hi, I hope their is someone who breeds collies who can help me. I bought a red mearle border collie bitch from a farm a few weeks ago, she is a lovely pup but when I took her to the vet i was told she has lice and a skin infection, she may also have fleas. I was worried she was sctratching a lot when I brought her home but the breeder gave me flea drops to put on her and said they are common as it is summertime and collies have long coats. the vet told me the puppy could only have got the fleas and lice from the mother dog and now I am wondering if I have been conned or something as the breeder told me the mother dog was a working sheepdog and she was out on the hill with the farmer rounding up sheep. At the time I didnt think anythink of this as it was  farm and their were quite a few collies running around in the yard and the breeder showed me the dad and the sisters from a litter they had before. I have tried to ring the breeder to find out what is going on as im not happy my puppy has to be treated with special ointment for the lice and she has to go back for a skin scraping to see what else is wrong, should I report the breeder to the rscpa or ask for my money back am I entitled to do that? please help

hi i would go back to the breeder in person and have it out with them, a good breeder would give you your money, or pay the bill. if they are not interested you no what sort of people you have got it from and i would report them. good luck hope it goes ok for you and your pup.

It does sound a bit iffy I am afraid.  Often farms selling collies say the mother is out working the sheep when they have infact bought the pups in to sell.
I don't think the RSPCA will be interested, but if you have been sold goods that are faulty or unfit for the purpose to put it bluntly, then the trading standards might be able to help you.

Good luck and if you find yourself in a position where you have returned the pup and are looking for another, come back on here and we will point you in the direction of good breeders who health test their stock and raise them correctly. 

I'm not sure in what way you think you have been conned. From what I understand from your post you bought a working collie pup from a farm without seeing the mother. You were told she was out working sheep - that could be true, or it might not be. The pup had fleas when you brought it home - that happens, unfortunately, especially if pups are reared outside on straw or hay, which harbours fleas. It is down to the buyer to examine the pup at the time of sale, and unless you were told the pup came with a clean bill of health from a vet, then it was sold 'as seen'. There is no way of proving where the fleas came from - they are very plentiful in the warm weather - so the best thing to do is just treat the pup for them.

I agree sheep are full of fleas  even maggots sometimes also pups cannot (IMO) have insectacides put on them at a young age.
if you knew the pup was off a working collie off a farm you may have expected something.also as jeangenie says straw and hay is full of insects too.
If your pup is healthy in every other way just address the flea treatment and she should be ok

also why a skin scraping so soon? how old is the pup?

I can see no reason for getting your money back guest. Fleas and lice are often a produce of a farm environment. As to the skin scrape, unless your vet suspects mange I really dont know why they would want to do one. If they have found lice and fleas then in all possibility the scratching will stop and that will be that.

Regards, John

Have to say I agree, you have got what you bought, a farm bred puppy, probably unplanned and by an unknown sire. But if the pup is healthy you have what you paid for and insect infection is not too difficult to get rid of. Just treat the problem and enjoy the pup.

As the vet is taking a skin scraping it sounds like they may suspect something more than just fleas.  If she was given flea drops at the time of purchase then they should have cleared up in the few weeks she has had the pup.

Perhaps Collie, farm and no mother to be seen is just ringing alarm bells to me.

A friend of mine has just brought a  puppy and it started to scratch so she took it to the vets who said it probably had fleas and gave her the usual 'drops at the back of the neck' thing and then prompty laid into her about feeding a raw diet and said the puppy also had an alergy and feeding a raw diet had caused it and promptly told them to feed pedigree complete.  I would guarantee that the result from a skin scraping would come back negative and the puppy owner would have a large vet bill!!!