One of my friends here in the D.C. metro area was at the American Veterinary Medical Association convention in Atlanta, and she writes to tell me that one of the exhibitors was a company from Ephrata, PA that makes giant hamster wheels used to exercise puppy mill dogs. I have talked about this company before and shown their wheel on video too.
Am I surprised that the AVMA has a puppy-mill product peddler at their convention?
Not at all! After all, the AVMA is run by Ron DeHaven, a man who used to be in charge of puppy mill inspections at the U.S. Department of Agriculture at a time when inspectors rarely issued a citation for even the most horrific situations.
The AVMA is in bed with high-volume breeders of every kind, and dogs are no different from cattle and pigs as far as they are concerned.
The same friend found another exhibitor she thought I would be interested in. This fellow, Dr. Craig Dixon, is peddling a "practice building tool" that he says will "increase revenue from $60,000 to $100,000 and your clients will love you for it!"
And what is that revenue-enhancing stream? Well it's to say nothing about problem-breeds on the front end (before the dog is bought) while pushing tests of every kind under the sun for every potential problem the dog might get in the future. And, of course, he also advocates pet insurance to cover all the costs associated with getting those defective dogs the AVMA and the veterinary profession never tell you about.
Bonus prize: Guess what breed the vet uses as his profit-model for genetic testing? The Pembroke Welsh Corgi! Nice! Here's a list of the diseases to worry about with this breed, and here's a list of the tests he wants to council you to have for your dog so that he can poket an additional $60,000 to $100,000 a year. Ka-ching!
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3 comments:
Wish we could put these people in a cage were they have no room to move and sit in their own defecation all day. Perhaps then they'll learn.
This makes me want to beat the crap out of people, seriously. Unfortunately, the predatory vets are often the least competent, as well.
Just as a point of reference on vWD testing which is quite expensive -- $140 for a DNA test (Vetgen) or $100ish for a blood test...
If a dog has a DNA test or if his parents are were DNA tested for vWD, blood testing is completely unnecessary unless the dog is AFFECTED (i.e., homozygous for the defective gene). You can even know 100%, for sure, that your dog will never, ever suffer from vWD related bleeding episode, without testing, before you ever buy it by asking the genetic status of it's parents. Clear x Clear, Clear x Carrier, Clear x unknown all ok -- worst case is a carrier. Depending on the type of vWD, even affected dogs live long healthy lives. I just lost a 16 year old rescue Toy Manchester who was affected.
Vets try to force vWD blood-work on Manchester owners all the time. My general advise is run, don't walk, out the door.
Every ad I read about anything having to do with taking your dog to the vet is pushing everyone to "Do what's best for your pet, which includes two wellness exams per year!"
It's becoming so pervasive now, and I'm amazed that more people haven't questioned it...like I said earlier, how the devil have we ever managed to have pets without the AMVA's watchful parenting over their owners?
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