COMMERCE CITY, Colo. -- A Commerce City family that claims it spent $4,000 to nurse a sick puppy back to health is suing the kennel that sold the dog.

Dano and Rochelle Goforth told 7NEWS they purchased Lacie, a Maltese, from the North Washington Street Kennels in May 2009.

“The receipt had a health guarantee,” Dano Goforth said. “But she started getting sick within three days.”

According to the complaint, filed in Adams County Court, Rochelle Goforth took Lacie to see the kennels’ approved veterinarian, who diagnosed the dog with “kennel cough.”

The complaint states that Lacie then began to vomit, stopped eating and had an overall decline in health.

On June 1, 2009 Rochelle took Lacie back to the kennels’ approved vet where, the puppy tested positive for Parvo irus, Coccidia, Giardia, kennel cough and low blood sugar.

Lacie was sent back to North Washington Street Kennels for treatment.

The approved vet instructed Mrs. Goforth on how to treat Lacie at home.

The couple said the treatments didn’t work.

“At 5:00 the next morning Rochelle wakes me up. She’s in tears because Lacie is lying on the floor stiff as a board. She was actually in hypoglycemic coma,” Dano told 7NEWS.

Frustrated by the continued illness, Dano said he then took Lacie to his own vet and to an emergency clinic for overnight care.

When asked how common it is for puppies to contract Parvo or Giardia, the couple’s attorney, Jennifer Edwards said, “It’s uncommon for a puppy to come down with diseases like Lacie had, if they’ve been properly vaccinated and if they’ve been properly cared for.”

Edwards alleges that Lacie was not properly cared for before she was sold.

Mr. Goforth said he confronted kennel owner Jeff Fortin about the situation.

“I said, ‘You’re selling sick puppies in there and I want you to take care of this,” Dano said. “He just laughed.”

Fortin told 7NEWS that he hasn’t received a copy of the lawsuit. He declined to comment on the allegations.

This isn’t the first time customers have raised concerns about Fortin’s operations.

In 2008 Fortin was issued a summons alleging animal cruelty at his pet store in Longmont.

Last week, the Denver Post reported that 1,200 dogs were euthanized at his kennel near Oberlin Kansas, after it was apparently linked to distemper in puppies sold to a store in Wyoming.

Goforth said that when he confronted Fortin about Lacie’s condition, the kennel owner did not offer to reimburse him for the vet care, but did offer to give him a different puppy.

Dano believes that’s indicative of a bigger problem.

“Dog and Man are best friends. And for us to put up with this or to even look away from it is wrong.”

State officials said North Washington Street Kennels was licensed in 2008.

“It has been inspected four times,” said Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Christi Lightcap. “There have been a couple of violations. One was related to record keeping. It was not critical. The other was for lack of an isolation room… which was critical.”

Lightcap said the last inspection was on Dec. 17.

“The facility passed inspection all four times,” Lightcap said.

Lightcap added that the breach of contract allegation in the Goforth’s lawsuit is not something that is regulated by the state.

“That’s a civil matter,” she said.