Summary: As of 2023, 22 U.S. states have enacted Pet Purchaser Protection Acts, which are commonly known as Puppy Lemon Laws, for the purpose of exactly what the name implies: purchaser protection. In order to accomplish this goal, a typical Pet Purchaser Protection Act requires the seller to make certain disclosures about an animal that is offered for sale, while also affording the purchaser a remedy if a diseased animal is purchased from the seller. This table reveals the types of animals and sellers covered under these acts, as well as the types of remedies that are available and the limitations to these remedies.
As of 2023, 22 states have enacted Pet Purchaser Protection Acts, which are commonly known as Puppy Lemon Laws, for the purpose of exactly what the name implies: purchaser protection. In order to accomplish this goal, a typical Pet Purchaser Protection Act requires the seller to make certain disclosures about an animal that is offered for sale, while also affording the purchaser a remedy if a diseased animal is obtained from the seller. The idea is that if a seller is held responsible for the well-being of an animal that is offered for sale, the seller will not sell a diseased animal. Likewise, if the purchaser is informed about the animal’s past, the purchaser will be less likely to purchase a diseased animal.
While the common name of the Pet Purchaser Protection Act (i.e. Puppy Lemon Laws) suggests a focus on dogs, many states also cover cats and, if you are in New Hampshire, ferrets. Please note, however, that a state, like California, may only require the seller to make disclosures for cats while not affording the purchaser a remedy for the purchase of a diseased cat.
In addition to limiting the types of animals covered under the act, Pet Purchaser Protection Acts also limits the type of seller who can provide a remedy to the purchaser. Typically, these statutes only affect pet stores who sell the covered animal, but some statutes, like California, also cover the sale of an animal by breeders.
Pet Purchaser Protection Acts require a seller to fulfill certain obligations before an animal is sold to a purchaser. For instance, states like Delaware and Rhode Island require that the seller provides the purchaser with a copy of the purchaser’s rights either at the time of sale or upon the purchaser’s request. Furthermore, these statutes may also require disclosures about the animal’s history, including recent examinations by a veterinarian or the place of the animal’s birth. In fact, some states, like Arizona and Connecticut, require sellers to have an animal examined by a licensed veterinarian before the animal is sold. Please note, however, that if a seller does not comply with the Pet Purchaser Protection Act’s disclosure requirements, the purchaser will not necessarily be entitled to remedies. Rather, sellers will most likely face penalties for failing to follow the terms of the statute, such as fines or potentially losing their license to sell animals. Yet some states will afford the purchaser a remedy if the seller does not provide the purchaser with certain documentation. For instance, in Delaware and Pennsylvania, if a seller advertises an animal as being registered or capable of being registered and the seller does not provide the purchaser with the documents necessary to prove the registration or to affect the registration, the purchaser may be entitled to remedies—as long as the purchaser complies with certain provisions of the act. Additionally, New Hampshire provides the purchaser with a remedy if the seller does not provide the purchaser with a copy of the purchaser’s rights.
In most Pet Purchaser Protection Acts, a purchaser will be provided with a remedy when he or she buys an animal that has an illness or a congenital/hereditary condition that adversely affects the animal’s health—although some states, like New Hampshire and Maine, make specific provisions in the event of an animal’s death. To obtain a remedy, the purchaser must take the animal to a licensed veterinarian within a certain time frame—which is usually around 2 weeks for an illness and can range from anywhere between 2 months to 1 year for congenital or hereditary condition—and obtain the veterinarian’s certification that the animal was unfit for purchase at the time of sale. The time frame for a veterinarian certification usually starts the day the animal is sold; however, some time frames, typically those for hereditary or congenital conditions, start the day of the animal’s birth.
If a purchaser meets the requirements to be eligible for a remedy under a Pet Purchaser Protection Act, the purchaser will usually be provided with the option of choosing a single remedy from a list—although the state of Arkansas only provides the purchaser with a single remedy. The list of remedies available under a Pet Purchaser Protection Act can include:
Please note that in addition to remedies under a Pet Purchaser Protection Act, a purchaser may also qualify for certain common law remedies if a diseased animal was purchased from a certain seller.
Lastly, a purchaser may be barred from a remedy for a number of reasons. For instance, most states, like New York and Pennsylvania, will not provide a remedy if the purchaser does not notify the seller within a certain time frame about the veterinarian’s diagnosis. Other states, like Arizona and California, will not afford the purchaser a remedy if the purchaser does not provide certain documents to the seller. Additionally, most states, like Florida and Pennsylvania, will usually not provide the purchaser with a remedy if the illness or injury occurred after the purchase, the veterinarian finds intestinal or external parasites in the animal, and/or the illness or hereditary/congenital condition was disclosed at the time of purchase. Also note that Pet Purchaser Protection Acts typically allow the seller to contest the purchaser’s remedies and may also set out provisions on how a purchaser can initiate a lawsuit against a seller.