A couple have been left distraught after their new pup was put down 24 hours after it arrived.
Nicola Stevenson was thrilled when she found what she thought was the perfect pet to join her family in a Gumtree advert.
The 27-year-old handed £750 over to two women when they brought the little dog to her Bellshill home, but less than a day later it was clear something was terribly wrong.
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Nicola told Glasgow Live: "We were looking for another dog to join the family. It took a while but we found the little one on Gumtree and arranged to view it, and they asked if they could come to us to make sure it was coming to a good home, we said that's fine.
"When they came out I asked if they had any vet cards and they said they brought that with them. They gave me the vet card and I never looked at it much.
"They left and said give them a call anytime. She messaged me that night to ask if she'd settled in and if everything was ok, she was very attentive."
A short time later the spaniel puppy started showing signs of parvovirus, a disease which if left untreated can prove to be fatal for animals.
Nicola said: "We knew the pup was unwell, she was just lifeless.
"I took her to the vet and they said this dog is really, really sick. I gave the card to my vet and she got a colleague.
"When she came back she said 'this isn't a real vet card, there's no signatures.' She googled the stamp card and it didn't exist, it was a fake vet.
"She tested positive for parvovirus and the vet said 'there is only two options I can give you now, we can euthanise her or head to Lanark veterinary hospital right away and they'll try and treat her.
"So we gave her the option to survive. We went home and 20 minutes later received the call and they said her white blood cells are non-existent it was that bad.
"The dog was really unwell. It was traumatising."
The pup was put down a short time later.
Nicola believes she may be a victim of puppy farmers and fears she is not the only one who has fallen foul of a potential scam after hearing similar stories from others.
She explained: "One girl reached out to me and said she got the same puppy breed at a pick up spot in Coatbridge and it was quite poorly. She took it to the vet and thankfully it was ok but when she contacted the seller they never got back to her.
"So we checked if any more ads were up and we couldn't believe it. There was another post up with more spaniel puppies but they were different breeds."
The scenario described by Nicola is one that vets at the Clyde Veterinary Group, where the worried owner took the poorly puppy, had sadly seen before, and believes the sellers are acting illegally.
A spokesperson claims: "The person that sold this puppy will have sold under other names and addresses to lots of other people.
"The practice on the vet card given is one we've never heard of and after some quick research we find that there isn't a practice with that name.
"A vet card should be pre-printed but this was stamped.
"They'll fill the back of a van with dozens of these puppies, bring them here and have them on Gumtree within 24 hours. They'll spread them to different addresses to make it seem as though they are coming from a home environment.
"Puppies will be sold from these homes and they'll go back and get more. It's far more lucrative to do this than sell other illegal items and the penalties for those caught are very minor."
Nicola reported her concerns to the Scottish SPCA and police.
The SSPCA declined to comment as it is an ongoing investigation.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We received a report on Friday, December 9 relating to the theft of a puppy in the Bellshill area.
“Officers have attended and the matter has been established as civil with no criminality established at this time.
“Any further information provided will be assessed.”
A spokesperson for Gumtree said: “At Gumtree, we take the welfare of animals extremely seriously. We were sorry to hear about Nicola’s experience, who did the right thing by reporting her concerns to the Scottish SPCA and the police, and we have taken action to restrict the seller on our platform.
“We do not tolerate the use of our site by bad actors and prohibit users from listing more than two pet adverts per year to restrict harmful behaviour. We also work closely with leading animal welfare organisations including Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs & Cats, SSPCA and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to comply with all industry-endorsed standards to improve animal welfare in an ecommerce environment.
“We strongly encourage users with any suspicions about a seller or concerns about animal welfare to contact us immediately via our help desk. Our dedicated safety team will then investigate and take necessary actions such as removing the ad, blocking the offender from the site and, where necessary, assisting law enforcement investigations.
“We are committed to educating our users on safely rehoming pets and encourage anyone thinking of welcoming an animal into their family to familiarise themselves with our advice on safely rehoming pets online here.”
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