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By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block<\/em><\/p>\n In a pet store\u2019s back room, a tiny brown-and-white Havanese puppy was vomiting and lethargic\u2014and left entirely alone in a pen. On seeing her in that state, our undercover investigator alerted Puppy Heaven\u2019s manager, urging that the dog needed to be seen by a veterinarian. When the staff refused, the investigator alerted law enforcement authorities, who insisted that the store manager take Cindy Lou to a veterinarian.<\/p>\n It was too late.<\/p>\n At the veterinarian\u2019s office, Cindy Lou died. The records we obtained showed that her cause of death was liver failure due to congenital liver disease. Her suffering was extended because the pet store failed to get her diagnosed earlier.<\/p>\n Cindy Lou\u2019s photographs remained on the store\u2019s Facebook page for more than a month after she passed. A member of our team called the store and posed as a customer interested in Cindy Lou and was told that Cindy Lou had \u201cbeen adopted.\u201d As of the time of writing this blog, Cindy Lou\u2019s picture is still on the store\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n Cindy Lou\u2019s death, and the store\u2019s failure in its duty to provide care for her, highlights the dysfunctional and systemic cruelty of a low-grade industry that profits from selling puppies in retail pet stores and relies on its poorly trained staff to give ad-hoc care to fragile, ailing puppies. Such stores typically wait until puppies are deathly ill to seek emergency care.<\/p>\n At the puppy-selling pet stores in Nevada, our investigators found several more puppies with breathing problems, lethargy, vomiting, infections or bloody diarrhea.<\/p>\n