Too Much Of A Good Thing??  

     by Barbara J. Andrews

The questions about modified live vaccines and some other routine pharmaceuticals continues. One letter complained about a top winning bitch having two non-productive seasons in a row. The breeder commented that every puppy mill in the country is having puppies and the stray dog down the street just had a litter of ten! 

My first thought was "well, a specials bitch.... " And then, thankfully, I paused a moment before adding her letter to the ever expanding file. True, campaign stress could have affected the bitch's repro cycle, although it doesn't seem to have diminished the libido of certain human "campaigners" in the news lately.

More intriguing was her comment about strays and "puppy mill" bitches. It's a lament we hear over and over from conscientious breeders who spare no expense in the care of their show stock. First, let's just go ahead and accept the premise that stray dogs and "puppy mill" dogs do produce with alarming regularity and with little or no veterinary intervention to encourage reproductive ability. To argue that point would be futile, or worse yet, the point gets overlooked.

Dogs which may be underfed and medically disadvantaged reproduce with comparatively few problems. Even allowing for the acknowledged destruction of unprofitable females in commercial operations, most have no shortage of highly productive brood bitches! In the pet population, the unspayed stray which manages to pass through a season without getting pregnant is rare indeed. OK, then what the heck is wrong with our carefully bred and meticulously cared-for "show dogs"? 

What is the common denominator between street dogs and puppy mill dogs? Puppy mill bitches are likely to be even more inbred than show dogs due to "convenience" so that leaves only two factors. The first is a lack of premium quality nutrition. Second is haphazard medical attention. No regular immunizations, heartworm preventives, antibiotics, and steroids. Could either of those physiologically significant differences have anything to do with the overall reproductive rate? 

Of course they can. As recently as four dog-lives ago, there were no premium foods! Most foods were simple, grain based products which we supplemented with meat and table scraps. Even large show kennels used readily available meat and dairy products which now cost the earth. Actually, I believe that dogs received better overall nutrition two decades ago than they do in today's high tech, highly competitive food industry. Those companies which would use quality ingredients to produce a quality food product are instead forced to allocate most of the budget to advertising, commissions, insurance, out-marketing the grocery store brands and somehow remaining competitively priced.

Could repro problems just be a result of Too Much? Pushing our dogs Too Much? Insisting on a rapid growth rate? (mature dogs get points more often!) Too Much "bone meal" and "meat by-products"? Too Much DDD (dead, diseased or dying) meat that has been inundated with Too Much antibiotics, hormones and steroids? 

Is the level of veterinary care provided by good owners and show enthusiasts just Too Much? At the first sign of a sniffle, dogs go on antibiotics. How often does the vet acquiesce to the breeder's demands to "do something". As discussed in previous columns, we're filling our dogs with ever more immunizations and questionable medications. 

Perhaps we should consider the lengthening list of diseases for which we vaccinate. Has the risk of shortening the life span, interfering with reproductive ability, and setting up other difficult-to-diagnose chronic problems been sensibly weighed against the value of preventing a rare disease? Distemper vaccine is a great scientific advance but is a preventative for kennel cough or Lyme Disease or Bordetello Too Much?

Comparing our "breeding stock" with the average street dog, the answer seems pretty obvious.

Thank you for your responses, comments, questions, and well documented case histories. Almost without exception, you have agreed that there is Too Much going on today. There were a few people who felt that dogs that had vaccine break-through were simply dogs who were genetically weak and had a poor immune response. One Bernese breeder said he had never had a vaccine problem even though using a heavy and frequent schedule. I had to laugh about him vaccinating his finger because I have done the same thing. I guess a lot of us out there are protected against parvo!  

Have I heard from any veterinarians? Only one. Dr. Dodds, who agreed with most of my concerns and provided a ton of new information.

Has anyone picked up my five one hundred dollar bills yet? Nope. No one has even tried.

Now isn't THAT just Too Much?

Part Two (no one picked up the bet) click here