Why you SHOULDN'T breed at 2 years old

A litter of Golden Retriever puppies, via Wikipedia.

In the dog world, it is now considered ethical to breed a dog on its 3rd or 4th heat cycle, or when they are 1 1/2 to 2 years old. It used to be their 2nd heat cycle or at 1 year old that they were safe to breed. It is believed that at 6 months old, a dog is still a puppy and/or mentally immature and unequipped to handle a litter of puppies. While I'm even skeptical of not breeding a 6 month old, I certainly disagree with waiting to breed a bitch until they are 2 years old. Here's why.

The younger the reproductive system, the less stress it puts on the body of the animal. The older the reproductive system, the less offspring, the harder it is on the mother, and there is a higher chance that the offspring will not survive or will be born defective (such as walrus puppies in dogs, though there are certainly other factors, it is believed that old age is one). When the dog is young, its body is thriving. It actually puts less stress on the dog to whelp at 6 months than at 2 years old. At 6 months the dog is receiving and absorbing a lot of nutrition, at 2 years it is fully mature and needs nutrients to sustain itself.

Horses are typically bred at 2 years old, this is when you can also safely ride them without having to worry about them getting sway backed from the added weight. However, horses in the wild will breed within their first season, but they often lose the foal due to inadequate nutrition and other environmental conditions (like stress). Captive horses bred young end up being smaller and their offspring will be smaller, because they weren't finished growing and had to put the nutrients they obtained into their offspring as opposed to their own body. This doesn't have a negative affect on the horse as a whole though, it's just aesthetics.

The recommended age for breeding goats is 1 year old, but some also feel this is too old. The longer you let a goat go without being bred the more likely they are to develop cancer and other lovelies, so it is recommended that if you aren't going to breed your doe that you get them spayed to prevent these risks. Goats bred too young also tend to be smaller, in fact they can be very very small if bred very young, but they have no issue taking care of their kids. Industrial farmers or raisers who pasture their goats and kids with a buck typically do not breed at any specific age, they just let nature take its course.

Rats and mice are pretty much exempt from the age breeding rule, being that they only live 1-2 years (mice) and 3-4 years (rats, though most die at 2 years from environmental causes).

Rabbits, pet breeders wait to breed until 1 year, meat breeders breed them at 6 months. Neither age seems to affect the size of the animal, and it does not affect mortality/chance of survival for litters. Breeding past age 5 yields smaller litters, but the doe's can still adequately care for their offspring.

Based on the breeding guidelines and results for these animals, it seems the only detrimental thing about breeding young is that the animal will be smaller when a fully grown adult.

Even stray dogs on the streets breed on their first heat and may even breed back to back, it depends on food/resources and their chances of finding a mate (which is very high). The older they get however, the more likely their pups will die because the mother can't take care of them, or that the mother will die because she doesn't have the strength to push them out. The opposite has never been true. If they were not meant to breed at 6 months old, mother nature would not have allowed them to breed at 6 months old. Simple as that. If your dog is going to die from being bred so "young", then perhaps you shouldn't be breeding it, as if you didn't exist, your dog would die and cease to exist from the world.

If you produce genetically defective offspring, you can spend more time test breeding them and still have time left over to produce healthy offspring. If you breed at 2 years old, when the dog has proven themselves, you have far less time to do any test breeding's. Even more, who is going to spend a whole bunch of money purchasing, showing, and testing a dog, and then stop breeding them when they produce defective offspring? That would be ludicrous. Maybe this is the real problem in pedigreed dogs, breeding at 2 years old. I say a dog should prove itself through healthy offspring first before going on to be titled in anything.


MYTH: a dog cannot be proven as healthy until they are 2 years old. I purchased a Toy Poodle named Belle who started showing y suture cataracts at 4 months old. She was pretty much completely blind before she was even a year old. I have purchased numerous American Cockers who have popped cherry eyes at 6 months old. If CERF can't even detect that, then there is something very wrong there. More importantly, health testing only guarantees that that dog is healthy at that time, there is always the possibility that the dog will develop health problems later on in life, like cancer. That isn't to say that, you shouldn't do it, but it certainly shouldn't be treated as "my dog is 100% healthy, I have the tests to prove it", it doesn't guarantee the health of the parent OR the offspring, it just helps rule defects out so you don't breed a defective dog. Again, the dog can always come up with healh issues later on, or even be recessively carrying the health issue that will pop up in their resulting offspring.

Tucker, one of many American Cocker Spaniels with cherry eyes... He underwent surgery shortly after this photo was taken.

MYTH: giant breeds are still maturing, even at 2 years. Actually, the reason giant breeds have such a short life span is because of accelerated aging. Breeding them "young" might actually prolong their life (because it stunts growth)!

I've also seen a lot of people say "Would you let an 11 year old child have a baby!" Actually, there are 11 year olds who have babies.... There are even girls far younger than 11 who have given birth. It's just our "civilized" society has tabooed it, even made it illegal, because it is "wrong". Not that I would allow my 11 or younger year old daughter get pregnant and have a baby, but if I was in another country where things like that happen all the time, I probably wouldn't have a problem with it. In those countries the girl is taken in by a wealthy man/family where she is taken care of very well, I wouldn't have to worry or take care of her like I would here in the US. This is probably the reason why it is taboo, at the age of 18 a woman should be able to take care of herself (so if she gets pregnant, the responsibility doesn't fall on her family), and that is why it is considered the adult age and women at this age can have sex with a man of any age without him being prosecuted.

The only dogs I might recommend breeding at two years old are extremely small breeds like Chihuahua's, they're probably going to need a cesarean section even at 2 years old, but at 6 months old it is pretty much guaranteed. If you can breed any Chihuahua at 6 months old and not need a cesarean section, for the love of god breed it like wild fire (it's unheard of). Even older would be breeds like the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel which I would breed at 5 years and older with heart murmur testing, because this is one of the leading causes of death in the breed (it causes an enlarged heart which causes early death/heart failure). Besides dogs like these though, I would breed at 6 months to a year, whichever you're more comfortable with or that you feel might better suit your dog.

The Raw Diet For Rats

I met a lady at a feed store who was appalled at the idea of feeding rats whole oats. Apparently she was unaware that this is the "new thing", and it is actually quite healthy for the animals.

The diet consists of legume hay like alfalfa, and then supplementation of whole oats for fat and more fiber. You can also give some dog food occasionally and a mineral salt lick, to further balance out the required nutrients.

Alfalfa has been getting a bad rap lately. Veterinarians and pet owners alike are saying animals from rabbits, to rats, to guinea pigs, cannot eat alfalfa hay. This is simply not true. While it may be true that it is maybe a bit too high in nutrients, you can balance it out by purchasing mixed bales of alfalfa and grass hay. Before there were commercial rabbit pellets, rabbits ate alfalfa hay. Ever watch Of Mice and Men (1939)? Lennie mentions wanting to get up every morning and feed the rabbits alfalfa in their hutches.

Guinea pigs in Peru.

Guinea pigs can also live off of grass/alfalfa mix but will still need vitamin C supplementation as it is dried and not fresh greens. Fresh greens contain vitamin C. People who raise cavies in places like Peru, feed them fresh greens and grains like oats and/or corn. An alternative which is even better than the pelleted or alfalfa diet is letting them free range in a yard, to eat grass and other vegetation. Just make sure that your yard has no toxic plants, such as tomatoes (a part of the nightshade family, the greens are very toxic) or daffodils (the bulb is the most toxic part, but the plant itself is also toxic), and you may want to look into livestock guardians, even if your piggies aren't livestock, the predators don't know the difference! Ducks, geese, and dogs are quite effective, but make sure they don't think your piggies are food!

More and more pet owners are going "back to nature", how about you?

Further reading: Onesta Organics Blog, Myth - Rats cannot digest alfalfa.

Update 3/7/14: Having tried this diet myself now, I'm rather so-so about it. On one hand, the rats like it, they boggle often while eating it, my old timer even got more energy from it and lost weight, the problem is she lost too much weight and I put her back on kibble. My old hairless female also had a problem with it and lost a lot of weight, possibly because being hairless, the rat uses up more calories/energy to keep itself warm, that of which the alfalfa/grain diet is not sufficient enough to maintain them.

I'm not sure that it provides adequate calories or nutrition, it is certainly enough to maintain an adult but not an elderly adult or rat which requires more daily calories like a hairless, and I'm unsure as to if rat kittens could be raised off of it and not grow up to have health issues from deficiencies in diet.

Supplementing the rat diet with alfalfa and/or grass hay however sounds like a great idea to me, they love the stuff, particularly building nests with it!

Also some guidelines: only give a small handful of alfalfa, and a large scoop of grain, giving too much alfalfa leads to wasteful buildup as seen in the image above. Get steam rolled oats with molasses instead of plain whole oats, they seem to like the molasses steam rolled oats more and the molasses is good for them. Check your oats, molasses oats tend to mildew easier and there might even be mildew in the grain before you open the bag (though this is a mess up on the manufacturers part, it happens easily). If you find this, naturally, return the bag and get a new one from a different lot which is hopefully not contaminated. Mildew will make your rats sick, it can even cause abortions in goats.

Feeding Ferrets Cat Food

Feeding ferrets cat food is generally accepted as being a "bad idea". It is believed that cat food is improper for ferrets, containing too much plant protein and not meeting the nutritional needs of a ferret. However, I have been feeding my ferrets cheap cat food for a number of months and have witnessed no ill effects. In fact, their health improved while on a grain free food (more energy, softer glossier coats). I feel the difference between foods is not even that significant.

Here I will compare Marshall Pet Products Select Chicken Formula Ferret Diet and Zamzow's Grandma Z's Super Premium Grain Free Cat Food.

Grandma Z's Ingredient list:

Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Chicken Fat (naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Oat Meal, Pearled Barley, Menhaden Fish Meal, Dried Egg Product, Flaxseeds, Natural Flavors, Sodium Bisulfate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salmon Oil, Salt, Dried Whey, Brewers Dried Yeast, Choline Chloride, Tomato Pomace, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Potatoes, Dried Beet Pulp, Taurine, Calcium Propionate, Dried Chicory Root, Dried Cranberries, Dried Sweet Potatoes, Dried Blueberries, Dried Carrots, Ferrous Sulfate Monohydrate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Cobalt Carbonate, Sodium Selenite, Mineral Oil, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacinamide, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Dried Parsley, Barley Grass, Dehydrated Alfalfa, Dried Spinach, Amorphous Silicon Dioxide, Citric Acid, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Vegetable Oil, and Rosemary Extract.

 Made in the USA: YES

Guaranteed Analysis:

Protein, min. - 33.0% 
Fat, min. - 20.0% 
Fiber - max.2.5% 
Moisture - max. 10.0%

 Marshall's Ingredient List:

chicken, chicken by-products (organs only), chicken by-product meal, corn meal, dried beet pulp, brewers dried yeast, sodium propionate (preservative), Dl-methionine, L-lysine, taurine, mixed tocopherols, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, riboflavin supplement, niacin, biotin, choline chloride, folic acid, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, D-calcium pantothenate, manganous oxide, inositol, ascorbic acid, BHA, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, zinc oxide, cobalt carbonate, potassium iodide, sodium selenite, rosemary extract.

Made in the USA: YES

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein (min.) 36%,
Crude Fat (min.) 18%,
Crude Fiber (max.) 4%,
Moisture (max.) 10%.

The only thing I would be concerned about is the lack of L-lysine in the cat food, it is good for immune health, but still not a requirement to maintain a ferret's health, it is more a preventative measure, like giving medicated feed to chicks. This would actually be a good thing to add to cat food, as it helps decrease the symptoms of the incurable feline herpes, which is so prevalent in cats! Now, this food does have a lot of plant material, which some veterinarians feel can be fatal or hard or a ferret, but the crude fiber is lower than that of the Marshall Ferret blend... Interesting isn't it? This is the grain free version of the food:

Guaranteed Analysis:

Protein, min. - 50.0%
Fat, min. - 22.0% 
Fiber - max.3.0% 
Moisture - max. 10.0%

INGREDIENTS: Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), White Fish Meal, Tapioca, Natural Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Sunflower Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Dried Kelp, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Lecithin, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Zinc Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Dried Enterococcus Faecium, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Inulin, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Solubles, Taurine, Green Tea Extract, Ascorbic Acid (source of vitamin C), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Niacin Supplement, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Source of Vitamin B1), d-Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement (Sources of Vitamin B2), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Beta Carotene, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Rosemary Extract.

I've read the protein should cap at 40%, but have not heard of negative affects associated with it being over 40%. Interestingly, this food has slightly more fiber, but is still lower than the Marshall food.

Ferrets, like cats and dogs, are strictly carnivores. Some ferrets were accidentally domesticated from the Black Footed Ferret, and are even used by hunters (in a sport called "ferreting") to chase hares/rabbits out of their burrows so the hunter can catch them. Being that they are strictly carnivores, some even have a cage muzzle so they can't catch and eat the hunter's kill.

Some vets even recommend feeding rats and/or mice to ferrets! Be careful with this though, make sure you get your rodents (or chicks) from a source which is free of coccidia. I don't know about gerbils or mice, but rats can carry coccidia without showing symptoms. Chicks usually show symptoms, but are usually risk free if they are started on medicated feed which stomps out the nasty little bug. Some owners also feed chicken necks, turkey necks, or other parts of poultry, swine, or beef that humans normally don't want to eat; instead of whole or live prey.

Welcome to the new blog!

I haven't really had any ideas on what to blog about, for quite some time, so the blog has been on a long hiatus (if it didn't die entirely, that is.) I've changed the topic from random thoughts to random posts on animals in general, as even if my previous blog was random, it still mostly pertained to animals. Humans, too, are animals, of the Homo genus, so they occasionally will be blogged about as well; but only in regards to genetics and even then, it may all tie into animals.

Our new banner may be of some interest to you.

From left to right: A Labrador Retriever who is also a chimera (two embryo's fused together, making a dog have two different colors with no genetic inheritance, with the exception of cats and perhaps some other species), Romeo the dog loving wolf, and my great grandmother with a fawn they rescued and bottle fed. All of these subjects will be blogged about in the future, rest assured. For now, I hope you enjoy reading what will be posted currently.

Cryptic Merle - The Controversy

The merle gene is a gene in dogs which can be a bit hard to explain. You know how if you put food dye into a cup, and then add water to it or maybe white paint, it becomes a lighter color? That is basically the merle gene, it dilutes a dog's color or pigment, if you want to be more technical. However, many breeders are wary about the gene because it does carry the possibility of harming the dog, if bred incorrectly. Unfortunately there are also those who feel the gene should not exist in dogs all together, because a few breeders didn't do their research before breeding.

Anyway, the merle gene can affect any color. I have seen others say otherwise, such as red dogs cannot be affected by the merle gene, but that is incorrect. True red dogs (some breeds use "red" instead of "chocolate", but we are talking about recessive red here, not chocolate) can be affected by the merle gene. Only those who are a very light shade of red, will have the merle gene be hardly visible, if at all, but they still carry it and produce merle puppies. This is where "cryptic" or "phantom" comes in, a cryptic or phantom merle is a dog who is merle, but hardly if at all has any visible indicator that it carries the gene, as though the gene is a ghost, hence phantom, and it is hidden, hence, cryptic. Here is a red roan American Cocker Spaniel, whose only real indicator of being merle is her blue eyes. She does have a bit of fading on her rear, but you can hardly see it in photos.

Some like to say that ACS's (American Cocker Spaniel's) who have blue eyes are "extreme piebald", which is a whole 'nother subject, but it is a gene similar to merle, yet at the same time, completely different. Put simply, it is a gene where a black dog is covered with white, leaving only small spots of black. If the dog has no black on its face or ears, it has a high chance of having blue eyes, but it has nothing to do with dilution. Obviously, this dog is not extreme piebald since it has solid color on the face instead of just spots of color, so such a theory is invalid. It is even actually quite abnormal for a merle to ever have blue eyes without the face having any dilution at all, which you can see on this dog that the right of her face has no dilution, but her left has dilution because of the white/cream you see. So it is possible that this dog is not merle, but then, how would you explain her having merle pups? That is the clearest indicator a  merle can ever have, is that if they don't or even do look merle, they will always produce a merle, if not multiple merles.

A picture of the same dog, with one clearly merle puppy.

Her daughter is also merle, but does not look it. She was clearly merle at birth, but the Shih Tzu fading gene diluted her color, including the merle, so much so, that you can hardly tell she is merle. Her blue eye is the only obvious indicator, but to the more trained eye, she also has silvering on her black tips (black tipped ears are caused by the sable gene).

Here is Romeo, a buff merle American Cocker Spaniel, who also has hardly any visible merling, and both of his parents did not show merle, but he has produced merle pups, once again proving that he is merle and not extreme piebald.

Romeo's parents, and growing up.

One of the puppies produced by Romeo. Has more color than his brother behind him, yet has blue eyes, proving he is not extreme piebald.

I think this is enough to show and prove that red dogs can, in fact, be merle. It also shows how incredibly easy it is to actually make a cryptic merle, I found it pretty amazing, considering that people always treat cryptics/phantoms as something rare, when actually its not hard to do at all. Here is a chocolate puppy, who is merle, but a combination of his long fur and the sable gene, made his merling hardly visible as well.

Impressive, eh?

This is why I love dog genetics. It is fun to play around with them and see what the different results yield. You unfortunately can't do this with purebreds, as they are restricted in how a dog looks, and such experimentation is forbidden. I am in no way a professional geneticist, I can't look at my dogs and their puppies' DNA, though I wish I could, and would like to in the future. This is merely what I observe and has no solid evidence to back it up.

Alexandria's Genesis - Fact or fiction?

Update 12/8/2013: I had no idea that my random musings would gain so much attention. I know Alexandira's Genesis is scarcely written about, but I still found the response to be surprising. This post does not focus on the entire myth of Alexandria's Genesis, but more on the usage of the term being applied to people with pale skin, purple eyes, and dark hair. In no way, shape, or form, do I believe that a woman who does not have a period, but is still fertile, could possibly exist (this is one of the many symptoms described to exist in people who have the real Alexandria's Genesis, which isn't real at all, it's science fiction). They would be like the virgin Mary. However, people with pale skin, purple eyes, and dark hair do exist, and many people say they have "Alexandria's Genesis". This blog post is not meant to prove that Alexandria's Genesis is real or that it does exist, but that people who look like such fables, do.

I first discovered Alexandria's Genesis randomly a few years ago, for some reason I get the feeling it was while I was randomly browsing Wikipedia, which I sometimes like to do. But anyways, Alexandria's Genesis is supposedly a genetic condition where the person has dark hair, "fair" skin (meaning rather pale and of good complexion), and interesting purple to grey eyes. Many people speculate that there is no such thing as this, since the term itself came from a Science Fiction book, yet they didn't have any other answer for how these eyes came to be, or what the proper term for it is, so everyone, including me, were left to wonder. What is this?

Elizabeth Taylor has always been known for her unique violet/grey-hued eyes. Many believe this to be Alexandria's Genesis. (Image Source)

Well, I think I finally found the answer! Albinism! Though it's not full-blown albinism, if it was the person would be white as white can be, with blue eyes, and white hair. It's a certain kind of albinism, ocular albinism. I stumbled upon this while again, browsing wikipedia and trying to scrounge up more theories on the merle gene in dogs (which I'll blog about another time). It's quite interesting. The persons' eyes are generally lighter and can even look like albino eyes (blue but a certain unique shade of blue), but it just affects the eyes.

Someone with ocular albinism having correction surgery. NOTE: Eyeball appears purple due to a light being shined onto it. (Image Source)

However, for Elizabeth Taylor, this would not be the case, since those with ocular albinism usually have their hair and skin affected equally, while Taylor has no effect on her hair and some effect to her skin and eyes. For her, it would be oculocutaneous albinism. Oculocutaneous albinism, affects the eyes and skin, but rarely the hair and it is possible for the hair to be dark, though that too is rather rare (usually it is a reddish pigment). More specifically, for miss Taylor, it would be OCA2, which does just that. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find an accurate picture for it, though the one above would work since they have hair and skin pigment.

But hey, Alexandria's Genesis sounds a heck of a lot cooler than oculocutaneous albinism OCA2, so why not keep the term?