The I-Team spoke with three former Petland employees including Kynlee Davis, who worked at the Blue Springs store.
While Davis worked in Missouri, the I-Team learned two other former employees in Kentucky also filed complaints with attorneys general offices.
Kynlee Davis’ story
Kynlee Davis first met Phoebe, a Bernese Mountain Dog, while working as a kennel tech at the Blue Springs Petland.
The teenager said Phoebe became sick shortly after she arrived at the store in November 2022.
“Hardly being able to move, keep her head up, open her eyes, super runny nose,” Davis said.
A Petland spokeswoman confirmed the store treated Phoebe for a “bacterial, upper respiratory infection in mid-November, spending two nights in the veterinarian's clinic for treatment.”
Almost a week later, over the Thanksgiving holiday, the store let Davis take care of Phoebe at her home while the puppy recovered.
“Ms. Davis made a request to the store manager [to] care for the puppy at her home while it was recovering from the upper respiratory infection," a Petland spokeswoman said. "Her request was granted, and her training enabled her to provide any medication or special feedings the puppy might need. She also represented Petland Blue Springs in taking the puppy to its weekly vet appointments throughout the dog’s recovery.”
“Everybody had to keep an eye on her,” Davis said.
Phoebe’s health record showed the store’s vet cleared the puppy for sale almost two months later on Jan. 13, 2023. That’s the same day Davis' family bought Phoebe for $2,000.
“She is way more energetic," Davis said. "She has not had any signs of not feeling good since she’s been here. She eats a lot more. She’s a lot more playful and cuddly."
Davis worked as a kennel tech at the Blue Springs store for about four months, starting in September 2022.
“And once I was a kennel tech, I was seeing everything,” Davis said.
Part of being a kennel tech includes checking puppies when they arrive.
“We’d look at their ears. We’d look at the teeth," she said. "We’d look at their eyes, their nose, their bodies."
A corporate spokeswoman said kennel managers and animal care technicians are “trained to make visual checks of puppies at intake. This is a non-medical health screening that does not require a veterinarian to be present. The intake check is not a substitution for the full veterinary exam that each puppy will receive.”
In a statement, the spokeswoman added:
“The intake process is a basic, visual exam to determine if the puppy has any signs of illness that could be transmitted to other puppies or would require urgent intervention. A veterinarian is not typically part of this process. However, each store has a process for what to do if a puppy needs to be seen sooner than vet check day and select the pets that will be accepted by the store. Veterinarians are typically not onsite for puppy arrivals, as they have local clinics, they also operate during business hours.
"As part of puppy intake, the kennel manager and ACT receive health-related paperwork from the distributor for each puppy accepted (this includes prior vet exams, vaccines already administered, etc.) The kennel team uses these documents in creating a file for each puppy that will be a working document related to the puppy’s health and wellbeing (temperament, socialization, etc.) throughout their time in our kennel - until they go home.
"The team (manager and/or ACT) checks and records temperatures of accepted puppies when they arrive, and subsequently several times a day until they go to their forever home. The kennel team monitors and records behaviors (sleepy, play, eating, etc.) food/water intake is measured, and bodily waste (including appearance of the poop – solid, soft serve, etc.) is documented on the puppy’s chart several times a day until the puppy eventually goes home.”
“I didn’t fully know what I was looking for since I wasn’t a vet,” Davis said.
The I-Team learned most of the store veterinarians don’t examine the puppies until one to two days after arrival.
“Most of our state-licensed consulting store veterinarians examine puppies within 24-48 hours of arrival. There are protocols in place for more immediate attention if it is warranted," a Petland spokeswoman said. "These include, but are not limited to, contacting Petland’s corporate veterinarian, calling the consulting vet or pursuing emergency treatment in the very unlikely event that a puppy needs it. Puppies are not marketed nor available for guests for visits (or to be sold) until they are examined and cleared by the state-licensed store veterinarian.”
Davis files complaint with Missouri AG, Petland responds
Davis also told the I-Team and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office the Blue Springs store had “parvo outbreaks.”
Parvo is a highly contagious disease that can cause heart damage.
A letter sent to the Missouri AG's Office from the store’s attorney, C. Brooks Wood, said Petland Blue Springs “has not had a 'parvo outbreak,' rather rare, individual cases.”
"If a dog tests positive for parvo, it is immediately isolated and taken to the store’s contracted, state-licensed veterinarian, where it remains until it is determined by testing to be clear of the virus," Wood added. “Under this protocol, the affected puppy does not endanger other puppies, and it is not necessary for the sale of other puppies in the ordinary course of business to be discontinued. All parvo cases are treated under the supervision of [a] state-licensed veterinarian. If a puppy is treated, that treatment is disclosed to the consumer along with all of the breeder and health information.”
The AG’s office told the I-Team it’s still investigating Davis' complaint.
Pet stores not required to report 'parvo outbreaks'
The Missouri Department of Agriculture told the I-Team pet stores in Missouri are not required to report “parvo outbreaks” to the state.
We learned the department substantiated a 2022 complaint about a dog diagnosed with parvo and parasites three days after it was bought from a different Petland store in the St. Louis area.
The state inspected the store but did not find other infected dogs.
Other complaints filed to Missouri AG's Office
We also discovered the Missouri Attorney General's Office received 18 other complaints about Petland stores since 2020, including one about a puppy the owner claimed went into "cardiac arrest in addition to other illnesses caused by parvo” two weeks after purchase.
Other complaints included the sale of sick puppies, financing issues and disputes about the store’s warranties.
The AG’s office said it tried to mediate those complaints and took no further action.
Concerns in Lexington, Kentucky
Our investigation also led us to Lexington, Kentucky.
The focus was an ordinance to ban pet stores from selling dogs and cats.
“When you look at a pet store and the cute puppies and the things that they sell, you think all is good and well,” Helsdottir said at the April committee meeting. “The puppies are happy and seemingly healthy and the stores are just impeccably clean. As someone who worked inside one of those types of stores, I can attest that looks are incredibly deceiving."
Helsdottir filed a complaint in May with the Kentucky Attorney General's Office alleging concerns about the source of the Lexington store’s puppies, intimidating employees who speak out and selling a sick puppy to a customer.
“While they may appear healthy, many times these puppies will have diseases such as giardia, upper respiratory infections and, in severe cases, parvovirus, a highly infectious disease that can kill within days if left untreated,” Helsdottir also said at the April meeting.
A Petland spokeswoman responded to Helsdottir’s allegations.
“Danielle Helsdottir gained brief employment at Petland Lexington as a part-time animal care technician (ACT) on March 8, 2024. In the testimony you reference, we witnessed Ms. Helsdottir making bizarre, false and slanderous allegations about where Petland sources its pets, and about puppy health. Her comments were based simply on her opinion and are not in line with Petland’s operating practices. To our knowledge, Helsdottir has zero veterinary qualifications, and she had very little time in acting as a Petland employee.
"In the less than 81 total hours she claimed to work over her 29-day tenure, Helsdottir, who was technically still in her training period, never relayed a single concern to Petland management. Nor did she or anyone else at Petland Lexington share information via Petland’s anonymous employee Ethics Hotline, which is presented during employee orientation, appears on signage in kennels and employee common areas across the enterprise, urging staff to report issues that may affect the employee and/or pets in the store.”
Helsdottir, however, claims she did share concerns with management.
The I-Team learned another former employee who worked with Helsdottir filed a complaint with the Kentucky AG in May.
In her complaint, Miriam Arena said, “I have seen and cared for numerous sick dogs, some with worms or giardia or worse, being sold to unknowing families.”
Regarding Arena's complaint, Petland told the I-Team:
“Every citizen has the right to file a complaint about anything, and it’s much easier these days with online forms at their fingertips. In this case, Ms. Arena’s complaint doesn’t appear to include substantiated facts and seems to be a case of someone airing their opinion to a state office without a) being an actual customer with a specific consumer complaint and b) without providing evidence of the allegations being claimed.
"During her 18-month tenure as an employee at Petland Lexington, Ms. Arena never verbalized nor made an internal complaint related to the health of pets in the store. There is also no record of a complaint by Ms. Arena, or an anonymous complaint, identifying poor animal health at Petland Lexington during the time of her employment.
"Every Petland store has a contracted, state-licensed veterinarian who provides oversight of the care and any treatment required (vaccinations, medication needs, etc.) for our pets. Pets like humans can become sick. If the veterinarian determines a pet needs specialized care, that pet is housed in the kennel’s special care unit. It is not in the public facing kennel area, not advertised on the store’s website or social media and is not available to visit with customers until the store veterinarian deems the pet is fully recovered and healthy for sale.
"If Ms. Arena, or any Petland employee, believes the business is not operating at the highest ethical standards, or they have a concern about pets or a human relations issue, they are required to report it. Every employee learns about this responsibility in orientation. It is also posted in staff areas of the workplace, including in the kennels. The poster includes the 800-number to call Petland’s Ethics Hotline, where they can make a report anonymously. Employees are reminded that if they 'see something to say something.' Each call is taken seriously and is investigated by our ethics team.”
In a letter , the Kentucky AG’s Office told Arena her complaint “describes an issue that falls outside the parameters within which we can mediate. Therefore, we will be unable to assist you.”
The Kentucky AG’s Office has not responded to our questions about the status of Helsdottir's complaint.
State lawmaker files bill
After the I-Team's calls, Missouri Rep. Ashley Aune introduced a bill to require pet stores to report parvo outbreaks to the state.
It did not pass, but Aune told the I-Team she plans to re-introduce the bill next session.
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