENETIC DEFECTS SHOULD NOT BE BRED
ETHICAL BREEDERS SHOULD KNOW NOT TO BREED THEM!

This is because when breeding such dogs with genetic defects, the trait will be passed down
It may not appear in the next generation of litters, but it has a high chance of recurring in later generations
This is made worse with the process of INTERBREEDING
(Breeding between Brother Sister, Mother Son, Dad Daughter, Grandad Grandaughter etc etc.)

For more information on the process of interbreeding and what is its effects:

Pedigree Dogs Exposed, BBC Documentary 2008


And now before I end my article
I have a few things to say

1) To you breeders out there

You are breeding a new generation of LIFE
Life is not meant for playing
By breeding you are playing God
There is nothing wrong with breeding

BUT if you breed UNETHICALLY you create problems not only for the owners
You also create problems for the breed
All for the want of money

As breeders, you should be ethical
There is a strong bond between the pets and their owners

No pet owners deserves to go through what my girlfriend and I just went through today
Though we do not regret having our little puppy, she should not have to die this way

*Let me also make you aware of people/breeders/homebreeders selling TEACUP SIZED Puppies
This is happening even on LYN
THINK TWICE BEFORE BUYING THEM
There are NO such things called Teacup sized - Poodles/Yorkshire Terriers or whatever breed
Not especially for Yorkshire Terriers
Please read Here for more Info as to why

*This also is a guideline to all other breeds..
Beware when they say they are selling teacup sized (insert breed here)

2) To you owners/potential owners out there

Do the right thing,
Do your research and homework
Find out the lineage of the puppies before buying
Check for any disease
Check feedback of the breeder from other buyers
DO NOT BE lured in by the fact that the puppy/dog was of champion lineage..
Champion lineage does not mean a thing when your pup is going to die in 1 year or 6 months or worse.. 2 weeks as stated above
Most of Irene Kang's dogs are all from champion lineage
(due to interbreeding)
My dog herself was also from a champion lineage
Get a healthy dog.. not a champion!

If we refuse to buy such dogs with defects, they will stop breeding genetically defected dogs and start breeding ethically to increase sales
Its not to say that you can't buy such dogs with defects...
I fully understand that sometimes its avoidable and maybe a 1 off case
If you do find out that your dog has some genetic defects there are a few things you can do

a) find out more about the defect, is it congenital?
b) find out its lineage and warn the breeder (he may or may not have known about it... and you will help by doing your part to inform)
c) neuter or spay your pet
(Its cruel yes.. but by breeding them you are passing on genetic defects)
d) be responsible and love your pet even those with genetic defects
(I'm not going to lie.. its a heavy burden... its going to incur a lot of expenses.. but the dog is your family)


I have inserted the report on my Puppy Tiffie and her condition
If you like you can have a read


Also If the mods could sticky this in a couple of places I'll be happy
I'm making this as a personal mission to educate people about what is wrong with the pet industry today
The loss we have suffered is painful and incomparable
No one and no pet should go through this kind of pain