EU Convention
As a concerned and caring breeder who feels a special affinity with and protectiveness for this breed I'm on my soapbox over the latest piece of loony legislation from Brussels....
In their 'wisdom' the EU has turned it's attention to our breed and armed with what seems to me little or no knowledge, misleading data and what must surely be out of date information, has decided that Shar Pei need to change. According to these Brussels suits, Shar Pei have problem skins and bad eyes.
Oh really?
In my experience the problem lies with vets and insurance companies. I'd love to be a fly on the wall at vet school when they cover Shar Pei. My guess from anecdotal evidence of puppy owners' experience at the vets is they must just say "Shar Pei - entropion, bad skin.... Next..."
Finding a good vet who will work with you is hard. Mine, is the old fashioned type - a real diamond. He treats the dog not the Shar Pei. Most, I think, treat the Shar Pei not the dog.
If I had a pound for every time I've heard of a vet treating a moult as skin trouble, and taking skin scrapings I'd be able to retire now! If I had a pound for every time I've heard of a vet prescribing entropion surgery for a winky eye, I'd be able to retire to somewhere warm and sunny!
Anyone who knows Shar Pei, knows they show stress in their eyes. They have an amazing ability to pull their eyelids so tightly shut they can roll them in and rub their eye. Crucially this can happen when the pup or dog is stressed.
Just recently Molly came into season and for the first time in her life rubbed her eye causing slight greyness. Molly has been eye tested by a KC BVA eye specialist (at six years of age I might add) who declared she has no entropion, very deepset eyes yes, entropion no. So tell me how does a seven year old previously unaffected dog develop entropion? I don't believe she does and if she does how come it can be cured without surgery? Her head finished developing at two years of age. It hasn't changed in the last five years apart from losing some padding on her muzzle due to age.
A week of eye cream to lubricate the eye and ease the irritation she'd caused and they eye is completely cured! No surgery! No facelift, just a tube of cream. Why because the cause of her stress, her season, was well underway and she was feeling better in herself.
Triggers for closing eyes can be dirty ears/ear infections, dust, pollen, stress, teething, you name it, it can cause it. These are quietly highly strung dogs. Stress does affect them and when it does it usually manifests itself in winky eyes.
A puppy I homed recently shut his eye. The vet (whom I told actually breeds Shar Pei) told his owner he needed entropion surgery. She rang me for advice, distraught at having to put this dog through such radical surgery. I suggested talking to the vet about eye tacking as an alternative, as again, anyone who knows Shar Pei will know, once they shut an eye, the sometimes need quite some convincing to open it again and tacking is often the best way. The vet wouldn't do it, so she went to another vet. I also suggested checking ears as he'd left here with lovely eyes. Had he got an ear infection? The first vet hadn't checked. She asked the second vet to check and low and behold - he had an ear infection. This vet again suggested entropion surgery but was open minded enough to listen to the owner and agreed to tack the eye whilst treating the ear. However, she cautioned if she didn't see a marked improvement in the eye in 24 hours, she would do entropion surgery. Tina took the pup back to the vets next day and the vet could not believe the improvement. Three months on, without having to endure entropion surgery, the pup remains fine.
I don't deny there are real cases of entropion in the breed but I do dispute the number. I further dispute that entropion is caused by the wrinkling on a Shar Pei's head. If this is the case, tell me why entropion is suffered by sheep? Where are the massive wrinkles there? Entropion is an incorrectly constructed eyelid.
The EU wants us to change how these dogs look. They want less wrinkles. As my vet said when I told him: "What a load of sh*t". And I have to say, I agree. Take one look at Flo my latest puppy. Flo hasn't even had her eyes tacked. She's got a very wrinkly head but perfect almond shaped eyes. Now tell me I need to breed plainer heads. What rubbish!
And don't get me started on bad skins. Bad skins where? Twenty years ago maybe. Today? How much of this is due to the unique way in which Shar Pei moult? As I warn puppy buyers, a Shar Pei moult can be quite different to any you've seen. They can moult in holes and look like a mangy old bit of carpet. The first moult is usually the worst and I put this down to hormones being all over the place and not yet settled. Sometimes the new coat comes through and as the hair is harsh can irritate the skin causing the dog to scratch and if you're not careful make a right mess of themselves.
Another perhaps over anxious puppy buyer took her pup to the vet as he had a bald patch in the side of his neck. The vet prescribed baths in malaceb. She asked my advice. I said I'd seen it before and provided the skin underneath was clean, dry and not infected it wouldn't worry me as in my pup it marked the beginning of his moult and once he had moulted completely, it had grown back in and I'd never seen a 'hole' again in his coat. She decided to see how it went and left the malaceb on the shelf. Once the pup moulted the patch grew back and the coat was fine. She rang to tell me she felt like asking the vet for a refund!
What is going on? Are these vets over anxious? Are they worried about law suits if they don't throw everything at a dog? Is the insurance that we send our dogs to their new homes with the cause? Is it a too easy, too ready income for vets? Do insurance companies ever challenge a vet's diagnosis or treatment? And why are insured animals bills often so much higher than the uninsured?
I must admit I do give insurance to puppy owners. I don't have it myself though. Why? My dogs rarely go to the vets and when they do it never seems to cost me as much as puppy owners' insurance companies are expected to pay. I spend far less on vet treatment than I would do on the premiums. Why? I put it down to a damned good vet. As I say, he treats the dog, not the Shar Pei.