Event: The True Cost of Having a Pure-breed
Pedigree Dogs Exposed is a BBC One investigative documentary, produced by Jemima Harrison, which looks into health and welfare issues facing pedigree dogs in the United Kingdom. It was originally broadcast on 19 August 2008.
The programme examines the level of inherited disease and other welfare concerns in man’s best friend, featuring interviews with experts.
It reveals the surprising historical factors that have contributed to problems in some breeds and explores what might be done to tackle these serious and debilitating health issues.
Agenda:
3:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Check-in & Introduction
*No entry to screening after 4:00 pm
4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Documentary Screening
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Discussion & Early Dinner
Below is an experience as recounted by a pet welfarist in Shanghai, who will also host the documentary screening.
I am a hoarder. I collect pure-breed Persian cats. I am addicted to their cugliness and their needy, sticky temperaments.
Any opportunity I have to foster a rescued Persian, I jump on it. I even adopted two that were rescued from pet shops who dumped them to die. Thanks to them, I know by heart the price list of all the ultrasounds, kidney support and other treatments my vet offers.
I love my pure-breed Persians, but I also know what it entails to have taken them in.
猫咪
Nature has wonderful ways. Animals live in wide gene pools, where their criteria to select a suitable partner are based on their survival instinct. The animals on top of the reproduction ladder are the ones that are the strongest the healthiest, the fastest, or any other criteria that maximizes their offsprings’ chances of having long and healthy lives.
In the farming industry, farmers apply selective breeding techniques using additional criteria – breeding chickens with the biggest boobs, porks that gain weight the fastest, turkeys with the least feathers, cows that produce the most milk. Thanks to years of selective breeding, the chicken breast in your plate is bigger, and cheaper.
In the pet industry, profitability does not come from health, long life, flesh or secretions productivity; it comes from looks.
The pet industry is to me the most fashionable industry to this day in China; Pure-breeds gain and lose their trendiness within months.
“You have a British Shorthair?
That is so last year…!”
A breeder/ pet-shop/ puppy mill will choose pets with the most noticeable specific traits or the biggest flaws and make them copulate so the offsprings receive the same selected traits, but amplified.
My brother bought 2 pure-breed cats due to what I like to call the Myth of Purebred Superiority. He was willing to pay an exorbitant amount of money to have ‘superior cats’ thought to be untouched by disease, viruses or physical weaknesses; cats without a history.
Thing is…. A lot of pure-breeds because of their morphology and hereditary background are prone to getting:
-Breathing problems (ask Medusa who snores louder than an obese man and who is banned from flying many airlines)
-Ear infections
-Conjunctivitis
-Skin infections
-Spine problems
-Eye infections
-Joints inflammation
-Brain infection
-Heart condition
-Syringohydromyelia (affliction is as disgusting as the word sounds)
-Inability to breed without artificial insemination and human assistance
-Eye inflammation
-Hip dysplasia
Pure-breeds do not come with a user manual and warranty.
Unfortunately, most pure-breed owners melt for the looks of their babies and discover later on that it came with ‘extras’.
In a few cases, you can counter or slow down the appearance of those health conditions with appropriate diets and rigorous daily care.
I have accepted that my young Persian will need her eyes cleaned twice a day, her fur meticulously brushed every day, her teeth brushed and ear cleaned every week, her butt shaved every month, her kidneys and liver checked every year for the rest of her life. I pretty much feel like I adopted a handicapped cat, definitely not a superior one.
I have made my choice.
Maybe if you haven’t made yours yet, you can decide a future taking care of a pet with less potential risks?
If you want to know more about pure-breeds and their backgrounds, feel free to join Vegans of Shanghai for a documentary screening.