Companion Animal Welfare Council (CAWC) Report on Breeding and Welfare in Companion Animals (2006)

CAWC logo This major report recognised the clear welfare consequences of selection for specific traits in companion
animals. It recognised that the welfare problems can be very serious because they can affect large numbers of animals
throughout the whole of their lives and can do so generation after generation.

The report also highlighted the fact that this was a welfare problem which had been largely overlooked in the past.

It recommended that the following code, based on the wording of the Council of Europe Convention, 1987, be adopted by all those who breed companion animals:

'The selection and breeding of companion animals can result in, or perpetuate, characteristics or inherited conditions that seriously affect the quality of animals' lives. No one should breed companion animals without careful regard to characteristics (anatomical, physiological and behavioural) that may put at risk the health and welfare of the offspring or the female parent.'

The full report may be viewed here.

CAWC Fixing ancestral problems. Genetics and welfare in companion animals focusing on syringomyelia in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels as an example (April 2008)

The aim of this workshop was to review the measures that are being undertaken to tackle genetic welfare problems, to look at the latest developments, identify bottlenecks and assess how these may be overcome. Three approaches were identified: Take steps to eliminate the problem through selective breeding, minimising further loss of genetic diversity (this approach is currently underway in the case of Cavaliers with SM and MVD).Outbreeding to another breed or breeds in a managed program.Not breeding from carriers of the disadvantageous trait (even if it meant, and if welfare is the priority, losing a particular breed)

The report recommended that in the case of Syringomyelia scientists and breed club representatives, facilitated by the KC, should devise a scheme for collecting MRI data for use in a program to reduce or eliminate the disease.

CAWC Approaches to Tackling Genetic Welfare Problems in Companion Animals (October 2008)

This report identified the lack of a structured and co-ordinated approach for addressing genetic welfare problems. It concluded that an independent advisory body be set up to consider the best way forward to tackle problems on a breed by breed basis (this may be an appropriate role for CAWC).

The authority of such a body would rest on the composition of its members and would address, with breeders and others, the ethical and practical genetic aspects. It would address the issue of whether continued breeding in a population would be justified, and if so what the aims (and perhaps methods) of the future breeding strategies should be.