Choosing a Breeder

Personally, I have two favorite places to get a dog. One is a humane society and the other is a responsible CKC registered breeder with a small kennel. I am prejudice towards purebred dogs as I appreciate knowing the line and what to expect from the adults. As the daughter of a breeder who had exceptionally high standards, I come by my prejudice honestly.


(The picture is of my late Magic and her niece, Reason who is now 12 years old)

Recently, I’ve had a client ask for advice in picking a breeder. He already had the breed chosen, a Bull Mastiff. I sent him to the Canadian Kennel Club’s website where he could find the “8 Golden Rules”. http://www.ckc.ca/en/portals/0/pdf/other/CKC.Rules.find.breeder.pdf This handout gives you excellent questions to ask the breeder.

He contacted a couple breeders and one of them brought about this blog. They have CKC registered dogs but didn’t want to register the litter to keep the price down. Are you kidding me? I don’t think that $43 per puppy is going to have a large impact on the price. This cost covers both registration with the CKC plus transfer of ownership. Plus, if the puppies are not registered, then they CANNOT be called purebred so you shouldn’t pay purebred prices!!!!

Neither of the parents had their championships – apparently they wanted to save money there too. How can you make absolute sure you are producing dogs that are as close to the breed standard as possible without evaluations by a variety of judges? Being in the show ring can be a great eye opener.

Oh yeah, the grandparents had their hips certified but the parents were never tested. If you don’t look, you won’t find it! They also bypassed the questions about eye and elbow certifications. Here’s another good one, there is absolutely no health guarantee.

Right before I get off my podium, I want to share why I have such high standards. Before getting on my Mom’s waiting list, you had to have an interview. I think the Spanish inquisition could have gotten inspiration from her! References were also required. All of our dogs were carefully chosen for temperament and conformation. Our breeding dogs all had their championships and many had their CD obedience titles. Eye certifications as well as elbow and hip OFA certifications were required. Now here is the icing on the cake, the health guarantee was for the lifetime of the dog. So, although Mom has not had a litter in 12 years, if a genetic issue were to develop she would still honor the health guarantee.

Oral Papillomas

Recently I have been seeing more of these sea anemone looking things. Go ahead and google that sea creature. It is kind of creepy how alike they look.

These virally induced warts are usually seen in young dogs with immature immune systems. They are found around the mouth and sometimes the eyes. The infection does require direct contact with either an infected dog or infected environment. The incubation period can last anywhere between one to two months. Do not worry, it is not contagious to humans.

These warts are not dangerous. They usually go away on their own in one to five months as the dog’s immune system matures. It is not very often they stick around permanently.

As they will go away on their own, we really don’t need to do anything; however, they can be bothersome when the dog is eating and are bloody ugly. One of the simplest things to do is to crush the warts with a hemostat. This seems to stimulate the dog’s immune system to fend them off. Other options are available should this not be sufficient.

Be careful what you ask for : )

I was informed by one of my volunteers this week that I needed to be doing more blogging. Well, for such a hard working young lady who has her first paper route (starting in this weather!), I will do my best.

When people come to volunteer at our hospital, we have a list of tasks for them to do. The usual stuff includes cleaning kennels, cleaning exam rooms between appointments, cleaning the floors (there is always so much cleaning to do). There may also be envelopes to stamp, travel sheets to organize. There is always so much to do and it never seems to end!

If possible, we do try to include them in cases and/or appointments. If they have earned their way into observing appointments, they can join me for this. It is good for them to be able to see what happens in case they are interested in becoming an assistant, AHT or veterinarian in the future.

Shaelyn, who encouraged me to blog more, is in the picture making mouth gags for our dentals. These are placed at the back of the mouths to catch the excess water from our procedures. By having yarn attached, it makes it easy to remove when wet and reminds us it needs to be removed at the end of the dental work.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all our volunteers for their hard work. You make ours much easier!

You ate what???

When I went to work this morning, I only had one surgery scheduled. That meant I would have time to do all the paperwork I’ve been putting off. I almost got myself two coffees at Tim’s to make sure I could stay awake. Turns out I wouldn’t need the one I had!

While PJ and Kelly (my AHTs) were prepping my neuter for surgery, I had a walk-in appointment. Juno had not been feeling well for a few days and was progressively getting worse. She might have eaten a hockey sock or two as she had vomited one up earlier. Entering the room showed a very different dog than I was used to handling. My happy monkey was now very depressed with a painful abdomen.

We did radiographs and in addition to the odd intestinal pattern there was also loss of detail in the cranial abdomen. The decision was to immediately go to surgery. I was so proud of my staff getting me in so quickly and efficiently. Kelly was monitoring and PJ scrubbed in to help.

The foreign body extended from the pylorus (stomach) through to the jejunum. As you can see from the picture, the intestines I’m holding are abnormal. They should look like the ones on the left of the picture. The problem area has the intestines plicated (squished together tightly). This caused a 12 inch section to die from lack of blood supply.

The foreign body was about 24 inches long. I had to wait until the surgery was done and Juno recovered before I could rinse the “thing”. It turned out to be a part of a dishcloth.

Getting old sucks!

A few weeks ago, I had a 7 year old female cat come in for a physical exam. She just wasn’t acting like herself. At that time there was a mild fever. We did bloodwork and the results just about floored me. Her neutrophils (white blood cells actively fighting an infection) were six times normal. When I called the owners with the results they told me that she was now licking herself more often. I was a bit confused until the owners reminded me that she was intact. That is when all the puzzle pieces came together.

Cats are induced ovulators. This means that once they go into heat at about 6 months of age, they stay in heat until they mate. If they don’t meet a male for a year, they will literally stay in heat the entire time. Ditto for 7 years. Unfortunately, as they age, the risk of neoplasia (cancer), pyometra (infection of the uterus) and endometritis (inflammation/infection of the uterine wall) goes up.

We scheduled surgery for the next day. As you can see from the picture, it was much larger than it should be. When I opened it up (you’ll have to come in to see that neat picture) I found that she had both endometritis and pyometra. Certainly one of those surgeries where “to cut is to cure”.

Mr. Bynx

I have known Mr. Bynx for a number of years. Recently his Mom gave me permission to share his story so that others could see how well our animals can handle certain ordeals.

Last April, we received a phone call informing us that his left eye wasn’t looking quite right. During the physical exam, his left eye was enlarged and painful. He was sent into the CARE Centre for an examination with one of their eye specialists. It turned out that he had glaucoma (an inherited disorder causing increased pressure in the eye). There was significant damage to the optic nerve causing blindness in that eye.

Another issue was found as well. Both eyes had retinal degeneration (aka progressive retinal atrophy) and it was slowly causing blindness. Unfortunately there is no treatment for this disorder but it is non-painful.

At this point, the best option for Bynx was to have his left eye enucleated (removed) so he would not have to endure the pain associated with glaucoma. There are medications to control pain in the short term but it is difficult to control medically in the long term. His Mom called to ask my opinion on the surgery. I fully supported it and told her that once the hair has grown in, he would still look adorable.

She later told me that part of the problem with making the decision to have the surgery done was that she couldn’t picture how he could possible look normal. Well, as you can see from the picture, this is one cute, happy boy. He still has sight in his right eye and walks with his Mom all the time.

Sir Lancelot

For such a young boy, he could already have a movie made out of his life. We were first introduced March 2010. A good Samaritan brought him in to us during a cold snap. As Okotoks has no by-laws on cats, my staff took him in. I was walking from one appointment to another when the formal introduction of “here is Sir Lancelot, isn’t he adorable?” was made.

He soon worked his way into our hearts. A blood test was run to make sure he didn’t have feline leukemia or feline immunodeficiency virus. Then we set about to make him a good adoption candidate – neutering, tattoo, vaccinating and socializing. The socialization part was fun. We had a metal kennel so he could interact with people up front; however, he quickly learned to climb up and through to go for his own visits.

He was adopted out shortly thereafter. We were so happy until December, when another good Samaritan brought in a grey tabby. We were surprised but happy to see Lance. He had been hanging out at the gentleman’s house for a week and when it turned cold, brought him into us.

The phone call to his family was odd. The family member who answered didn’t seem excited that he had been found. My staff were told he would be picked up the next day. I was also personally contacted by one of the family members saying their child was not paying enough attention to Lance and they had friends who really wanted him.

You can imagine my surprise when I received a phone call from the Calgary Humane Society the next day. The owners had left our hospital and had driven straight to them. The excuse was “our child is allergic to the cat”. I asked the CHS to keep him on the floor but to let me know when his time was up. Two weeks later I was given the call that he would be euthanized the next day unless I picked him up. I told them to hold him til Sunday (two days later) as I wanted him.

Sunday morning, I headed in to get Lance. I didn’t realize how emotional I was until he was brought out onced the paperwork was finished. The bail fee was $145. I couldn’t hold back the tears. He started howling when he saw me. It only stopped when we were in the car and I put my hand in the kennel. He either rested his head on my hand or rubbed his head on my palm.

You can imagine that I’m a little protective of him. He deserves to be in a home where he will get a lot of love and attention. As much as I would love for him to live in the cat condo with Thurber and Egan, they don’t agree. Yes, he does need a new home; however, the process to adopt him will be daunting. I have promised Lance that I will find him his forever home.