Question:
but I have never heard of a "puppy lemon law." Is there a more
technical term?
Answer:
Sure there is. Virtually none are called "lemon laws" in the acts
themselves. The term "lemon law" is not a technical term but a popular
one. The correct technical term is "consumer protection law" because it is
intended to protect the buyer, not the dogs. The individual acts are
generally named something reflecting consumer protection. For example the
Pennsylvania law is "Dog Purchaser Protection Act" and the California one
is "Polanco-Lockyer Pet Breeders Warranty Act". However the term "puppy
lemon law" is certainly useful for grouping the general concept and more
colorful that "consumer protection law."
An option I didn't previously suggest but one that does tie in to our
current glaucoma issue is to keep your puppy and just wait. If at some
point in the future the opthalmologist feels he's in pain from the cataract
and vision is already lost, you can consider doing a fake eye replacement
(which is less than the cataract surgery) and hope that the breeder will
contribute heavily towards the cost.
We've had 3 dogs in our rescue that have had blindness issues. One went
totally blind but was born a seeing dog (he had detached retinas). One had
a cataract that took away vision in his left eye and the guy we have now who
has glaucoma in his right eye and no vision any longer. The two that only
had one seeing eye were completely normal dogs. They tended to sometimes be
a tad clumsier when it came to objects that could only be seen out of the
blind eye but otherwise they acted no differently and are more than able to
do all the normal things dogs do.
