Puppy Mills

Well, before I launch into my 'puppy mill' experience from today, I'll share a little from my weekend on call.

Nothing really happened.
That's a good thing.
I guess. I could of used more emergency bonus.
Friday night-no calls, Saturday-very slow on appointments which normally means a whole bunch of emergencies but I saw one thing. I can't even remember what it was. Oh, a laceration. Sunday, I saw a dog that was ADR in the morning and then a cat in the PM. The cat was found by its owners when they got home from the weekend away. He was an older outdoor cat and hadn't greeted them as usual. Eventually, they grew concerned and brought him in. I was thinking he was probably blocked and his belly pain would have suggested this. I couldn't touch his abdomen without him screaming in pain. I didn't feel a large bladder but was concerned regarding a 'mass'. I took an x-ray and noticed what I suspected to be a pneumothorax (air in the chest outside of the lungs) and an abdominal hernia. I was also suspicious of sepsis due to a fever and the abdominal part of his radiograph being hard to read (possible fluid in his belly). It was decided to hospitalize him for the night on pain meds and fluids then reassess in the AM. Joe came in to play vet tech and the CBC was ran. It was normal. I gave pain meds and the cat started purring but still didn't want his belly touched. I did manage to get a better look and concluded that he had a large bruise on his belly. He was probably hit by a car. I reassessed the rads and called the owners with the poor prognosis. What I had suspected (pneumothorax and hernia) were really there; we should consider euthanasia. With this cat's pain level, I was concerned about the intestines within the hernia strangulating and dying. AND with this cat's chest injury he wasn't a great surgical candidate. We gave him the night and in the morning after some pain meds, he still seemed reasonably happy. We did a different view on radiographs and he appeared to maybe have a diaphragmatic hernia as well (a hole from this abdomen into his chest). Plus his heart was really round. So we elected to euthanize him. It wasn't an easy choice especially since he was happy and purring but his injuries were really severe.

Anyway, that was my excitement from the weekend.

Today, though, I got to experience a 'puppy mill'.
One of our better dog breeders wanted me to come out and vaccinate her breeding dogs. Normally, we only see dogs if they are sick or for puppy wellness visits before the puppies are sold. Understandably, this breeder didn't want to bring in her 20 breeding dogs (including puppies and pets) into the office.
What makes a dog breeder a better dog breeder?
1) bringing dogs in when you have an emergency-once, this lady brought me two of her dogs that were shaking and having seizures. One was almost comatose. Then as they were in the office, two more of the dogs at home started having tremors. I spent several hours working on these dogs. Ultimately, I sent these dogs home to be nursed by the owner. All the dogs recovered. They had gotten into some toxins-moldy corn with tremorgenic aflotoxins.
2) spaying dogs when you suspect there is a problem-we had a litter of pug puppies (the main breed this lady raises) that had a variety of aliments-hernias, prolasped rectums, etc. Of course with that number of problems, you suspect genetics. We recommended spaying the bitch and the breeder did.
3) making it right with your clients-the breeder has sold several puppies that have come down with various aliments-parvo, parasites, etc. After each time it happens and its reported back to her, we give discuss the issue with the breeder and discuss the solutions.
4) she doesn't breed mutts. When she has been phasing out certain breeds, she either spays or neuters the dogs or finds them new homes. She doesn't just let them go breed with whatever.
5) she's happy to bring new puppy owners to her place.
And those are just the examples I can remember.

So today, we (a tech and I) were excited to go to her place despite it just being outside of our practice range and it being unseasonably hot. We wanted to know what her kennels looked like. When we got there, we went to the back of the yard where the kennels were located. The first thing you noticed was 1) there was no dog odor, 2) there was no dog poop in the yard (or not excessive anyway) and 3) there was very little barking.
Now all but one bitch that had a young litter of pups still nursing were outside of the kennel. We went into this building which was probably 20' long by 10' wide. There were multiple 3'x3' pens that were waist high. The walls were easily cleaned laminate sheeting. There was no smell. The only smell was the cedar shavings used to bed the kennel pens. The area was clean. The pen where this momma was was clean. The pups were clean. The pups were rolly polly fat.
Moving back outside, the dogs were tied to trees. While that statement alone sounds bad, here's the situation. The dogs were only tied outside when the kennels were being cleaned (and for our visit). There were no wear marks around the trees; there was not excessive feces. All the dogs were in the shade. All the dogs had water. All the dogs were friendly and happy to see us. All the dogs had names and were cuddled by the breeder while we vaccinated them. All the dogs were well fed and in excellent body condition. All the dogs were clean. We looked at some puppies and noted that one had a very recently developed ulcer. We doctored it and the owner was notably concerned.
We moved back up to the front of the house and vaccinated the three house dogs and a handful of dogs that were in some wire kennels. They were only in there due to the fact that if they were loose as they normally would, they would have licked us to death!

With only three exceptions-one bred bitch, one bitch with her puppies and one dog that we knew had a rabies vaccine, all of the dogs were vaccinated for rabies.

Leaving this place, I knew even more than ever that this woman was an exceptional breeder.

Oh, and did I mention that this breeder is Amish?

I think that the Amish get a bad reputation for their treatment of any of there animals. I think that 'puppy mill' and Amish go hand in hand and I think that this breeder is a great example of the fact that it isn't always what it seems. This woman deeply cares for all of her dogs...all of her animals. She always questions what else can she do? How can I make this animal better?

I work with the Amish and previously the Mennonite communities on their horses and their dairy farms on a fairly regular basis. There is a big difference between Mercer County, PA (and the area) and Cumberland County, PA in terms of how the communities act but the one thing that I can say is that I've never seen an Amish person be cruel to a farm animal any more than I see on 'English' dairies. While these cows and horses are forced (?) to work for their place in life, I've never seen one that I thought would be better off elsewhere. There are always exceptions and we should realize it.

Just because a dog breeder is Amish, doesn't make them a puppy mill. And this client is a shining example of how ANY breeder should act and behave and most importantly, treat their animals.