Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Do you think the pet industry is cruel?
hermitwin
Veteran
For eg, Different breed of dogs are produced and maintained through
in-breeding. As a result, many dogs have serious health problems.
in-breeding. As a result, many dogs have serious health problems.
0
Comments
Metta to all sentient beings
http://www.wspa-usa.org/helping/animalfriendlyliving/tenways.aspx
Metta to all sentient beings
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/03/puppy-farms-battery-dogs
Metta to all sentient beings
However, this has been due to the efforts by breeders to improve upon or perfect breed attributes, and may not necessarily be due to inbreeding as much as the desire to exaggerate certain features, which in turn result in these problems. This has led to the tendency to either look far afield for prize dogs to breed with, (which may be suffering form some of these issues) or to look to the blood relatives of the dog they wish to mate, in order to duplicate certain attributes.
it's a ridiculous and self defeating practice, but it has pushed owners to go to ridiculous lengths to enhance certain features - many of which result in physical discomfort for the dog.
Every single breed of dog was actually originally bred to function and work and perform specific tasks.
now that the majority of domesticated dogs no longer perform those tasks (or are even required to), the emphasis and focus has shifted from performance to looks.
And some cats have also suffered for their looks.
Be WARNED some pictures are not nice.
Metta to all sentient beings
The concept of hybrid vigor is absolute scientific fact. That's why mutts (canine, feline, or whatever) are generally healthier than their inbred cousins.
I wasn't popular among some clients of the veterinary clinic where I used to work for my views on breeding "pure" animals.
Good thread topic.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-would-a-chimpanzee-at
Metta to all sentient beings
It's really easy to breed snakes and keep them content compared to breeding most other animals. Ball pythons are super profitable too, so that's an interesting thing. As a reptile keeper myself I have full respect for the animal and I treat my animal like if I had a zoo exhibit. Meaning I do everything to make sure its habitat looks good, and that it's content and has everything it needs.
I only try to keep 2 reptiles at a time at most, to make sure that I give them the full attention they require without it taking too much time from my life. I would not recommend giving a reptile to a child if the parent isn't going to do all the research and be the teacher themselves. Because they take a lot of knowledge to know what they need.
If you're committed to giving your reptile the proper habitat though they really can flourish. It depends more on the type of reptile, there are some far more adapted to captivity than others. I currently have a bearded dragon, but I'd like to invest in either a ball python or a western hognose later this year from a breeder at a reptile expo.
When buying reptiles you're a lot better off buying from a breeder because they usually know what they're doing way more than a petstore and will also give you a better fed, and better looking animal. You can also rescue them from craigslist from owners that don't want them anymore. That's a very nice thing to do, but then the burden of possibly rehabilitating a sick animal goes to you.
Metta to all sentient beings.
Breeding? no.
As the present attention is on dogs:
Different people have different opinion what dogs should look like, and breeding gives them access to pick an animal that is closer to their lifestyle, which is a good thing for both the dog and the owner. Make no mistake, even the variation you can see in mutts is the result of intentional breeding. When you mix different breeds the resulting animals will be quite different from mutts that are the offspring of parents of another set of breeds. So there's always some kind of people's preferences involved.
Actually, the dog itself is a product of intentional breeding, as it is a domesticated animal. If you prefer an animal that was not bred according to someones taste, but rather evolved as a consequence of a non-human environment, you can still get one of those, its generally called a "wolf". I don't find it cruel that dogs exist, even as they are dependent on us; as a species, maybe they are even better off, with wolves becoming so rare, and dogs so abundant (although in some occasions heartbreakingly not really good for the individual dog).
Also, breed standards may actually preserve the way animals are, and thus prevent some extreme "fashion changes". For example, some time ago dogs of the breed i own had no formal standard for breeders to adhere to (todays CKCS). Than, at one point pugs came so into fashion, so that everyone wanted a dog with a short muzzle, leading to that the breed had to be recreated basically from scratch later with the introduction of standards! So this is one way to think about it, breeds today can actually preserve the look of the dog and prevent some extremes in looks for some breeds.
But sure, inbreeding can turn out bad sometimes, and the smaller the population the worse it can be; and i don't think its only a problem in domesticated animals, just that if some wild animal is born with some nasty recessive set it has a good chance of getting killed before we know it. But most responsible breeders recognize this inherent danger in breeding any small population of animals, and will try really hard to prevent it. My dog for example has dogs from many different countries in its birth certificate, many of those dogs tested for common illnesses of the breed. But of course, there is always that possibility.
(Not that the mutts in my area aren't interbred, just that many end up shot/drowned if they don't turn out as intended, or end up on chains their whole life as they are not "worth as much as pedigrees", but thats another, sad, story).
There is of course the aspect of paying the breeder for the pedigree dog, something that is not common with rescue dogs. And as soon as money is involved, the temptation on the seller to produce more puppies than would be best for the breed, to interbreed, to ignore the animals to be bred health condition, or to keep animals in sub-optimal conditions arise. So personally i guess in a way i'm lucky to still be in contact with the breeder, and him being a helpful and a responsible person as far as dogs are concerned. But i wonder if i was choosing again if i'd choose this path again, simply because of the previously mentioned risk involved. It is also hard to justify, looked form another perspective, the breeding of any kind of dog, when there are many similar animals with their lives on the line waiting for a home.
For me, the fact of getting a pedigree dog was mostly influenced by the fact that my parents are pretty cynophobic of dogs, and having bad experiences with a dog before, actually leading to a dog being put to sleep because of it. I was therefore looking for a puppy (thought it would be more trainable, although thats debatable; easier for my family and the dog to adjust to each other; also there was no dog of the breed or similar toy dog available at any shelter in my country at the time) of a breed with pretty certain characteristics. If there were no breeds to choose from, i may not have had the opportunity to ever own a dog; and that would really mean missing out on something, at least for me.
But i agree, adoption from a shelter should always be a valid (probably first) option in the mind of anyone considering getting a dog.
It is true that it is probably hard to recreate the environment in which the animal would have otherwise lived, but lets not forget about the educational impact of it: keepers of exotic animals are usually the ones persuading people of preserving its natural habitat. An animal may seem irrelevant and distant to people otherwise, but coming into contact with it can help people learn about the animal in a certain intuitive way, to learn about its behavior, and thus try to avoid damaging the environment in such a way as to prevent the animal from behaving as it does (for example, construct roads in such a way as not to be in the way of it, keeping some swamps instead of clearing them all out etc).
Another example would be the fish White Cloud Mountain Minnow (Tanichthys albonubes). For some time believed to be extinct in the wild, its popularity in aquariums may have actually saved it from extinction if that were the case; luckily it did not happen, but i sure can see this potential in keeping some species.
i should say, i went to petco the other day and they had a bunch of cats from the shelter. no kittens, all older cats, ready to be adopted... i wanted to adopt every single one of them, knowing the likelihood of anyone adopting an older cat is much less.
Metta to all sentient beings
it had a strange bubble around its eyes due to mutation.
it was very expensive and everyone wanted one.
unfortunately, within a few days the bubble will break
and the eyes will be infected. it will die due to the
infection soon after.
They're active at night, but for the most part they like to stay in a "ball" thus the name ball python. So they're good reptiles to keep as pets. That's why they're profitable right now. They also live up to 25+ years in captivity and only eat once a week, lots of reasons why they're great pets.
But Burmese pythons are really an advanced pet. Even I could barely handle a Burmese python. If you get bitten by an adult Burmese you might end up needing to go to the ER. Most people shouldn't keep super exotic pets like Burmese pythons, or Tigers. I probably could handle them with the right research and funding needed (These animals would be very expensive to maintain) due to my experience, but even then I would know the risks. These have the potential of being dangerous animals. A Ball python cannot constrict you or even seriously injure you with a bite, but a Burmese python sure can.
So it's very important that before someone buys a reptile they do all their research on the animal and know what they're in for. There are reptiles that makes good pets and others that are better off in zoos and in the wild. When someone buys a pet it's their responsibility to try and give it a good life.
I have a Maltese and he has diabetes and very weak bones.
He also has weak teeth and they are not growing straight.
http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/whatbudbeliev/170.htm
Metta to all sentient beings