Parenting. If you breed your pet are you responsible for the offspring?

Charleston. My Harford County Humane Society rescue.

I have many dilemmas. They keep me up at night.. not the healthiest way of dealing, but it seems that during the day I am busy enough to keep the little nags at bay. Come sundown and sleepytime they rear up and tug at my conscious. Here's one I dealt with for the umpteenth time just the other day.

Said cute couple just starting their life together adopts their first four legged child. They love this girl to pieces. They dote on her, take her everywhere, and she, of course, sleeps in bed with them. There isn't one part of this pets relationship that isn't fully invested in their marriage. It is everything a vet hopes for a dog to find. Except, they want to breed  her.

My experience has shown me that the reasons for this vary immensely, but I find that breeders fall into one of four categories;

Best In Show

• These are the  people you watch on The National Dog Show on Thanksgiving morning. They are the pinnacle of expertise for their one specific breed. Almost all of them have dedicated their entire lives to the health, advancement and welfare of their breed. They know the family tree of their breeding line better than any of us could recall our aunts and uncles never mind our more distant relatives. They do not sleep with their dogs, their dogs sleep under security cameras.

Blue Ribbon

• The local breeders who manage one or two females, breed only after a complete vet work up, and sell privately to local families for upwards of $800 a pup. They work hard to provide healthy, well socialized family pets as an extension of their family business.

One Timers

• The amateurs who dabble in the idea of taking their self proclaimed prime canine specimen as a way of passing on their prides legacy. They learn quickly that the business of breeding doesn't come cheap or easy. The road to puppies may be paved with good intentions but one $3,000 emergency c-section later they are singing a different hard lesson learned tune.

Accidents/Cash Only/No Ethics

•  The people who breed because they never got around to spaying and neutering the brother and sister shih tzus who live in the house. Or, the person who is running short on funds and sees the Craigs List ads for "puppies for sale" that all seem to cost a few hundred bucks. Seems like an easy score right? Just breed your dog and grow your own at home business. I don't see these people much in practice. They do not seek veterinary advice, nor intervention when their lack of experience puts their prego pup in a serious pickle for a multitude of reasons. If you are contemplating purchasing a puppy from an ad see my blog on  Puppy Mill Cruelty.

The Black Dogs Rescue pups.

How do I talk to a person who wants to breed their pet honestly and openly when my lifetime of experience knows that there are a significant number of people out there in the world who purchase a puppy without the ability to care for them adequately and most definitely lack the ability to love them until they meet an untreatable end at a ripe old age? Here are some of the realities of pet ownership from this veterinarians perspective...

I know that people give up on treating a disease because it is cheaper to buy a replacement. Simple economics, right?

I also know that people surrender their older pets to get a newer edition, like it a status symbol, or the lease on the old car ran out.

That children who want a pet often lack the attention span to care for them when the monotony of daily feedings, poop clean  up and adequate exercise comes calling on a Saturday morning when the rest of their friends are headed to the mall.

The great breeders I know make a lifelong obligation to take back any pup the buyer no longer wants. They have contracts that require it. The best rescues also do this. Jarrettsville Vet has adopted out many an unwanted surrendered, abandoned, and denied convenience euthanasia pets to dozens of people over the last 10 years. Thankfully, many are in loving homes who share Christmas cards of "Thanks for helping us find our beloved Fluffy." But, I have many stories that attest to people's inability to love til death do them part. Even with a contract that states we will take our pets back "no questions asked" we get surprised. When an elderly woman who had adopted two cats many years prior became ill and needed to be hospitalized for two weeks her children (who promised to care for her cats while she was in the hospital) dropped them off as "ferals" at the local shelter. Luckily, those cats had our microchip and we were called to ask if our cats were lost? People can break your heart and destroy your faith in mankind.

The statistics in the US are awful. In the US we own 83.3 million dogs (all 2012 figures) and 95.6  million cats. The shelters house about 7 million pets and euthanize about 3 million dogs and cats a year. That means that 1 in 25 pets gets surrendered or brought to a shelter. Many of these are euthanized (about half of the dogs and three quarters of the cats). But think to of all of the pets that are euthanized at the hands of vets for the countless reasons we label as "convenience euthanasia." If I had to guess I would say that the 1:25 figure would be halved. Of the rest of the euthanasia's we perform many are due to plain old lack of funds to provide care. Halve that number again. One in 6. Add to that the number of pets that are not brought in for euthanasia, for instance, those that are killed outside of a shelter or vets office (think hit by car, disease, parasites, etc). and we are at 1 in 3. The statistics outside of the US in almost every other corner of the globe are even more abysmal.

How do you feel about knowing those odds? Me, not good enough to bring a soul into the world and bear the responsibility to provide for them for a decade or two should their parent no longer be willing to do so,,, and Lord knows I love me a puppy and/or a kitten. I just see reality too much. It keeps me up at night...

Stealing a moment with Max.
If you aren't taking time to kiss the pups what is the point of working?

Related Blogs;

So You Want To Rescue A Puppy? My advice on how to avoid the disasters of trying to do a good thing.

The Pain Of Breeding.

Breeders My Take On Them.

I am a veterinarian determined and dedicated to helping pets through the extension of educating and empowering people. For this reason I created Pawbly.com. We are a global community of compassionate people who know that there are options available for every pet need. We can help you find resources, understand your pets needs and link you to those who can assist. It takes a village to raise a happy healthy pet and we believe universal affordable pet care will someday be a reality. Please join us today.

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Breeders, My take on them

I know that I am supposed to try to be very PC (politically correct), but I am honest. It’s sometimes hard to be both. So when I question which side of the line to fall on, I always look deep down and ask myself, “what is best for my patients?” Because when it comes right down to it, that’s my job. To take care of your pets*, (I always add a little asterisk here because I also have to look out for my clients health and safety too, but short of that I am here to take care of your pets).

Today I thought I would throw in my two cents about breeders. If you look in the vet publications you will not find any veterinarians writing about this topic. Vets are viewed by the public as being well respected and having integrity, but I would add sometimes we are cowardly too. For too long we, the shepherds of care for animals, have let public opinion and prejudice decide whether or not we will take a stance. I challenge any vet to argue factory farming and puppy mills with me at anytime. 

I know a lot of clients who spend a lot of time researching breeders to find the pet they want to purchase. I have to admit that almost all of them come to me with their new pet and say that they “spent a long time researching the breeder before they purchased.” I will now admit that many of you with the best of intentions want to believe so badly that your breeder is fabulous, when in my opinion MOST of them are merely good at looking like they are what you already want them to be, great breeders. Now I will clarify and admit that I think most of these breeders truly care about their bitches/queens, etc., but MOST of the breeders I know do not bring their pets to the Veterinarian regularly. So when you go to purchase your next pet from a breeder I would recommend that you ask for references. Those references should be from an owner (preferably 3) who purchased a pet from their last litter, and the Veterinarian that the mom and dad go to for their annual physical examinations.  

Then when you call the vet(s) have these specific questions:

Introduce yourself first,

Ask the veterinarian if they would be willing to answer some questions about one of their clients because you are interested in purchasing one of their kittens or puppies, etc? Many will say "yes", but some will say "no". If they say "no", explain that you are trying to decide if they are good breeders/owners because you are interested in buying a pet from them. If they continue to say "no", then ask the vet if they will talk to you after the owner gives them permission to talk to you. Vets often don’t want to talk about clients without the owners’ consent. Any good client will happily give consent, and most Vets are upfront and honest. We Vets don’t want to be affiliated with bad breeders either. You can always ask the Vet or their staff members “If you were looking for this breed of pet would you buy one from this breeder?” that way you aren’t asking the Vet to say anything potentially hurtful about them, but you will get a straight answer.

When you talk to the Veterinarian try have specific “yes” or “no” questions ready. (Once again we don’t want to be accused of slander, so a "yes" or "no" is more comfortable for us to answer).

The specific questions that I think you should ask the Veterinarian are;

                Did this breeder bring the mother of this pup/kitten to you before breeding?

                Is this mother up to date on all of the vaccines that you recommend?

                Would you recommend this breeder to a family member?

                Do you feel that this breeder takes excellent care of their personal and breeding pets?

Do you feel that this breeder is providing all of the necessary care needed for happy healthy pets?

If they do not answer “yes” to all of these questions find a different breeder. I will admit that the further away from your home the breeder resides the more likely you are to not know the full story on your pet. Unless you have first-hand personal knowledge of them.

Ask the breeder to provide you with copies of the medical records of the parents of the pet you are thinking about purchasing.The “self-proclaimed wonderful breeders” are few and far between

I am also saddened to hear clients coming in to say “we got her from a puppy mill, once we saw her we couldn’t leave her there, we saved her.” To this I reply you saved her to have another poor puppy or kitten fill her shoes. These places will never stop unless they don’t have any customers to buy their “goods” any longer. The buck speaks louder than the law. “Don’t feed the greed” is the new catch phrase. I know it is hard and heart breaking to see an animal in deplorable conditions, but please don't purchase them, please report them to the appropraite authorities if you think an animal is being neglected, cramped, mis-treated,etc.

In closing, a great breeder invests about $1000 in each puppy, and $300- $500 in each kitten, if you aren’t paying double that then the breeder can’t cover their costs and they are skimping something somewhere.  For many it is a business, and they are in this business to make a profit. The pups and kittens are a product. There are some breeders in this business for the love of the breed. They will stand behind their pup/kitten and offer a full refund, (for any reason). They will also stand by you in the adjustment of having a new pet, allow you open access to their medical records, have any and all of the recommended tests done, (many breeds suffer from specific diseases which can be checked before they are breed, therefore lessening the chance that they will pass this disease onto their young), and you should never have one odd feeling or red flag when you meet them or see what their facility looks like.

I am also a huge advocate of adopting from a shelter. Most of the sweetest, gentlest, loving, healthy pets I have ever known were cast-aways. So please always shop at the shelter first. Then there is the whole shocking, cruel, unbelievable statistics of how many pets we euthanize every day of every month of every year. It is truly appalling how many people love animals and how many pets still die because we don’t have enough homes for them.

Sharing your life with a pet is one of the greatest joys of life. It is a big decision and a life-long committment. Do your due diligence in making a smart decision fro your lifestyle, your budget, and your beliefs. And as always, don't be afraid to ask your Vet for help. That's what we are here for, every step of the way.