The Future for Veterinarians in North America

This great post from, Mary Spinelli, came through the Canadian Showdogs email list:

So far, three Atlantic province Veterinarian Associations have banned their member vets from performing these surgeries (cropping and docking).

They did it surreptitiously, in direct contradiction to breeder input and passed it unilaterally. Playing nice with these organizations is a non-starter because they don't want to play at all.

I've said this before and I do mean it. If these organizations wish to pattern themselves on some Utopian concept of European morals then I will make it my all-consuming passion to have them accept all European standards. European norms do not allow for mass spaying and neutering, cat declaws, de-barks or many other "elective" procedures that are the bread and butter of North American veterinarians.

I'll have plenty of time to devote to my new mission, since I won't be breeding Dobermans. Many other breeders, from across the many Conformation Groups won't be breeding either. Not only will I no longer be breeding dobermans, I will effectively be "out of business". At least I realize that breeders are the life-blood of my business (breeder-based software applications). North American vets will learn to their peril that once they've acquiesced to the Animal Rights terrorist in their midst, that the remainder of the A.R. (read PETA) agenda will be more easily achieved, likened to tumbling dominoes.

Here are some interesting fact for the North American veterinarian to ponder:

England has 5 vet colleges for a population of 61 million people.
France has 3 (65 million people), Germany 5 (81 million people) , most
have but one college. The United States ? They have 31 schools for 308
million people. Canada? We have 4 for 33 million people. This chart
sets out the data nicely.

COUNTRY # of Colleges Population ratio
(in millions)

England 5 61 12.2
France 3 65 21.7
Germany 5 81 16.2
United States 31 303 9.7
Canada 4 33 8.3

Why do Europeans have so few Vet schools, by population? Because they don't need them! General conclusion? There will be a lot of unemployed vets if we adopt the European standard of veterinary care. The ironic part? They will have done it to themselves.

Mary Spinelli, css@ns.sympatico.ca
Canine Specialty Software
http://members.accesswave.ca/~css
Adlerheim Dobermans
http://www.adlerheim.com

(Posted with permission)

Assessing the health of mixed-breed and purebred dogs

Found this great comment online:

by Rabenschwarz
There have been many claims by a great many people, a lot of them educated, that there is a "hybrid vigor" that causes mixed breed dogs to be healthier than purebreds. The very term hybrid is misleading in this example as dogs are the same animal regardless of breed. It would only be a hybrid if a dog mixed with a wolf or coyote or something of the sort. In truth the animal that may have "hybrid vigor" is just a mixed breed dog because the dogs are the same species. Now that the mixed breed has been clarified I would like to state that "Hybrid vigor" is no guarentee of a healthy animal.

Most examples of "hybrid vigor" state that the mixed breed dog will have less health problems because they come from a larger gene pool. It is true that purebred dogs come from selective breeding and therefore most probably have a more shallow gene pool and sometimes inbreeding is involved, further limiting the gene pool and bringing the potential for more health problems. However, mixed breed dogs come from the breeding of two purebred dogs of different breeds. Each of the dogs that went into the mixed breed have the possibility of passing on negative traits and potential illnesses as a purebred breeding. In fact, there may be a better chance of getting a problem from both parents. For instance if a Chihuahua afflicted with slipped kneecaps bred with an Italian Greyhound that was prone to epilepsy there are three possible outcomes. One, the puppies could be lucky and born with "hybrid vigor." Two, The puppies could be afflicted with one problem or the other. Three, the unfortunate puppies could be afflicted with both ailments. Any breeding has a chance of producing undesirable traits whether it be from a planned breeding complete with stud dog or a drifting Romeo wanders into a back yard. I think the odds are even between purebred and mixed breed dogs in terms of health.