Allergies and Breeding

[Janneke]

I have a question for the breeders and everybody who thinks he/she has an opinion about this :D

Would you use a dog/bitch if he/she is or was bothered by allergies. Why (not)? And does this include all kind of allergies?

[Petra]

Hi.
Now I am not in a possition of judging breederd who are using dogs with alergies in their breeding, but I can say for sure, that it is one of my first health tasks on breeder - if parents of my future baby have some alergy…it will be so bad to have alergic puppy at home...it is horrible when dog with food alergy can not eat well. I think people should not breed with dogs with really bad atopic dermatitis or so, just because also pregnancy could make it all much worse....but for example some season alergic reaction for some flowering plants is qiute normal and it disapears in few hours or days and I don?t think it should be the reason of not breeding.....

[tanza]

@Janneke:

I have a question for the breeders and everybody who thinks he/she has an opinion about this :D

Would you use a dog/bitch if he/she is or was bothered by allergies. Why (not)? And does this include all kind of allergies?

I think that it depends on the rest of the health of the dog, along with temperament, soundness, conformation. And depends on how bad the allergies are… if the dog has allergies to many things and really suffers, I would not recommend breeding. If just to something like corn or wheat.. the everything else being considered OK, I would use the dog. I would also want to know about the sire and dam, siblings and the dog/bitch that it was being mated to. All of these considerations will give you a better picture on if a breeding would take place.

[nomrbddgs]

I agree with Pat. It does depend on what type of allergies. I wouldn't use a dog with multiple allergies, but if it's to one certain item, then yes, I would use it.

[ibi_n_sane]

it depends on the kind of allergies we are talking about, and how bad that allergy is, when a dog has a single allergy and the allergy is for example for one kind of food, I dont see any problem not breeding with that dog.
But with severe allergies for plants, humans ( yes that exicsts ) or a lot of food I would not breed with that dog.

[Buana]

I agree with what the other people say,

Buana is allergic to one kind of ingredient in some (cheap) kind of kibble.
The ingredient that some use to make it dry.
It's a sort of ingredient they like to use because it's cheap and easy to use.
Example Royal Canine, Pedigree, Bonzo and the cheap samples what you buy in the grocery he can't stand. But Farm Food, Hills, and lots of other kibble, he doesn't mind.
When he was a pup (that's when he got kibble), he had trouble with mosquito's but last year he had much mosquito bites and no trouble.
We know now, after a short test he is only allergic to one sort of ingredient.
I won't mind breeding with him, he has much quality's and did all the health tests thats were all with good results.

When a dog has good quality's but much allergy's in bad conditions I won't breed with that dog.
Allergy is a bad thing for owners and their dogs.
The way to the result of what they really allergic for are sometimes so long and not really cheap.
When I worked at the vet, we had at least one case of allergic reaction with a dog a week.. They first had to recover from their reaction (mostly with injections etc) and then they had to come back a few times to see what's the thing he's allergic for..
(test with al kind of possible allergy's injections on their skin, putting them on high hypoallergetic food or BARF when that don't change OR give a reaction, owners have to change their cleaning material at home, buy all new blanckets and toys etc etc)
Big problem with those tests are the owners, they try to give the hypoallergetic food to find out if it is the food, but forget they can't have anything else (no leaves, no sticks, no human food no snacks)

We once had a dog, that was allergic to new fleece blancets…
After all, not a big problem... but a very high bill with the vet..
(the owners, removed every blancket and toys.. but it was the fleece blanckets that were on the owners bed..)

That's one of the reasons I won't breed with a "high" allergic dog, the way to the results are so frustrating... for the dog AND the owner..

[Basenjimamma]

I had a Westie, that past over the rainbow bridge late March, that was allergic to storage mites. Storage mites are basically in anything stored on shelves in warehouses or stores for longer periods of time, like dry kibble, flour, grains and the like. So essentially he couldn't eat any dry nothing, so we went on raw and he did great. Of course he was also allergic to mold and flea saliva. Mold allergy and living in Houston, TX is a bad combo, it is everywhere, due to the humidity we have, and of course that also makes fleas very hardy. Bogus was on frontline and advantage together most of his life, that was the only way to keep fleas off of him and fur on him. He lived to be 13 years, which for me is way too young, but for a dog that has been on steroids and several meds throughout his life, realisticly it is not short. Either way, he clearly should not have been considered a breeding dog, even thought he was a beautiful example of what West Highland White Terriers should be like. My point, it depends on what type of allergies the dog has and the severity of them, in my ever so humble opinion..