A Scots family put through "five days of hell" have been left heartbroken by the death of their puppy after being duped by coldhearted puppy farmers.
William and Maureen Mackenzie wanted to bring a dog into their home to love but have been devastated by the death of Jack Russell Sandy who died just days after they bought him.
The pup, purchased on Mother's Day, was a present for Maureen's 50th birthday.
Her husband William told the Record of the family's anguish when Sandy died of parvovirus on March 20 after an Irish seller on Gumtree insisted on dropping him at their Glasgow home.
William said: 'He said he wanted to see the house and check out the environment the puppy would be living in.
"At first we thought he would come out and have a look and not bring the pup but he came with the puppies.
"I sort of twigged straight away because he was Irish one of the pups looked really sick and had a limp.
"One of them ran straight to my wee 10-year-old and started licking her and it was all over her. The full time he was saying 'I see how well she's taken to the dog'.
"It felt right at the moment. Something in me did say this is not right but with the wee one so taken with the dog I just went with it.
"The first night he was okay - he had diarrhoea with some bleeding but I phoned the vet straight away and they said it could be from the travelling or change of environment.
"Then on the Tuesday night he was really sick and there was a lot of vomit. We took him to the emergency vets and he never came back."
William, Maureen, daughter Milly, 10, and two sons Lewis, 20 and Josh, 22, have all been left distraught at Sandy's death.
As well as initially paying £1,200 for the pup - named after William's late father - the family forked out an additional £3,600 on vet fees.
William described the seller as Irish who was kitted out in designer gear.
Recently we told of three border collie pups who all died after being bought by sellers on Gumtree.
All of the pups defecated blood before becoming seriously ill just hours after being dropped off.
One miracle whippet puppy managed to survive a puppy farming ordeal after spending seven days at the vets.
The SPCA has been inundated with complaints of people being duped by callous puppy farmers and are urging buyers to remain vigilant.
The Mackenzie family are now desperate to make sure no one else goes through the same ordeal.
William added: "It's been absolutely heartbreaking, as a father as well as a husband watching my wife, kids and the pup go through that.
"Everything seemed to fall into place but little did we know what we going to go through for six days.
"I hope we can help other people not go through the anguish we have."
A spokesperson for the Scottish SPCA said: “Every day we are inundated with stories where puppies have become sick or pass away due to being involved in the low-welfare puppy trade. Bad breeders are putting money first. Animal welfare is not even on their radar.
“We are investigating all cases reported to us, alongside the other leading agencies, and we are doing what we can to disrupt the multi-million pound low-welfare industry.
“Please do not accept any excuses for someone to drop a puppy off to you. These people are master manipulators and no matter how legitimate it seems, you must insist on seeing the puppy with mum.
“Be very careful about buying a puppy online as this is where bad breeders are thriving just now. Make sure you do your research and visit www.saynotopuppydealers.co.uk to find the signs of a bad breeder. If in doubt, walk away and call us on 03000 999 999. Calls can be treated confidentially.”
A spokesperson for Gumtree added: “We take the welfare of animals extremely seriously and we were saddened to hear about the Mackenzie family’s experience.
"Once we were made aware of the case, our dedicated trust and safety team immediately blocked the seller’s account and we’ve launched an investigation to identify and block any further accounts that could be linked to the same seller.
“We work hard to ensure our site is a safe place to find pets in need of rehoming, and we are committed to educating our users on how to buy pets safely and responsibly.
"We encourage all our users to always check medical records and to never purchase puppy before visiting it in its own home, and seeing it with its mother.
"Any users with concerns about an animal’s welfare should always use the ‘Report’ button that appears next to every ad. Our team will then investigate and, if necessary, work with the police and animal welfare groups to secure convictions.
“We work with Pets Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) – the UK’s trade body covering online animal sales made up of 25 welfare organisations including Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs & Cats, the Scottish SPCA and DEFRA among others – to comply with all of their 18 standards.
"These industry-endorsed standards improve animal welfare in an ecommerce environment. We encourage anyone thinking of welcoming an animal into their family to familiarise themselves with our advice on safely rehoming pets: https://www.gumtree.com/content/pet-education/”
