Don’t get a mini pet!
The latest fad in many circles are smaller versions of animals like dogs--some people want things to stay small and cute forever, and what easier way than getting a teacup dog, or a munchkin cat? None of that growing up and losing those cute, doe-eyed looks and soft chubby bodies that are just so picture-perfect and Instagram ready.
Don’t.
This is a trend born out of ignorance, and it has exploded due to people more than willing to supply that demand and promote said ignorance at the expense of an animal’s welfare.
Miniaturisation is derived from breeding animals born with dwarfism, or breeding animals that were smaller than others of their kind to begin with. And since there’re only so many runts to be found in the world, creating a breeding stock of mini animals perpetuates a particularly insidious chain of inbreeding that often ends in an early death.
Some of the problems that miniature animals face are:
hydrocephaly -- lit. “water in the brain,” best described as an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain that creates too much pressure. It causes impaired vision, incontinence, mental impairment, and seizures, among other things
ectrodactyly -- missing digits on paws/feet
brachycephaly -- shortened snouts that prevent air from being breathed in correctly, leading to difficulty breathing and a tell-tale sound of an animal gasping for breath
PSS -- aka liver shunts, a congenital condition characterised by the liver’s circulatory system failure to connect properly to other veins, preventing the elimination of toxins like ammonia, and can lead to cirrhosis
cruciate ligament injuries -- the ligaments stabilising the knees rupture and often require surgery to correct
And those are just some of the conditions that can occur. Yes, non-miniature, non inbred animals can get them, but the fact is that miniature animals have a much higher chance of being born with those conditions.
Miniature females are most in danger, because they’re the ones used to carry future generations of these animals. Their uterus is often too small to gestate properly, and their vaginas too small to push babies out; the end result can either be death in utero for the babies, stillborn births, the mother dying during birth, or all of the above. The breeders who sell these kinds of animals don’t care about the incredibly high risk they are placing them in. The high price these babies fetch (or the premature ones they sell off as “miniature;” separating babies from their mothers too early brings another huge set of problems) works well enough for them to offset the loss.
And in the vein of how similarly unethical white tiger breeding works, the ones that look too obviously deformed or sick are discarded.
The people who sell and breed these kind of animals absolutely do not care that they’re condemning animals to a life of constant pain, suffering, and inability to engage in healthy animal behaviours, for the sake of profit. People who want to become pet guardians should absolutely care about their animals, and not prioritise cuteness over health.
-- Nick
