Maggie Creighton purchased her dog Sylvester six months ago. She said she considered adopting a shelter dog but chose the pug from a pet store instead.

"I don't regret buying the dog because he's awesome, but I probably shouldn't have bought him from there," said Creighton.

The La Mesa City Council is considering an ordinance to prevent pet stores from selling dogs from so-called puppy mills, where the animals live in filthy crammed cages and fight for their lives.

"Do we have an existing ordinance in place or should we have one that says we encourage you or we expect that healthy puppies will be sold from reputable breeders?" asked La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid.

Madrid said the issue was raised after a concerned resident asked the council to conduct an investigation on whether the only pet store in La Mesa was buying animals from puppy mills.

Animal protesters told 10News they have gathered in front of the Pet Works pet store in the Grossmont Shopping Center every Saturday for the past 22 months.

"If there is a market for pets then we have to make sure that those pet stores that are here are being fair to the customers here in La Mesa," one protester told 10News.

Pet Works closed its doors last week, leaving an empty space with a "For Sale" sign and a poster which claims they don't buy from puppy mills.

10News contacted the store's general manager but she declined to comment.

In November, the president of Pet Works wrote a letter to the city clerk, which read in part, "Pet works is a legal, licensed business and we do not believe the city has a right to stop us from selling a legal product."

Creighton said she has not had any problems with Sylvester. But after seeing some of the conditions the dogs were in, Creighton said something needs to be done to prevent it from happening.

"I do think they need to close them down because the parents do come from the puppy mills and they are treated just horribly," she said.