BrooklynMom
Well-known member
I wasn't sure who I should tell about this, but my husband is out of town and something just happened that made me SO ANGRY! I have to vent, I have to tell someone, so here I go.
I was just talking to a woman who happens to breed cavaliers (don't worry, I won't mention names or anything about them). At first I was delighted to talk to her, I told her I have Brooklyn, etc. Afterall, all cavvie people get along right? Wrong. It all went wrong when I said "oh, so I assume you MRI your breeding stock right?" and she said (and this are literally quotes) "of course I don't, no one I have heard of does that. I have a professional skilled vet that checks for everything in my dogs, and all of them have always been 100%...besides, I have a return policy if anything goes wrong in their life, they can just bring their dog back and swap it for another" (ummm, yeah, like anyone would go "trade in" their 5 year old dog for starters). Anyway, I didn't want to be confrontational, so I just said, "Oh that is wonderful you have such great dogs. Have you ever heard of syringolyelia though?", she said "Well of course, but it doesn't happen in Australia, my vet told me it only happens and is contained in the US and the UK. The TV show on it put everyone is a exaggerated state. I have never seen a case here and my long time vet has never seen a case either, it is so rare anyways and with quarantine laws, there is no way it would come to Australia anyway." UM YES, she said QUARANTINE!
At this point I had to laugh a little, I was like "you know SM isn't a contagious thing right? Like, it won't come or not come through quarantine...its not small pox!" I then went on to state all of the facts I know, the average number of cavaliers affected, how serious it is (at this point, I just felt it was my duty to say everything I could, if she closed her ears, at least I tried) and she goes "what, have you been searching the internet these days? I don't know where you get your facts, but the internet is not 'fact', my vet is something factual" and I followed up by saying that (might have been slightly steaming at this point) "No, I do not search "facts" from the internet, I get them from professionals and I bet my neurologist is a heck of a lot more factual about SM than your country vet and in fact I know 2 affected cavaiers just down the street from me and Brooklyn is off to the neuro on Tuesday for symptoms and that neuro, the only small animal specialist neurologist in Australia, factually stated that over 50-70% of our cavaliers are affect by SM and how serious it is to take into account breeding standards because it is the only way we will save this breed". She just huffed and I left it saying this "Ignorance does not mean it does not exist", and walked away.
I hate confrontation and arguing (I think that is why my husband married me, ha!), so confronting her was so out of character for me. My heart was beating so fast and I was shaking! You can tell I don't normally do this because I almost passed out from adrenaline afterward, whew. I usually remain quite and stir inside, but I am so on edge these days about this. With what everyone on here is going through, with Brooky off to the neuro on Tuesday (and she even came from a scanning breeder, but at least she had a better shot), I just feel like I can't hold it in. I want to scream from the roof tops.
Thanks for letting me vent. Ugh. I hope, later that night, what I said will hit her heart, maybe not now, maybe not in a year, but maybe someday. Just get her thinking. Maybe. Someday.
I was just talking to a woman who happens to breed cavaliers (don't worry, I won't mention names or anything about them). At first I was delighted to talk to her, I told her I have Brooklyn, etc. Afterall, all cavvie people get along right? Wrong. It all went wrong when I said "oh, so I assume you MRI your breeding stock right?" and she said (and this are literally quotes) "of course I don't, no one I have heard of does that. I have a professional skilled vet that checks for everything in my dogs, and all of them have always been 100%...besides, I have a return policy if anything goes wrong in their life, they can just bring their dog back and swap it for another" (ummm, yeah, like anyone would go "trade in" their 5 year old dog for starters). Anyway, I didn't want to be confrontational, so I just said, "Oh that is wonderful you have such great dogs. Have you ever heard of syringolyelia though?", she said "Well of course, but it doesn't happen in Australia, my vet told me it only happens and is contained in the US and the UK. The TV show on it put everyone is a exaggerated state. I have never seen a case here and my long time vet has never seen a case either, it is so rare anyways and with quarantine laws, there is no way it would come to Australia anyway." UM YES, she said QUARANTINE!
At this point I had to laugh a little, I was like "you know SM isn't a contagious thing right? Like, it won't come or not come through quarantine...its not small pox!" I then went on to state all of the facts I know, the average number of cavaliers affected, how serious it is (at this point, I just felt it was my duty to say everything I could, if she closed her ears, at least I tried) and she goes "what, have you been searching the internet these days? I don't know where you get your facts, but the internet is not 'fact', my vet is something factual" and I followed up by saying that (might have been slightly steaming at this point) "No, I do not search "facts" from the internet, I get them from professionals and I bet my neurologist is a heck of a lot more factual about SM than your country vet and in fact I know 2 affected cavaiers just down the street from me and Brooklyn is off to the neuro on Tuesday for symptoms and that neuro, the only small animal specialist neurologist in Australia, factually stated that over 50-70% of our cavaliers are affect by SM and how serious it is to take into account breeding standards because it is the only way we will save this breed". She just huffed and I left it saying this "Ignorance does not mean it does not exist", and walked away.
I hate confrontation and arguing (I think that is why my husband married me, ha!), so confronting her was so out of character for me. My heart was beating so fast and I was shaking! You can tell I don't normally do this because I almost passed out from adrenaline afterward, whew. I usually remain quite and stir inside, but I am so on edge these days about this. With what everyone on here is going through, with Brooky off to the neuro on Tuesday (and she even came from a scanning breeder, but at least she had a better shot), I just feel like I can't hold it in. I want to scream from the roof tops.
Thanks for letting me vent. Ugh. I hope, later that night, what I said will hit her heart, maybe not now, maybe not in a year, but maybe someday. Just get her thinking. Maybe. Someday.