A DOG owner has told of her heartbreak to raise awareness of canine parvovirus after her new puppy had to be put down, as well as her beloved family dog.

Megan Dawson, from Popley, was devastated to have her new Labrador puppy, Digger, put down on Thursday, 5 July after discovering the dog had canine parvovirus, known as parvo, an often lethal and highly infectious disease that mostly affects young dogs.

Only a few days after that, her beloved family pet Chihuahua, Pooka, also showed symptoms of parvo, and had to be put down on Monday last week.

Megan said: “We’ve lost two dogs in the space of just over a week, it’s really broken our family up. We’ve gone from having four dogs to two in a short period of time.”

After purchasing the dog online for £350 from a seller, Megan and took the dog in on June 29.

Megan added: “They must have known that the dog had parvo, and still sold us the dog anyway, at what was a cheap price for a Labrador.

“What a vile thing to do - to sell a dog that you know would have an infectious disease. Pooka was only about the size of a guinea pig, and was too small and young to get the necessary jabs at the time.”

Megan wants to get the word out there about the disease and to remind people to get their dogs protected. Dogs affected by parvo go off their food and drink, become lethargic, and lose weight very quickly.

The family has been unable to get their money back or get in touch with the seller.

The RSPCA has launched an investigation into the seller.

The Gazette attempted to get in touch with the seller of the puppy, but could not reach them.

A spokesperson from the RSPCA said: “Our thoughts go out to this family after losing their puppy. We have been made aware and will be looking into it.

“Sadly, this story isn’t unusual and we are hearing of more and more heartbreaking incidents such as this. The puppy trade is a serious money-making industry and there are many unscrupulous breeders and sellers prepared to put profits ahead of the health and welfare of the dogs.

“That’s why we urge anyone thinking of getting a dog to first consider taking on a rescue dog. If buying a puppy we’d urge people to be extremely cautious and use the Puppy Contract: puppycontract.org.uk.”