I am Yashwanth Rao, 30 Years old Male resident of Flat no. 306, Venkateswara Lake Front Apartment, RK Puram Hyderabad. This complaint is regarding ill-treatment, harassment leading to death of my pet Toby, a 5 year old pug dog – inflicted by M/s “bowwow pet services, near Trimulghery cross roads, Hyderabad” (AKA “Pet Services”).

Mrs. Srilatha owns the “Pet Services” and we have availed the boarding services between 21st April 2022 through 26th April 2022. During this time, we have entrusted the responsibility of care of the pet (including food and daily walks) for both our dogs (Toby – M, 5 years of age and Maggi – F, 4 years of age) to Mrs. Srilatha only. The receptionist did not provide any receipt, or create a log of the pets during our presence.

Mrs. Srilatha was not available at the time we handed over the pets to the receptionist at the Pet Services around 7:45 PM IST on 21st April 2022. This was recorded over a telephonic conversation where the receptionist mentioned Mrs. Srilatha was “out of station attending a wedding”. Mrs. Srilatha did not share if she has in fact made sure she collected the pet dogs from the Pet Services.

On 23rd April 2022, we receive an emergency call from Mrs. Srilatha that our dog Toby has been gasping for breath and has suffered a seizure after Mrs. Srilatha’s mother took them out for the walk. We happened to record this call where she openly called out that “She was not at the boarding facility and her mother was looking after the dogs”.

We asked Mrs. Srilatha to immediately contact Dr. Vinay who happens to be the family veterinarian with in-depth history of both the pets. Mrs. Srilatha took Toby to Dr. Vinay’s clinic, where he was declared dead on arrival on account of Cardiac arrest.

My pet Toby did not have any pre-existing health conditions and his health was in perfect order. Although Toby suffers from Obesity – it was ruled out as not being the cause by Dr. Vinay.

My complaints on Mrs. Srilatha and M/s Bowwow pet services are as follows. We have audio recordings and proofs supporting all of the following:

1.      It was a rude surprise to discover that Mrs. Srilatha has been faking her identity for years! Mrs. Srilatha goes by the name “Dr. Srilatha” – although there’s no clear evidence if she’s a registered doctor. She has made up her identity as though she is a veterinarian – as confirmed by a friend who called for inquiry on 26th April 2022 over a recorded phone line.

2.      Mrs. Srilatha passed on responsibility of pet care to her mother, and did not inform us prior to this happening. We do not know if her mother is qualified to handle both the dogs. This is not the first instance. Sometime in 2019, we in-fact heard from her that she suffered from a fall after Toby got in the way of her walking. She confirmed on recorded phone line as well.

3.      One of the workers at her service had illtreated both of our dogs by tying the neck tight to a wall some time in 2019, during the first time we used her boarding service. I called out this to her at that time, as she also admitted over recorded phone line.

4.      The next day after Toby died, we called Mrs. Srilatha to inquire about the details of Toby’s stay. She was insensitive and said “it is natural for a dog to die” – as also recorded on the telephone line.

5.      Even after all the ill-treatment our pets received during 21st April through 26th April 2022 – we were charged an exorbitant price of Rs. 6500/- towards pet boarding and “funeral charges”. My younger dog has also been illtreated – she suffered a sun stroke when we collected her from the facility. Video evidence is available.

6.      Mrs. Srilatha did not disclose details of the place where the dogs were kept. She has denied our plea to see the location where the dogs were kept because “she has other plans for the day”. Video evidence is available.

7.      There are multiple complaints about her team’s misbehavior with dogs on various websites from recent times. Yet, Mrs. Srilatha and team continue to cause damage to the pets’ health like they did to both my pet dogs.

Individuals such as Mrs. Srilatha are endangering the lives of the speechless, and must be punished appropriately. Their rights to owning pet boarding business must be revoked and they must be taught a lesson for their callous, negligent attitude towards pet boarding.