Gunny here. I’m asking why humans focus on dog breeds and what diseases some breeds are predisposed to. Sure, there are certain things that are breed-specific. Like my brother Newman. He’s a tall, rough coat collie. He has collie eye. That’s some thing collies get. Not Dalmatians. If Dalmatians got it, it would be called Dalmatian eye.
But let’s talk about those health conditions that really have little to do with breed. Like cancer. Or Cushing’s disease. Or Diabetes. Sure, some breeds may have slightly higher risk of some of those problems/diseases. Example: dachshunds may hurt their backs. But it’s not really that different from breed to breed. Any dog can hurt his back. Many of these things happen as we dogs get older. (I’m not a cat but I’m guessing it’s the same for cats.)
I mean, I look at my friends at the dog park. The high strung dogs, like the boxers, and the shepherd breeds, they’re the ones who get problems with their adrenal glands. It kind of makes sense. You know, because they’re high strung anyway, so they’re already stressing out their little adrenals. But then their parents are all worried about whether or not it’s in their breed predisposition. Please. It’s what’s being done to them that’s making it happen.
Another example is cancer.Who gets cancer? I don’t care what breed you are, it’s got nothing to do with the color of our fur or the shape of our ears (you know, breed characteristics)! It’s got everything to do with what humans put into our bodies.
We are a victim of what our humans do to us. Not our breeds. So the next time your human goes searching the Internet for diseases specific to your breed, hope that your human is looking for something that makes sense.