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In all fairness, the author is probably right that his or her clients would change vets if they told the client to stop owning brachycephalic dogs, and the clie
by fixermark 10y ago
In all fairness, the author is probably right that his or her clients would change vets if they told the client to stop owning brachycephalic dogs, and the client would be right to do so. People are deeply emotionally attached to their pets; it'd be a bit like a doctor setting a kid's arm telling the parent "These extra-long arms are prone to breakage; you should consider having children with someone with the genes for a stockier build."
Divorcing the general notion of a category problem from individual cases of ownership is hard, and honestly, Guardian op-eds may be the best option in the short-run.
- illumin8 10y agoThis is a false equivalence. Parents of children can't choose their genetic traits. Pet owners have the choice of what breed to adopt.
- Filligree 10y ago> Parents of children can't choose their genetic traits. In many cases they can, through genetic screening of eggs and artificial insemination. Few things make me sadder than seeing a kid with some genetic disorder, whose parents knew that was a possibility.
- grive 10y agoThat's not fair at all. People are deeply attached to their pets, once those are actually born and part of the family. Here the vets just need to stop working with breeders. Those are not emotionally attached to their pets, and they are the one considering making specific adults mate for some specific genetic material. Stopping this market has nothing to do with telling some family that they should just give up on their dog. It's far sooner than that, before the animal is even born, that a change has to be made.