How Pet or Puppy Lemon Law Protects Pet Owners’ Consumer Rights

Cuddly, furry pets are almost part of every regular household. They are most often considered as family.

Needless to say, when you buy a pet from a pet store, the investment transcends that of your finances; you are about to invest you and your family’s emotions on it; hence, you need to make sure a new pet is healthy and not dying.

What happens if you happened to buy a puppy that’s sickly yet the pet store didn’t inform you about it?

There is a law that protects consumers’ rights in pet purchasing from pet stores.

This law is called Pet Lemon Law. Under the Pet Lemon Law, pet owners have the right to request for a refund or replacement of their purchased pets when they are found to be ill.

A Pet Lemon Law varies from every state; however, there are standard rules that are included in every Pet Lemon Law.

Pets that are worm-infested will not fall under the category of serious illness and are not covered by the Pet Lemon Law.

Pets that have become ill or seriously bruised because of abuse, maltreatment, or simply negligence on the part of the owner are exempted from the law.

When a pet owner finds out that his new pet is ill within two weeks after he purchased it from the pet store, he can return it or request for a replacement.

A pet that is found out to have an inborn sickness can be returned to the pet store within 12 months after he bought it from the pet store.

Under the Pet Lemon Law, a pet owner has enough time to restore his pet back to health.

You can take care of your pet but all veterinary expenses must be handled by the pet store management.

However, even if the Pet Lemon Law mandates that all vet expenses are shouldered by the pet store management, there is a maximum amount that it can shoulder. This amount differs from each state.

Currently there are less than 20 states that have a Pet Lemon Law. Most of them only deal with dogs, as they are the most popular pets in the country.

The best strategy to avoid having to resort to Pet Lemon Law is to know all about your pet including its illness history before you buy it.

It helps to make yourself knowledgeable about the Pet Lemon Law in your state, if only to make sure that you know how to protect yourself from pet sellers that hide some medical facts about the pets they are selling.