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Skernebo's Arla
born July
12th 2001 A complete failure!!! Arla started to limp the very next day after picking her up from the airport. We kept an eye on her for about a week but as the pup was showing no signs of improvement, I took her to the veterinarian to have her scanned. The result of the scan showed that the pup had hereditary rheumatoid arthritis in her shoulder. She was treated with painkillers, but as she played with other pups, the strain on her shoulder increased – as well as the pain. Arla was relocated to a new loving home, where she was treated with injections and painkillers. After treatment Arla didn’t limp for long periods, however, the relief was only short term and the medication could not cure the dog 100 percent, it could only extend her life and make that life a little easier. Unfortunately Arla had to be given away by her new home due to allergies and so she returned to me. After being with me for some time she ripped a hole in the net of the kennel and ran away. I then received a call from the frontier guard saying that they were chasing a bleeding dog. A car had in all probability hit Arla. The injuries she received were so severe that I thought it for the best to have her put down and end her suffering. Afterwards, when discussing the situation with the veterinarian, we came to the conclusion, that Arlas pain had become so insufferable that she was mixed up in her head and simply couldn’t take it any more. In Germany and Denmark it is unfortunately common practice for dogs with hereditary rheumatoid arthritis to be used for breeding. Obviously this approach is extremely short sighted, as generally speaking, problems in the front end of dogs are the reason for a premature demise contrary to cases where dogs have problems in the hip area.
In my
opinion it is totally outrageous to sell pups with a known hereditary birth
defect to new owners. Lameness is not investigated or the problem area
scanned, it is merely explained away as being growth pains or simple
arthritis. |