A current affair - puppy farmer exposé

Fiona Schneider found her dog Eddie, through an ad in the Sunday Times.

When she spoke to the seller on the phone, she explained she lived out of the city and would meet the Schneider's half way between their homes in a fast food car park.

Fiona bought the Labrador puppy, and within days of bringing him home he began to vomit.

She took the puppy to the vet, where he was diagnosed with parvo virus.The Schneider family paid more than five thousand dollars to save him.

Sam and her partner Hayden bought their puppy from an advertisement in the Quokka. Again the seller wanted to meet in a carpark and within hours of brining the dog home, it was vomiting.

Harper was also diagnosed with parvo. A week later Harper died..

Parvo is a highly infectious viral disease that can spread from dog to dog by direct or indirect contact with their excrement.

The virus can live in the concrete at homes and properties and can be transferred through shoes or clothing.

Properties that have housed dogs with parvo are unsafe for puppies for months afterwards.

It's symptoms include, vomiting and diarrhea, and in the later stages bloody diarrhea. It has a very high mortality rate and mainly affects puppies.

Older dogs aren't at risk if they have been vaccinated, and the disease only affects dogs.

Richard Barry from the RSPCA warns that some people, such as the lady A Current Affair investigated are selling puppies to make a profit, and aren't considering the animals welfare.

"There is evidence to suggest that people who are buying puppies from these people online or through newspapers, are running into problems and sometimes that means the animal actually dies."

"Don't just buy a dog from the back of a car because you've read an advert in a newspaper and they are selling them in a carpark- use your common sense" he said.

From: A Current Affair