This monstrosity was the door-greeter at the recent Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas.
Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot.
But was this a mistake?
Not really. Deformed, diseased, and defective dogs are the bread and butter of the veterinary business.
Pencil it out, and the big money in veterinary care is not in once-a-lifetime vaccines, but in the big stuff: shot hips, wrecked eyes, recurring skin conditions, Cesarean births, and mounting rates of cancer. Understood that way, this mutant Shar-Pei is a perfect representation of a gold mine.
Veterinarian Larry McDaniel has noted that vets talk about this openly.
I vividly remember a conversation I had with an established Veterinarian when I was starting out in practice in Montana. He told me that one sure fire way to get my practice going was to help establish the Bulldog as a breed in Western Montana. I thought he was joking, but he was serious. All the Bulldog people in the Western Part of the state saw him as the expert and brought their dogs to him. He told me that much of his success was based on the Bulldog.
Veterinarian Emma Milne, in the U.K., once gave a presentation about health problems in pedigree dogs to the British Veterinary Association when an opthamological veterinarian stood up and said, point blank: Why would I want a healthier dog when it's the wrecked Kennel Club dogs that bring in the money?
For veterinarians, silence about deformed and diseased dogs has been golden. Just go to your vet and ask if he or she has a written list of breeds they actively caution against.
It's not going to be there.
Fact sheets on heartworm? Check. Even vets in Maine will have that in hope of maybe making a sale to a gullible customer.
But a fact sheet that says "avoid these breeds which are walking cancer bombs?"
A brochure that says "just say no to anchondroplastic dogs and brachycephalic breeds?"
Not there.
Why? Because veterinary care is a business and the money is in broken dogs, not healthy ones.
2 comments:
IIRC, years and years ago R. M. Miller did a cartoon called "Practice Builders." It was a drawing of a vet reading a letter from a client. The letter said something like "Dear Dr. X, Thank you so much for the lovely Xmas gift of a Shar-Pei puppy!" (CHA-CHING!)
I've been out of the biz a long while, but I was a veterinary assistant in the 1980s and 1990s. Every single Shar-Pei we saw had demodectic mange.
T. Laurel: and entropion and distichiasis!!
Personally, i always advised clients against getting dogs with genetic defects, but i also included dogs with 'invisible' genetic defects -- of the immune system, for example. that would be for example: Goldens, American-bred German Shepherds, American-bred Rotties, Great Danes and Boxers, all of which are walking cancer, and blood and bone disorder factories...in fact there are very few breeds left that aren't filled with genetic disease. i blame the very weird breed show circuit and the breed Registries, but also, the lack of both information and correct motivation in breeders: they no longer breed for health and function; they breed for a ''look''.
this is not only a problem in small animals, this is a problem in most North American bred domestic livestock. it is a very sad state of affairs when a cow cannot survive healthily on grass anymore.
Post a Comment