Quick health question

[flboxer]

I have been reading a lot on this forum, I hope to get a boxer puppy some time. I plan on only getting a puppy through a reputable breeder, so nobody yell at me. I just want to cure my curiosity... How often do puppies from BYB's get the major health issues? Do all puppies end up with these major heath issues? I'm sure some puppies from a BYB can escape such health issues? Correct? Thoughts?

Again, I am not buying/supporting a BYB, I was just curious if anyone knew how previlant these issues arise in animals from BYB.

Thanks for any input!

flboxer

 

[SammynDqtz]

To say that ALL BYB bred pups end up sickly would be dumb to say the least... yes there are exceptions. Of course, why ever take a chance? (not saying you are).
And as the boxer becomes a more and more popular breed, these health issues and maybe new ones will come up more often in these BYB pups.

 

[Shakira's Ma]

New Puppy

Hi and welcome to boxer world. My puppy is from a BYB and that was because I didn't know better and before I found BW, I am hoping that some of these puppies escape these illnesses as I am not ready to lose another baby, I lost one in November 2003 from Cancer. :( So far my puppy checks out perfectly healthy and she is 8 months old right now. I can only hope that she remains healthy. We have had a great time with her, boxers are awesome and so smart you really have to stay ahead of them and not second guess anything they will prove to you that they can outsmart you any day of the week.

 

[Hannah'sMom]

My first dog came from what I would probably now consider a BYB. He had all the AKC papers in order but I do not remember if he had any health testing done. Be that as it may, Brittany was a great companion who had relatively few health problems (3 small cancerous tumors removed but no heart murmurs).

The best thing you can do is research when it comes to buying a puppy. With a reputable breeder you will know that all appropriate health checks are done. These people are not breeding for the money.

However, even with a reputable breeder because of issues with the breed, you may get a puppy with health problems (as in my case). Sometimes life throws you a curve ball.

 

[gmacleod]

How often do puppies from BYB's get the major health issues? Do all puppies end up with these major heath issues? I'm sure some puppies from a BYB can escape such health issues? Correct? Thoughts?

No, not every single puppy from a BYB will have health issues. And not every single puppy from a reputable breeder will be free of them. HOWEVER the risk of a puppy from a BYB developing serious health issues is far higher than a puppy from a breeder who does health testing. That is because a lot of the diseases that boxers are prone to have a genetic basis.

A dog with hips that will turn dysplastic is more likely to produce offspring that will develop dysplasia than a dog with normal hips; a dog with BCM is more likely to produce offspring with heart troubles; a monorchid dog is more likely to produce monorchid pups, a white boxer deaf offspring... etc etc. Now you can see that a dog is white, or that it's monorchid, but if you don't do the health testing, how do you know whether or not it is affected by any other - serious - conditions that it is *likely* to pass on to any offspring?

Conversely, if you buy a puppy from a reputable breeder - whose parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc were tested and shown to be free of those diseases, then while it doesn't *guarantee* you a healthy dog, it certainly increases your chances of getting one

But that's just scratching the surface of the issue :( Many of the health problems associated with the boxer breed are genetic. If health testing isn't performed to remove affected or likely-to-be-affected dogs from the breeding gene pool, then those genetic conditions will be proliferated. The result is an ever-increasing incidence of genetic health problems, until such time that that's just what you get when you buy a boxer dog.

Now that doesn't mean that all BYB's are bad people. I'm sure many of them love the boxer breed and are simply ignorant of what they're doing to the breed by breeding untested dogs. But the bottom line is that if there were no market for their puppies, they'd stop producing them There's no shortage of people who want to breed their dogs - but very, very few who want to be stuck with 10 puppies...

So there's two reasons not to buy a puppy from a BYB. The risk of the pup having (serious and expensive) health problems is far greater and the purchase of such a pup is a contribution (albeit indirect) to the decline of the boxer breed as a whole.

 

[Gagal4ever]

ive had the reverse situation occur. My first boxer was from a great breeder and excellent bloodline. She was a sick boxer most of her life and I lost her at 5 from a brain tumor. My boyfriend (husband now) saw how much i missed my little one and surprised me with a new boxer. He bought her from a newspaper ad without papers (he didn't know any better). She has been the most healthy dog I have ever had and has the best personality and is very smart. Sometimes you just never know and some of the BYB dogs can be the best ever. I probably will not go that route again but I am sure glad by hubby did now as Maggie is my heart

 

[l8krgirl08]

I agree with everything said here already but when I went looking for a pup in March of this year every reputable breeder I contacted had no puppies. I looked online for weeks and contacted my local Boxer club and got no where. So I ended up buying from a local ad. The father of my pup was a show dog in pursuit of his championship and my dog has a few champs in his pedigree but I'm terrified of him getting ill. I am curious as to what to expect to pay for a puppy on average from a good breeder. Anybody know because I paid a thousand for mine now and I feel that's terribly expensive for a breeder who doesn't breed professionally. Once I saw the face though I had to have him.