Carla Hutson brought home a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy from a Missouri Petland store, certain she'd found a healthy dog from a responsible breeder. She named him Seven.

Within days, he came down with a parasitic infection. Then came a far more serious diagnosis: Chiari-like malformation, a condition that leaves too little room in the skull for the brain. Hutson's lawsuit says this defect affects at least 95% of purebred Cavaliers, yet Petland never posted a warning about it on its website.

Filed with help from PETA Foundation attorneys, the lawsuit claims a Petland employee told Hutson that Seven came from breeders who went "above and beyond" industry standards, according to court documents. But the suit alleges those standards are just the basics required for a federal license, with no genetic testing before breeding pairs are chosen.

After thousands of dollars in vet bills, Hutson had to give Seven up to a rescue group, unable to keep covering his care.

Cavaliers are widely regarded as among the least healthy dog breeds anywhere, so prone to this kind of brain damage that a court in Norway banned breeding them entirely. Petland keeps selling them without telling buyers what they could be signing up for.

Sign the petition to demand Petland disclose these genetic risks and stop selling sick puppies before another family goes through what Hutson and Seven did.