Breeder: Fedler, Craig
Business name: Fedler Kennels, Fedler AG, Inc.
Address: 2294 162nd
City, State Zip: West Point, IA 52656
Year: 2007
USDA License: 42-A-0980
Date of CAPS Investigation: 2007-02-24
On the premises at the time of investigation: approximately 60 dogs and 50 puppies.
Breeds: Shiba Inus, Mixed breeds, Bichon Frises, Schnauzers
Craig Fedler had an indoor whelping building and an indoor breeder building. Both had a strong ammonia odor in them (3.2(b)-Ventilation).
Whelping building
There were about 20 cages in the whelping building. Each was elevated over concrete flooring and had plastic walls, wire doors, and wire floorings. There were several puppies or a whelping mother and puppies in each cage. An automatic water spigot and plastic self-feeder was attached to each cage.
Plastic sheeting below the cages was encrusted in feces and covered in more than 24 hours’ accumulation of feces (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures).
One cage housed two Shiba Inu puppies about 12 weeks old, one of which was missing several toes from each of its rear legs. Mr. Fedler said the puppy’s legs had been caught behind a cage wall panel and that another dog chewed off the toes.
In two cages – each containing adult Bichon Frises – and in three cages – each containing a litter of puppies less than eight weeks old – there were small piles of dried feces covering the wire floorings (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). Another cage housing a Shiba Inu puppy about 12 weeks old had small piles of feces on its flooring, feces mashed into a piece of carpet in the cage, and dried feces built up along the base of the walls of the cage(3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures).
The puppy had heavily flaking skin; Mr. Fedler said he wasn’t sure how to treat it or what had caused it (2.40-Vet care).
In a cage housing a whelping Schnauzer mother and newborn puppies, there was a dead puppy in the whelping box with the rest of the litter. When the investigator pointed out the dead puppy to Mr. Fedler, he picked the puppy up and threw it in a plastic bucket near the kennel door (2.40-Vet care).
Breeder building
The breeder building contained 16 cages measuring about five feet wide, four feet long, and five feet high, with plastic walls and wire doors and floorings.. Each cage housed two to three adult Schnauzers, Shiba Inus, or Bichons. Each Shiba was about two feet long from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail (3.6(c)(1)(i)-Primary enclosures).
The cages were elevated over angled plastic sheets covered in fecal stains and small piles of dried feces (3.1(c)(3)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). The walls were covered in fecal stains (3.1(c)(3)-Cleaning).
There was an automatic water spigot and plastic self-feeder for each cage, and the feeders were all covered in a dirty build-up and pieces of fur (3.9(b)-Feeding). Pieces of fur and clumps of feces were hanging down from the floorings of every cage (3.1(c)(3)-Cleaning).
A Bichon housed in a cage with a Shiba Inu had small fur mats covering its body (2.40-Vet care). Two additional Bichons in two other cages had small, thick mats covering their bodies; the mats were particularly heavy on the dogs’ undersides (2.40-Vet care).
