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A group of animal lovers is convinced a Palmer Township pet shop has put profits ahead of the welfare of its pets.

The group picketed The Pet Shop in the Palmer Park Mall in early November and plans to return the first weekend of December until the store stops selling sick animals.

The store has a history of dog warden citations dating back to 2006 and a long list of former customers and employees bashing the business on Facebook.

Store owner Scott Wilkes says all of the store's citations have been addressed. The most recent citation is more than two years old. Selling sick animals is simply bad for business, he said.

"We never knowingly send a dog out that has an illness," he said.

Dana Van Horn of Nazareth protested at the store with her friend, Trisha Miechur of Lower Nazareth Township, because Van Horn claims the store sold her a sick Yorkshire terrier.

She bought the dog, Luna, on Oct. 13. The dog died Nov. 2. She claims the store knew it was sick.

Wilkes said a veterinary examination found no definitive cause for Luna's death. He believes the dog was malnourished and blamed Van Horn's friend for failing to give the dog proper food or medicine while Van Horn was on vacation.

Van Horn was outraged. She said veterinarians couldn't rule out various diseases, including a liver shunt, adverse vaccine reaction or immune system problem. Her family was devastated by Luna's death.

"Watching her in pain everyday because she was sick and not knowing how to help her hurt me more than anything," Van Horn said.

"I suggested we stand up for these animals and be the voice of them," Miechur said. "I feel The Pet Shop does not care about the animals. All they care about is making money and selling sick puppies."

Van Horn said she got a $1,400 refund for the dog after some stubborn complaining and wasn't reimbursed $3,500 in bills from a second veterinarian.

Wilkes said The Pet Shop will refund medical bills equivalent to what they would pay the veterinarian affiliated with the store. They won't reimburse the bill of a high-end veterinarian, such as the one Van Horn consulted.

"We did refund her the cost of the dog, only because we felt badly for her that the dog passed away," Wilkes said.

Van Horn isn't the only person to accuse the store of selling sick dogs. She quickly learned about more unsatisfied customers after putting up a Facebook page in Luna's memory.

"Countless stories of animals living in poor conditions started flowing into my inbox, all revolving around that very store," she said.

Tina Betz of Bath said she had to take her border collie to the veterinary emergency room a week after she bought him from The Pet Shop in 2016. Betz said the store blamed her for failing to keep the dog warm. The store reimbursed her about $300 of her $1,000 in medical bills.

Karen Spokane won $235 in small claims court in 2011 for The Pet Shop to cover some of the medical bills for her sick cat. Wilkes argued the cat got sick after he sold it.

Wilkes said these cases are exceptions. Most dogs sold from the store are healthy, he said. He said every sick dog must be cleared by a veterinarian before it's sold.

"These things can happen. Sometimes there are birth defects we don't see. That's the reason we have the warranties we do," he said.

Former Pet Shop employees Corrine Cook and Keanna Gorrie say they couldn't work at the store due to treatment of animals in the back room. They said workers were ordered to pump sick dogs full of antibiotics and get them back on the sales floor as quickly as possible. They're backed up by two more ex-workers who declined to speak on the record.

These employees haven't worked at the store for months to years, but on Tuesday customer Lisa Mathis of Easton said she peeked into the back room to see rigged-up nebulizer treatments taped to cages for sick puppies.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," she said. When she tried to take a picture with her cell phone, an employee slammed the back room door.

Wilkes said employees don't want customers around the sick animals. He said the store has protocols in place to handle common illnesses.

"That's what that room is all about," Wilkes said. "Any dog that we have any question about that we can't handle that has more than a simple illness, we take it right to the vet."

The store has been cited 13 times since 2006 by the state dog warden. A state dog warden ordered veterinary examinations for a total of nine dogs at the pet shop in 2015, 2012 and 2011. The warden ordered the exams because she feared the dogs were sick.

The store was cited in 2012 and 2015 for selling dogs provided by an unlicensed out-of-state vendor, raising questions about whether the dogs came from puppy mills.

Wilkes said the store has always used licensed vendors. The two times the store was cited its vendor let its license lapse and didn't notify The Pet Shop, he said. Any issue that has cropped up during an inspection has been fixed, he said. He said selling pets is a highly-regulated industry.

"The regulations have gotten a lot stiffer and that's a good thing," he said.

Wilkes said the store's motto, "animals first," permeates from the ownership to the managers to the rank-and-file employees.

"Everybody that's in our store is a pet owner or a pet lover," he said. "I literally have these girls crying when these puppies go home. They love these animals. They take care of them as if they were their own."

Van Horn and Miechur aren't convinced. They plan to return for another protest on Dec. 2.

"I feel they do not care about the animals' welfare at all," Miechur said. "Dec. 2 we will be doing another protest and in hopes of others will show up and help us continue to fight for the animals being neglected."

Their Facebook page "Justice for Luna and all the puppies" continues to generate a steady steam of criticism about The Pet Shop.

Facebook tends to draw negative rather than positive comments, Wilkes said.

"I wish all the people who had great experiences with us would go on there. It would outnumber these people 1,000 to 1," he said. "We have done this for 40 years. Everything that we do is with the intent of putting the animal first."

STATE CITATIONS

Here's the rundown of state kennel license inspection failures at The Pet Shop, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's website.

Feb. 27, 2015: Broken and protruding wires coming from ventilation ducts posed an injury threat to dogs. The floor was flaking or completely worn away in some dog enclosures. The store accepted animals from unlicensed, out-of-state dealers. Veterinary examinations were ordered for two dogs based on observations of their conditions.

Jan. 7, 2015: A German Shepherd was housed in an area without enough head clearance or space for the dog to turn around. Puppies were observed shivering. The store manager said the heating system broke on Jan. 2, 2015, and the store was waiting for parts to repair it. A cruelty referral was made.

Feb. 16, 2012: The store purchased dogs from unlicensed out-of-state dealers. A Shih Tzu puppy in a quarantine room was in a second-tier kennel with a broken door, which posed an injury hazard. The main kennel was cold. An electric heater wasn't working. The facility was put on quarantine after 11 dogs were spotted with obvious signs of illness. A veterinary exam was ordered for one dog.

Aug. 22, 2011: A verbal warning was given for a German Shepherd kept in a cage that was too small. Flooring was uneven, leaving a gap where dogs' feet could be trapped and injured.

Dec. 10, 2011: A kennel door was broken and held together with a metal ring and a hinge. A dog could get a paw caught in the door or fall to the floor.

July 11, 2011: The kennel was extremely hot and uncomfortable, with no air flow, inadequate ventilation and stagnant air. Records were missing and incomplete. Veterinary exams were ordered for six puppies that appeared lethargic with nasal discharge, coughing and/or ear infections.

Sept. 15, 2010: There wasn't enough run space for a German Shepherd and beagle.

Sept. 22, 2009: Corgi and Bassett puppies were in a cage that was too small. Beagle and Min Pin puppies were in small cages in the quarantine area. Vents and sprinklers had a buildup of dust and dirt.

July 7, 2009: Vent covers were missing on seven kennels, causing a safety hazard. Vinyl coating on some of the pen floors was worn away, exposing metal. There was poor ventilation in the quarantine room.

May 27, 2009: The vinyl coating on some of the pen floors was worn away, exposing metal. No bills of sale were available for inspection. Dog were brought in from out of state with no health certificates.

Oct. 2, 2008: Air vent openings were in disrepair.

Feb. 14, 2008: Records were not available for inspection.

June 9, 2006: The store had a heavy odor of bleach due to poor ventilation. Records were not available for inspection.

Rudy Miller may be reached at Media Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
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