You can be in tears and damn angry at the same time!

[lil_shepherd]

Watching 'Supervet' last night, I was deeply sorry for the lady with the GSD pup who agreed to have it put to sleep on the recommendation of Noel-I-hate-the-supervet-label-Fitzpatrick because even he can do nothing with severe hip dysplasia plus other problems - until she bought another pup from the exact same breeding! Does she not know that this

Comments

[moonlightmead]

That sounds awful. I don't know how disabling or painful hip dysplasia is, so have no idea whether that is a normal - well, 'treatment' is hardly the word.

But to go and get another puppy and to contribute to the breeder thinking there is a demand for animals with inherited conditions - ugh.

[lil_shepherd]

Hip dysplasia can be mild or very painful, and is progressive. Eventually, it will probably result in paralysis of the hind legs.

[del_c]

Watching you talk about the world of pedigree breeding, I've never understood why the organisations that own breed standards don't just put "does not have this horrible condition" in the breed standard.

[lil_shepherd]

Well, in a way they do. The 'breed standard' is just a description of an ideal dog (in one or two cases it is a description of an actual dog) and in the case of the GSD, and others, the way it moves is part of the standard. The reason the pup was at the vet in the first place was that, though it was about six months old, it was having difficulty walking