Will take care of you

In sickness and in health:

Champa Fernando Secretary, KACPAW

Having a pet is a choice we make entirely on our own; indeed we are not forced into it.

That pet is totally dependant on us for its shelter, food and water, care and love. For some, adopting a pet means that “we will love and cherish it in sickness and in health” from the day we bring it under our care.

Unfortunately this is not the case with all who take on pets. Recently KACPAW undertook to pay for the treatment of Minky, a very sick Doberman that was brought in for treatment and callously abandoned thereafter by her owners.

Minky had a huge wound the size of a plate on her side and another deep ulcer on one of her hind legs. She was emaciated and she could not walk. After more than two months of excellent veterinary care she started to walk again and her wounds began to heal.

All attempts to contact her owners during this time were met with a cold and callous silence. Leave alone paying for her treatment, the owners of Minky never came to see her or ask after her health, despite Minky having given them her unconditional love.

In a country like the UK where legal action against cruelty to animals is supported by strong and solid legislation, the owners of Minky would have been heavily charged in court for cruelty to animals and barred from keeping any pets for the rest of their lives. We sincerely hope that Minky’s owners never invest in another dog.

Here in Sri Lanka the proposed new Animal Welfare Bill has been languishing in Parliament for several years and it is our urgent hope that this excellent Bill will pass into legislation at the earliest possible moment. The Dharmavijaya Foundation recently initiated an online petition http://www.petitiononline.com/SLAWB/petition.html to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a gentleman known for his compassion to animals, urging him to expedite the passing of the Bill.

Minky was probably never ‘looked after’ in her callous ‘home’. It seems to us that this was a case where a Doberman (pedigree dog), doubtless bought at a huge price, was taken on as a status symbol, a practice seen all too often in our country. When the ‘show piece’ became ill she was neglected, abandoned and forgotten by her owners, giving no thought of her life-long bonding with them. Although we gave Minky all the love, care and comfort she needed, Minky most probably, as all dogs do, pined for her owners.

Over two to three months of treatment, Minky was recovering beautifully and we had visions of her running again amidst love and care. She started to gain weight and ate well - looking very healthy. But then she suddenly developed respiratory complications, coupled with an inability to move, and died within a day, on January 8. Her complications could have been due to prolonged neglect and perhaps even abuse. And then there is also the issue of pedigree dogs - we do not know how genetically healthy she was.

Pedigree dogs the world over come with a list of genetic impairments and health issues. Those with short snouts have breathing problems and larger breeds have a genetic predisposition to hip dysplasia.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel has a skull too small for its brain, a condition that can cause painful fits later in life. The list goes on and on.

The British documentary, Pedigree Dogs Exposed was aired in Britain in August 2008 and it explored for the very first time the ‘extent of health and welfare problems in pedigreed dogs’.

http://www.examiner.com/pet-news-in-national/controversial-documentary-pedigreed-dogs-exposed-to-air-u-s-video.

As a result of this exposure, certain breeds that win at the UK’s Crufts Dog Show will now need to have a clean bill of health approved by a veterinary surgeon before they are awarded a winner’s certificate.

As an animal welfare organization, we urge people not to take on a pet if they cannot look after it when it is sick or old. Please... no one compels you to take on a pet.

And, if you take on a pet, do educate yourself on how to care for it. Do not leave your animal’s care entirely to your domestic staff, which is a practice that can be seen amongst some pedigree dog owners in Sri Lanka. This is both unfair for the staff, who cannot be expected to understand the difficulties of caring for a pedigree animal, and dangerous for the delicate animal.

Indeed we would urge people in Sri Lanka to be cautious about opting for a pedigree dog at all. Some of these animals are ‘in-bred’ or their genetic pool is too narrow, and as a result their ingrained genetic impairments can be aggravated. In these cases poor health is the inevitable outcome.

And here we would also like to draw the attention of the Ceylon Kennel Club to the issue of purebred dog breeding in Sri Lanka and urge that it takes whatever steps within its powers to ensure that proper standards are adhered to in the breeding of purebred dogs so that the progeny do not acquire genetically aggravated health problems.

Not only this but, as at Crufts, we would suggest that the Ceylon Kennel Club has winning show dogs checked by a veterinary surgeon before they are awarded a winner’s certificate. This kind of veterinary check up could be made compulsory for registering dogs with the Kennel Club, as well.

Some breeders use ‘Kennel-Club Registered’ as a marketing strategy to sell off pups. Unsuspecting pet owners invest in pure-bred animals and when the animal is too sick or too expensive or too troublesome to care for, they may either neglect the animal or abandon it as Minky’s callous owners did.

Pedigree dogs are also very expensive to maintain. If you take on a pedigree dog, be prepared for a higher food bill and a regular veterinary bill. We would recommend the average income earner, if they must have a pet dog at all, to go for a Sri Lankan dog, whose maintenance is not as expensive as that of a pedigree dog. The loyalty and love of a dog to its master is unconditional, be it pedigreed or not. Let us try to ensure that Minky’s tragic story is not repeated.