Questions on Boxer ear cropping

I have some questions and a statement.
Is it a must to crop a Boxers ears to show a boxer in AKC shows? This is why I am asking. We purchased a Boxer puppy last week and had his ears cropped on Thursday, she went into respretory arrest 30 min. later our wet ,that we have used for 17years brought her back and all was going ok he and his other vet stayed with her all nite long and at 5:45 am we got the call that she had died . How often does this happen or am I just one the the unlucky ones? :cry:

 

I believe boxers have to be cropped to show....how horrible. My nephew has a boxer left natural and she's adorable. I'd much rather see boxers and dobbies left natural.

I'm sorry about your pup...that is so horrible.

 

First of all, my condolences on the loss of your pup. It's not a common occurance, but it does happen often enough that people need to be aware that complications from anesthesia are possible.

As for showing, a boxer does NOT need to be cropped to compete in AKC shows. You will probably have to have an otherwise exceptional dog to finish it's championship if it's not cropped. But sadly, most people don't finish their first show dog anyway. The first couple of dogs are for practice, so to speak.

Dog shows are highly political. And they're a lot of work. Besides all the preperation you go through, all the travel, all the training, you have to keep a list of all the judges, pay attention to the sort of dogs they're placing, and evaluate your own dog against what the judge is looking for.

Each judge evaluates a dog differently. Some judges are 'head hunters', and place greater weight on the dogs head. Some are looking for movement. Some ignore movement, in favor of how well a dog stacks. And the good ones take all things into concideration, and still amaze us with some of their placing.

Once you get a grip on what a particular judge is looking for, you can then decide if you're wasting your time and money presenting your dog to that judge. This will be doubly important if you have a boxer that is not cropped. In time, you'll figure out which judges won't give your dog a second look, and you can then avoid showing to them, and concentrate on judges who look at the whole dog, not just his ears.

 

I am very sorry about your loss. I have a question for you: When I had Piper spayed, my vet recommended that we have a blood test run prior to the surgery to check for risks associated with anesthesia. I believe the test was an additonal $50.00. Did your vet perform this type of test on your puppy? I am not sure if this is a standard test that is widely used or is a preference of my vet. Hopefully others will weigh in on what they know about this procedure - we have some very informed people on this board. Again, I am truly sorry for you and your family.

 

I dont know what pre op test were done,I was just wondering how many dogs die each year due to croppingof the ears.

 

It's impossible to say, as they don't report such occurances to any agency that would track them. But i dare say it isn't a large number.

In six years working at a multi-vet clinic, we only lost one animal, a cat, during a spay, due to anesthesia complications. We lost one cat during surgery for a bowel obstruction, due to hemorrhaging, and one dog during a splenectomy, also due to hemorrhaging. Both animals experienced major bleeding prior to surgery, and the outcome was not unexpected.

We did a large number of ear croppings, and didn't lose any, although one Dobe puppy experienced some minor hemorrhaging post op. The rest of them were uneventful.

 

There are a few reputable breeders out there who do crop their own (depending on what state as in some it is illegal to do one's own ears and tails) but it is done and generally under those circumstances the pups are days old still with mom and are not sedated...it's much like piercing a baby's ears...quick and not memorable... with good breeders it's all done cleanly with scalpals etc...NO scissors... It's fast and heals better than vet croppings in most cases as mom cleans the ears better than people do and can... MOST of the time no suturing is not necessary and it's done safely with not anesthetic... In my state it's not illegal to do this and I would personally search out a breeder who does it themselves IF at all...and who does it cleanly and safely etc... in THOSE cases dogs dying from ear cropping is un-heard of...

BUT with anesthesia there's always a risk of death and with young puppies for cropping it's more likely than with adults etc... With a vet inexperienced it would be more likely complications would come up...it should have been a FAST procedure so minimal risk and so...I'm thinking oyour vet may have some questions to answer as to WHAT happened EXACTLY....

 

So sorry to hear about the loss of your pup, I worked in a great hospital for 5 years, the percentage of deaths from anaesthesia was lower than most human hospitals, in 5 years we lost 3 dogs and one cat (healthy and in for elective surgeries) 1 dog, a Boxer came out of anaesthesia after a routine spay but just never woke up, was breathing, heart rate was okay, she had gone into a coma and was euthanized the following day, the vet said she'd had a reaction to either the anaesthesia or the induction drugs. The other 2 dogs and a cat died after the technician 'monitoring' the anaesthesia had not opened a valve on the anaesthetic machine and they all basically suffocated so this was human error, all were fired and compensation was paid. Then years later I worked at another hospital, only stayed 6 months as I saw more animals die in that time due to human error with the anaesthesia than I'd seen in 15 years of working in the field, the reason: too many elective surgeries booked in, an over-worked vet and an egotistacal technician that for some reason had been given the vets permission to decide which drugs and how much should be used. You've been using your vet for 17 years so you must be happy with the treatment he/she has given your pets and Im not saying that it was human error that was the cause of your pet passing away, maybe you were just unlucky but if you have a good relationship with your vet then you need to go and ask more questions to get to the bottom of it, you should be able to get copies of the medical records so you could get a second opinion elsewhere although unfortunately I know that medical records are sometimes falsified.