[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: health issues and honesty
- From: Mike & Sheila Metz <Lindenhillgsd@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: shereemosesgsd@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:31:03 -0600
Regarding Sheree's post. Once again a long-time breeder, with huge
accomplishments weighs in with common sense, and the idea that you do
the best you can do, do your homework, talk to vets, researchers, and
breed clubs,try to breed the best to the best and hope for the best. A
well-known breeder friend of ours said it the best. "If you haven't had
this (or that) it is not your turn." Beating this subject to death or DM
or any other problem--doesn't change the fact that our breed, and many
breeds have problems. I think Sheree is trying to say use your
information and work with people who are open about their problems. And
yes, bloat and mesentaric torsion are two different things--a fact that
always gets lost when the list starts railing about it, and railing
about it, and railing about it....Sheila Metz at lindenhill
On 1/23/2012 10:12 AM, Sheree Moses wrote:
> This is going to be a little scattered, sorry, just came in to warm up from
> doing dogs. Was reading some of the posts regarding health issues with some
> interest and have a few comments to make.
> We used to tack some of our dogs, we are on the road alot and it seemed like
> better safe than sorry. We don't anymore. While there are many issues that
> can precipitate bloat that are not necessarily genetic there are too many
> litters out there where more than 50% are dead at relatively young ages from
> bloat or mesenteric torsion (which seems to me to be a totally separate
> issue). When you start seeing pedigrees where you can't go a single
> generation w/o a first degree relative who is dead from a gastric issue I
> think we need to ask ourselves how it could NOT be genetic. There are other
> breeds out there where tacking is the norm, but now bloat is endemic in the
> breed. I don't think we want that for our breed, nor is it a fair practice
> for pet buyers, which is where most of our puppies go. More than 50% is not
> normal, or coincidence. Anyone who says it is not genetic either has their
> head in the sand or something to hide, IMHO. The same goes for hip/elbow
> issues, seizure
> disorder, EPI, and dentition, to name a few.
> Another issue that's gotten alot of recent play is DM. In over 32 years of
> breeding shepherds I have never had a dog that I knew had DM. I did have a
> co-bred/co-owned bitch about 15 years ago, whose father I thought for sure
> had a "fixed" tail....when she was about 3 I realized that her tail was
> starting to look "fixed" too, so maybe there was something else going on. We
> quit showing her and placed her, she died at about 10 (still w/a dead tail,
> dragging her toes a little) from something else. Last year a German dog I
> adore was diagnosed at 7 w/DM by two reputable veterinarians. We started
> calling people who had his progeny and suggested testing. A few daughters got
> spayed and placed as pets. The dog has such a heart and personality we were
> devastated, and we have tried a number of therapies. The most recent involved
> stem cell therapy, but the treating DVM wanted a positive genetic test before
> they started treatment. Surprise....he is CLEAR. I talked at some length to
> the director of OFA (who used to have GSDs and now breeds Labs), and she
> told me that DM is a disease of old age, and that many of the dogs who are
> diagnosed w/DM actually have one of several other problems that have the same
> symptoms....so that's not much help....The Labrador people are at the
> forefront of genetic testing, and have managed to virtually eliminate a
> variety of problems w/genetic testing and careful breeding, allowing them to
> preserve the good while eliminating the bad......People, we have so much
> information (both testing and easy communication via the Internet) available
> to us today that it is shame on us if we don't work to better the health of
> our breed. I just rec'd about $1000 worth of DM test kits from OFA and am
> testing every dog I plan to breed on my property (plus a couple of well-known
> geriatrics just so we know) and I will make the results public. On that
> note, perhaps we should re-visit the definition of "honesty" as a couple of
> the posts I rea
> d from people who don't think these issues are genetic and haven't had
> these problems don't seem to understand the word.... I have dispensed alot of
> Gas-X over the years, hauled out the bloat tube quite a few times, and have
> driven more than one dog to the vet in the middle of the night...funny thing,
> honesty. I am always happy to talk about dogs we've bred or own, am hard to
> get on the phone as I am usually out w/the dogs but email is easy. Being
> truly honest w/each other is the only way we will fix the problems we have,
> it doesn't mean you have to throw the baby out with the bath water, but it
> would keep us from doubling (or tripling) up on the issues. Sheree
>
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POST is Copyrighted 2011. All material remains the property of the original
author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind
are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the
Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its
administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in
any post.
ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE
PROSECUTED.
For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org
SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html
NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/
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