Is there such a thing?

I have yet to meet a vet that suggests health testing before breeding, I have infact been told by a vet not to bother eye testing any puppies I ever have because "they are not your problem".

Health testing is just the start, vets are in a good position to explain to folk about the rescue crisis to help give them a view they may not have thought of before and even advice on the mismate jab.

Unless everyone was to print out a ethical breeding manual and give 1 to each vet I doubt there is much that can be done.

Excuse the mid-rant style post.

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Good post.

Trouble is, breeding is what makes vets money, more so poorly animals

Very true. It should be about the welfare of the animal rather than the cash sum that can be made from them.

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Agreed.

But vets go through collage (on the whole) to come out and make money. If there was little money to be had, they would become dentists or doctors.

Some care, most do not

I work in a vets and I must say my experience is different. Where I work the vets always encourage neutering and if an animal has any problem that can be inherited they always advise against breeding. After all people will always want pets and the ones who tend to have the most problems are those from puppy farms so if anything was to make the vets money it would be those pets. Not saying they encourage that, in fact they try to educate people about what to look for when picking puppies and advice in what to do when you get an unwell animal from a puppy farm. Owners never take that advice however and I can understand why. They are basically told that there is a law that states that if you buy something that is not fit for purpsoe then you are entitled to your money back or an exchange. Pets are covered under that law but no one chooses a puppy and then changes it when they find out they are unwell. We have lots of pups we suspect are from pup farms and lots have heart problems/dietry problems/skin problems ect from the start. People wanting a new pet are encouraged to do research and check out the home, see both parents ect. Vets will always make money and the vets I know all have pets themselves and do care about the ethics and welfare of the animals. I'm not having a dig, just saying what I have seen in my experience.

i I have 2 working cockers, 1 male 1 female. We've been asked by our vet if we plan to breed them, I've said my girl is too small for a worker to carry a litter and has a slight over bite, his responce? the risks are minimal and the bite shouldn't be a problem!

This is what my vets have on their website so seems to me they are trying?

Attached Files

Should we breed from our dog.pdf (221.8 KB, 6 views)

Actually, this only applies where the puppy is sold in the course of the business - which includes commercial breeders and puppy farms - many commercial breeders do health test - puppy farmers never do.

Ironically, small scale hobby breeders who do health-test and do not operate as a business are the ones that do things by the book and often draw into their contracts about vet checks and taking puppies back, and for them to take back or assist with rehoming.

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My own vets has been quite well educated on health-testing since I joined the practice - they knew about hips and elbows and where to direct for eye tests, but not Optigen and CNM (they do now).

However, I have to say I am often in utter shock at some of the things I hear reported by people on what their vets have said re: breeding / health-testing or lack of it.

Now I fully appreciate that some will have misheard or heard what they want to hear which could quite well not be what the vet actually said or meant.

However, I don't think they can ALL be wrong, which means that there are vets out there not doing the best by the dogs or their owners.

I've known of a vet diagnosing HD where none existed and it was PROVEN none existed as the dogs hipscores came back below 10 - the owner took action which got so far, then ranks closed

Similarly, a poster on here asked her vet for the post-mate jab - the bitch was only 4 days gone from a slip mating - the owner got pretty much a refusal and a horror story - now if the bitch had been 40 days + gone, then maybe I could understand it - thankfully, not all vets think the same. (I'm not giving away any trade secrets because both situations are in the public domain)

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I fully appreciate that a vet is not going to know every breed and the health-tests required (or not as the case may be) for each of those.

However, I do believe they should have an online resource they can refer to to ensure that they are giving owners the right information.


As a complete aside, the "neuter" at 6 months rule is the one that gets me - it's not allowing the dog to mature - bitches can have first seasons from 5 months to 2 years.

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What you need to know before buying a Labrador puppy

Of the five vets that I have access to and have met (within an hours drive), NOT A ONE lets a single customer with an intact pet in or out of their premises without the spay/neuter sales pitch. They ALL insist that the best time to do that is by six months of age . . . unless pushed by those of us that know better.

I toy with the support staff in one office that I go to and get into the stats with them when they start the push.

Every one discourages the breeding of any dog, citing the idea that overpopulation is a problem, when it is easily shown not to be, and even though in our province we import rescue dogs by the thousands, there is a strong demand for import rescues (they are the 'in' thing) and some rescues, including one city SPCA, are selling these dogs for $400 - $600.

There is one 'reproductive' specialist vet here that serves over a million people.

The AR message has strongly inundated our veterinary profession's training schools, and as such, our vets and their support staff as well.

Be careful what you wish for.

http://rufflyspeaking.net/blog/five-...t-youre-wrong/

CC

Another vet bashing thread.

I think vets have enough to fill their heads with without becoming specialist breeding advisors.

There are good and bad in any profession and some (in any profession) will see the pound signs. But vets are far less likely to be like that as they have to like animals to work with them, especially in mixed practices where they are working on farms and getting knocked about and freezing cold.
Luckily for us farmers there are lots of dog owners that go to the vets for every little thing so they are able to keep our costs down
I would not call them really money grabbing though I do moan a bit at the size of some of our monthly bills.