wjs@houxd.UUCP (W.SCHMIDT) (04/09/84)
* Any information on the educational requirements of breeders--or the breeding profession--would be greatly appreciated. The areas of interest are dogs and cats.
chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) (04/10/84)
To the best of my knowledge, the only requirement a person has to become a
breeder is to own an animal. That leaves a lot of footwork for the
potential breedee. I would suggest talking to AKC (for dogs, for cats I'm
not sure...) about a breeder and see whether complaints have been filed
against them (AKC has an investigative arm that has the power to have AKC
stop accepting paper from a breeder if it is shown that they are not
abiding by AKC rules). Check references from the breeder. If it is
possible, drop by the local chapter of the AKC meeting and talk with people
there, or go by a local dog show and talk to other people showing that
breed. Check out the papers on the potential stud as carefully as you can,
and make sure that all the required medical work (shots and xrays) are up
to date. Don't go with someone you don't feel you can trust, and try to get
some guarantees in writing.
--
From under the bar at Callahan's: Chuq Von Rospach
{amd70,fortune,hplabs,menlo70}!nsc!chuqui (408) 733-2600 x242
A toast! To absent friends... {clink}hansen@pegasus.UUCP (Tony L. Hansen) (04/11/84)
Unfortunately, there are no educational requirements for being a member of the breeding profession. Some have considerable education along this line and some don't. For those who don't, time and trial and error are good teachers ( but considerably more expensive and time consuming in the long run). Sonya Hansen
rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (04/11/84)
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The following is oriented toward cats because I know the situation -
generalize as seems sensible. [My wife & I breed Abyssinians.]
If this raises some particular questions, post or mail them and I'll either
mail replies or post followups, as appropriate.
Basically, there's nothing required to become a breeder other than having a
female cat. (Even people who don't even know the sexes of their cats can
become "involuntary breeders":-) People who aren't seriously involved in
breeding, don't produce pure-breed ("pedigreed") animals, and don't become
part of a breeding/showing organization are often referred to as "backyard
breeders". This may be pejorative, or it may be just an observation.
A RESPONSIBLE breeder needs to acquire knowledge in several areas:
genetics, basic veterinary practice, show rules and standards, and business
practice.
Breeding animals IS a business. It's possible to run a "kitten mill" (which
IS pejorative), where you just turn out kittens as fast as the queens
(breeding females) can produce them. What you get is a profitable
business, high infant mortality and disease incidence, and maladjusted
animals which make poor pets. You also give animal breeding a bad name
and earn the hatred of every responsible breeder in the vicinity. If
instead, you plan breeding, allow plenty of room, care for animals, and give
kittens enough handling that they'll be well-adjusted around people, you
will be doing a good job, but it will be expensive and you'd better plan it
well or you'll lose a lot of money. Business sense is only a background
factor, but it's essential. (Example: We sell kittens at prices from $250
for pets to $400+ for breeding/show quality. We make little or no money at
those prices. You have to experience going to the store and buying $100 of
cat food to understand:-))
Genetics can be tricky. In the process of breeding, you're trying to
improve the quality and health of the animals you produce. You also want
to work from a large enough gene pool that inbreeding doesn't create
problems, which requires care if you're working with an uncommon breed.
Occasionally, a serious genetic problem will start to show up in a breed
and breeders will have to work together to try to find the source of it and
eliminate it (by not breeding the problem animals). A few genes follow the
simple dominant/recessive rules we learned in junior-high biology, but
there are many cases of incomplete dominance, sex-linking, masking, etc.
Breeders need a substantial background of veterinary practice for a couple
of reasons. First, you're not likely to find vets with a lot of experience
in reproductive problems - there just isn't that much call for it for a vet
who treats mostly pets. (They spend a good deal of their time preventing
animals from reproducing.) Second, the more animals you have, the more
frequently you will have to face illness. You need to be able to recognize
the common problems and treat them, or you'll end up paying a fortune for
simple visits to the vet. (See business practice, above.) However, you
CAN'T get along without a good vet. Breeders generally find it worthwhile
to learn enough to give cats the required immunizations and periodic tests
for disease.
Also, on cat health, I should mention that when you get into breeding, you
realize that cats have a significant kitten mortality rate - depending on
breed, it may run from 20-40%. You have to handle the heartbreaking
experience of tiny kittens dying or of being stillborn. (And you need to
know enough about why it happens. You can't cure a cleft palate, but you
can cure or prevent a lot of respiratory problems, for example.)
It should be obvious that breeders have to know "standards" for their
breeds. It isn't enough to register your cats - that by itself doesn't
mean a lot. All it says is that you know that the ancestry of a cat is
pure in the breed for some number of generations - it DOESN'T say that the
cat is at all a good example of its type. Evaluating the animals according
to standards is where shows come in. Serious breeders show their animals
in order to get exposure, measure their success, etc. There are several
associations which register cats, organize shows, and track show results;
the largest is CFA. It's worthwhile to go to a cat show once just to see
how it works and to see what the range of breeds is.
What to look for in a responsible cat breeder:
- If you are looking to purchase a cat, the breeder should evaluate
you. The breeder should be sufficiently concerned with the
health, safety, and happiness of cats to ensure that you can
provide a good home for the cat. Also, don't expect to get a
kitten before it's old enough to have had the first
immunizations. This may be 12 weeks old or so; NEVER before 8.
- You should see how the cats are raised. If the breeder refuses
or is reluctant to show you where the animals live, forget it.
There shouldn't be anything to hide. (One exception: You should
not expect to be allowed to handle very young kittens, as a
precaution against transmitting disease.) The quarters (or the
house) should be clean and relatively free from odor.
- Cats should be healthy. An OCCASIONAL runny eye or sneeze is
expected, but that should be uncommon in the population. All of
the animals should have good weight for their type, have good
coats, and be normally active.
- Cats should be exposed to people. If cats are caged a lot, or if
they live only with other cats, they will become very shy around
people. This is often symptomatic of trying to raise too many
cats at once. To see: play with the cats.
- Where cats are caged (unfortunately necessary for some
situations), the cages should be large enough for the cat to run
around a bit and should provide places to jump. (Cats are
generally excellent jumpers and need that sort of exercise.)
- Food and clean water should be readily available.
--
"A friend of the devil is a friend of mine." Dick Dunn
{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303) 444-5710 x3086halle1@houxz.UUCP (J.HALLE) (04/12/84)
If you change cat to dog in all instances, the article that this is a followup to is still 100% accurate. (Mortality in dogs is less, usually 0-25% for most breeds. Otherwise I would change nothing in the article.)
hbb@houxt.UUCP (04/12/84)
<##> >From hogpc!houxm!houxz!halle1 Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969 <--this was posted a long time ago! - hbb >References: <352@opus.UUCP> >If you change cat to dog in all instances, the article that this is a followup >to is still 100% accurate. If you can change a cat into a dog, you must be REALLY good at breeding! -) -- Harlan B. Braude {houxm,allegra,harpo,hogpc,ihnp4,zehntel,ucbvax,sdcsvax,eagle,burl}!houxt!hbb