The Brachycephaly Clinic at the Royal Veterinary College’s Queen Mother Hospital of Animals in Hertfordshire is being launched next Wednesday. The clinic deals with dogs that have rounded heads and short muzzles created through selective breeding which can often suffer chronic, multiple health problems because this sort of selective breeding distorts anatomy.
Such breeds often suffer from breathing difficulties brought about because of excessive flesh inside their mouths. They might also have problems with hearing and smell caused by their shrunken skulls and skin problems.
This brings to mind the Persian cat. I’m referring to the ultra-Persian or modern Persian with the flat face and a round head. They too can have breathing and tear duct problems causing poor drainage from the eyes.
Apparently, figures from the Royal Veterinary College show a ten fold increase in the number of newborn pugs and French bulldogs over the preceding 13 years.
High-profile owners have triggered this fad. I’m referring to people such as the Beckhams and Kelly Brook, for example. Kelly Brook has a pug. The dog is tiny and she dresses him/her up in fancy clothes and carries her around.
Many dealers over-breed the dogs to accentuate the features – does this remind you of some cat breeds? – and many buyers often overlook the conditions under which they are bred and ignore the selective breeding process and end up with dogs which develop chronic health problems.
This is the modern culture. About 7 years ago I wrote about Paris Hilton who probably started the idea of handbag dogs and cats – she acquired a dwarf cat. People celebrities like to carry around dog celebrities and because you can’t carry around cats in a handbag on your shopping sprees they have to be content with celebrity cats on the internet, in videos. But even that has developed whereby celebrity cats such as Grumpy Cat are involved with making films and making appearances for photographs in exactly the same way that a human celebrity does. It’s the modern culture; the modern world.
Hi Kylee!
Well, sitting in a chair for long stretches of time is one of the worst things you can do for your health and longevity, or so say the scientists. It goes without saying none of us likely believe that, or would care overmuch even if we did, since sitting feels good.
Another thing you can do to jeopardize your health is marathon running. One of the world’s leading cardiologists said long-distance runners have enlarged, fibrous hearts. But it’s likely more people rather than fewer sit in a chair in a technologically advanced culture, a non-activity that adds on the pounds, atrophies the muscles, and renders the heart unaccustomed to any kind of physical exertion. Of course you can clap on earphones and listen to music or talking books – whatever you like – when you’re gardening or doing something or other physically active. And the cardiologists keep saying the best kinds of activity are walking & swimming.
Take care of yourself, and pet your kids! S.
Thanks for that yes i agree walking and swimming is the best exercise. Its my number one thing i like to do when I can Esp when the sun is out. Take care and keep well.
Wow Silvia your totally amazing the amount of book material you read. I take my hat off to you. You’re truly inspiring. I know that post meant for ruth but yes its been so hard and tiring and emotional these last few days. At least we have been here for everyone struggling with this horrible disaster. Was bad enough watching the video. Yes, though the darkness there is light. Love to you your amazing!!
Ruthie – You were on one of the other websites today…forget which, and haven’t the strength to sift thru them again. But if you come on this one tomorrow…well, if misery loves company, here goes.
Are you going to pay those varlets? It will set a precedent if you do, and they’ll pull the same stunt on you from here on in.
Anyhow, try to firm up. Just don’t ask me how. Is there any chance the neighbor & his neglected dogs will move soon? Is there reason to hope he hears the siren song of the Middle East?
As for all the depressing PoC posts…can’t take any more. Like you, have collapsed. Especially cannot stomach what the hybridizers do to these pitiful, wheezing animals. Then there are the drawers & cupboards crammed with decomposing cats. Then the vivisected infant animals tossed into the trash bin by chuckling fiends.
As a finishing touch, I grabbed a few books at the local library book sale yesterday, and am deep into Dr. Sherwin Nuland’s How We Die, Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter (title underlined).
This, after just finishing Prof. Peter Singer’s Rethinking Life and Death (title underlined). As you know, he’s probably America’s most famous animal rights activist, only this particular book of his is about people. And in one of his chapters he describes a young mother cradling and weeping over her anencephalic child, whom she can’t bear to let die. It smiles and sneezes, apparently eats and moves its limbs, but its head ends at its eyebrows. Meaning, it’s a human cauliflower. And she tenderly adores it. As you can imagine, the theme of his book is euthanasia.
To top it off, this morning there’s this headline about Syrian children allowed by the Powers that Be to receive polio inoculations, together with a photo of these dear little mites with their delicate faces and beautiful eyes, sitting together, in a row, in their t-shirts and jeans, waiting for the doctor. Yes – the warring factions allow health-aid workers to get in their with their inoculants, but they won’t allow food and water to be delivered to these children and their families. God…
Can a person laugh amidst the darkness of it all?
I also grabbed another book yesterday – Why Things Are: Answers to Every Essential Question in Life (title underlned) by Joel Achenbach. And despite the misery in the world, it broke me up. ‘Why does Passion Fizzle?’ is the title of one of his essays. The prime reason being, he opines, that none of us are interesting.
p.s. And yes, my dear, my garden is lovely beyond belief, since you asked. On hands and knees I transplanted a hundred Lutz beet seedlings day before yesterday (and the Lutz has a flavor to lure even beet-haters). Well…the slugs sawed off nearly every last one. I sprinkled organic bait in the garden yesterday morning, then went out there at midnight last night, and the patch was crawling with slugs the size of dill pickles.
Over and out. xx
Sorry for these sad posts. They are the news. When I look for topics I am presented with these sorts of stories. It is like the general news. News is bad news. Good news does not sell newspapers.
Well, the last two posts are nice stories. I deliberately chose them to perk up Ruth 😉