Is it safe to breed? look?

Question

So for all of those who want to breed their dogs without doing proper testing or knowing what they are doing, I'd like to share my story.

I bought a puppy in February from a not so great breeder (I learned this after the fact, she answered all the right questions and even called up my vet and references.) In May, he had his first episode. It was at 3:45am and I woke up with him having terrible tremors. It lasted 15 minutes and stopped when we were on the way to the e-vet. He had a fever of 105.4 and they kept him over night on IV fluids. The said that he has febrile seizures and over heating is what caused the tremors. They sent him home and it everything seemed fine. The same thing happened 2 days later at 10:30am. I took him to our personal vet. They gave him subcutaneous fluids and kept him over night.

Things were going great until he had his latest episode on June 22nd at 8:30pm. He had a fever of 104.5 and started to tremor. It lasted 35 minutes and was still shaking when we arrived at the e-vet. He stayed there for the next 6 days, 3 of them being in critical condition. They couldn't get his fever down no matter how hard the tried. By the 4th day, he still had a fever of 103 but it was a start. By day 5 his fever was gone and they kept him over night one last night to make sure everything was okay. During his stay there they also did a spinal tap. I declined the MRI as it would have added on an extra $800 to the bill and they weren't sure it would even help tell anything. The spinal tap showed inflammation but no bacteria, they also claimed they might have contaminated the sample. The believed that he then had steroid responsive meningitis and sent him home on prednisone, clindamycin, and ciprofloxacin.

After a week, they received the tick panel and everything was negative. His blood work also came back completely normal. July 5th, I received a call that I never wanted to hear. They said that his CSF showed distemper. They said my puppy had distemper even though he was properly vaccinated at the proper times. Well after that, I panicked of course and did a bunch of research. Now a month and a half later, I do not believe he has distemper as he never showed classic symptoms and no longer has problems. He is still on the prednisone and continuing to thrive.

After going over things with my vet and fellow IG owners, we think it's possible he might have Addison's Disease. We will be testing for it once he has been weaned off the prednisone for 2 full weeks so they can properly test without having to worry about drug interactions.

Do you want to put 'puppies' future owners in this situation? I'm 19, in college full time and work full time. I have paid over $3,500 in vet bills and still don't have a definite answer. Do you have any idea how heartbreaking it is to see your puppy going downhill right in front of your eyes having no idea if he will make it through the night or not? When I brought him in to the e-vet, they had me sign a paper asking me if they wanted me to try and resuscitate him because they weren't sure he would make it. I didn't sleep at all when he was at the vets because I didn't want to go to sleep and end up not ever seeing him again.

Please think about EVERYTHING before you actually breed your dog. It not only affects you and you dogs but the future owners of the puppies.

Here are pictures of my boy. There are ones from the emergency vet included to show I'm not lying.

http://i33.tinypic.com/14t0hgz.jpg

http://i33.tinypic.com/2j0j912.jpg

http://i34.tinypic.com/2r4q6gn.jpg (subcutaneous fluids)

http://i34.tinypic.com/2my0y9j.jpg (at the e vet)

http://i35.tinypic.com/2h3vr81.jpg (not a show pup but still my baby)

http://i33.tinypic.com/2gul7dk.jpg (my fiance is a corpsman and our friend got us these)

Answer 1

i feel for you.  unfortunately not all problems can be foreseen.

case in point i have kidney disease they say it is family inherited.  problem no one in the family has ever had the problem and now eight kids later, still no one else has.

so your breeder might have done all she knew how and your puppy was just one of those things.

spook sends lots of licks to you both.

Answer 2

I hate stories like these and this is why when people on here as for breeders unlike some of the trogs on here I point them towards the national breed club for their particular question as well as the link on the sight to the list of problems related to the breed.

Hopefully things work out for you. I ran my puppy's breeder through the ringer as well as asking other breeders they had gotten animals from about them, verified the test results CERF OFA BAER before I even put a deposit down.

The worse though is when you see suggest going to kijiji to find a puppy *Shakes head* h**l I saw a rescue dog listed on there today. Makes me think twice about the org.

ADD: which means more than likely his sire had only one.*rubs forehead* I think today set a new record with all the breeding/whelping question.

Anyone else in favor or computers/laptop coming with a stun feature?

Nearly Dr : From the IG breed club

Retained testicles (cryptorchidism or sometimes called monorchidism) are frequent findings in male IG's. Dogs with undescended testicles are at greater risk of developing testicular cancer, and should be neutered at an early age < The odds would be lower with a dog not carrying the marker and also having BOTH testicles.

As for the seizures. IGs are normally prone to Idiopathic epilepsy but that doesn't manifest until about 2-5 years of age. The fact that another litter mate is having them lend to the fact they inherited them from one parent or another

Either way this is a dog who didn't have to be born with these problems if the breeder had really cared about the animals she was breeding.

Answer 3

first, i sympathize with you. i had to leave my dog overnight with the vet about 6 months ago. i was crying b4 i walked out the door and didn't sleep at all that night. luckily, it wasn't serious and i was able to pick her up the next day and just give her medicine for the next 2 weeks. i can't imagine what you must be going through.

second, i agree that you should repost this. all the questions i see on here every single day from some idiot who is breeding or wants to breed their dog make me sick. if you are asking those kinds of questions here, you are not qualified to breed. especially when 75% of their question is horribly mispelled (and it's obvious they aren't just typos). maybe your story will scare them enough to change their feeble minds....hopefully.

i hope your little guy takes a turn for the better. :)

Answer 4

GOOD posting. You should post this again at another time, with more traffic, so more people could read.

Most people would've given up on him...seems like you're making his life great!!

Love the collar collection!

Answer 5

God Almighty, it's so sad to see d**n breeders making substandandard pups.  Your pup is handsome, but I hate to think of all the money and grief you have endured.

Have him neutered.  You wouldn't want anyone else going thru what you did, do you?  I would never breed an animal with disabilities like the tremors and problems you have had.  You should sue the breeder for selling you (guarenteed?  I think) a dog with problems.

He's beautiful.  Keep the genes to yourself.  Report the breeder (if the dog is registered, you can file a complaint).  Don't let her/him continue to do this.  Keep all your vet records and pictures for future use.  Put the slacker out of business.

Glad you saved him.

Answer 6

It's a very touching story but I'm having difficulty seeing its relevance to why people shouldn't breed.

Addison's doesn't show a genetic tendancy, it's just more common in female dogs less than 5 years old. Breeding doesn't have anything to do with it.

Distemper? Unfortunate but although the puppies should have had at least one vaccination before being sold, the next two puppy shots are usually done by their new owner.

Cryptochidism does seem to have a genetic component, but it doesn't mean that every dog had a father that was a cryptorchid too. Females can carry the genes and that's a lot harder to pick! I don't think blaming the breeders for addison's or distemper is correct. It's like blaming them for a dog getting hit by a car.