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Pet owners caution others of fraud mobile vet clinic

SIOUX FALLS, SD (Dakota News Now) -Bailey Abbott recently obtained a litter of puppies after her mother Elizabeth’s dog gave birth.

Things were going well until the puppies developed symptoms they couldn’t solve at home and needed help.

They were overjoyed to have new puppies in the family at the time.

However, Bailey Abbott said things soon took a turn for the worse one weekend while her mother Elizabeth was watching the puppies.

She said it was late on a Sunday night when the puppies began to show symptoms, she was unfamiliar with, which led to a moment of panic.

“I thought they were dying and they’re just so important to us and I thought they needed immediate care,” said Elizabeth Abbott, owner of mother dog.

Her daughter says that is when her mother began to search for an emergency vet that would be open on a Sunday night in Sioux Falls.

However, what she found was unsettling.

“Low and behold a mobile vet, it’s got a picture of a dog and an orange cat on the side. It’s somewhere between the Hilton Gardens and Raven Industries,” said Bailey Abbott, Sioux Falls resident.

But as her mother approached the van things seemed a little off.

“They asked her for whatever cash she had on hand. They said their credit card machine was not working because it was a weekend, and they couldn’t get anyone to fix it until they asked her to write down her credit card information and that they would charge her later,” said Bailey Abbott, Sioux Falls resident.

After allegedly checking out the puppies, the so-called vet then gave her further instructions.

“They kept telling me I was too late and that the best thing I could do was to take them to the Humane Society and that they would take care of them and make sure everything would be alright,” said Elizabeth Abbott.

Scared and hopeless, her mother followed the instructions and brought the puppies to the Humane Society but had to drop them off in the intake box because it was after normal business hours.

When her daughter heard what had happened, she immediately started making calls to try and track down the puppies, eventually finding that the puppies were relocated from the Humane Society to a different animal rescue.

Bailey and her mother are still in the process of working with the Humane Society in hopes of getting the puppies back and returning them to their mother.

“Momo the dog, she just keeps walking back and forth, she cries at the door, she cries at the foot of the bed,” said Bailey Abbott.

Despite the difficulties, Bailey and her mother are trying to stay optimistic.

“I hope they have my puppies and I hope, and I hope they come home to me and my daughter,” said Elizabeth Abbott.

Both Bailey and her mother say they have learned from this experience and will do whatever is necessary to get the puppies back to reunite them with their mother.

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