Читать книгу Pet-Specific Care for the Veterinary Team - Группа авторов - Страница 46

To personalize care for clients, it is first necessary to determine the breeds most represented in a practice, and this can be achieved through appropriate fields in the practice management software system. In the United States, approximately 54% of dogs are purebreds and 46% are mixed‐breeds [2]. For cats, the vast majority seen in practice are mixed‐breeds, often referred to by terms such as domestic shorthair or domestic longhair (see 3.19 Mixed‐Breed Considerations). Although many purebred animals might be pedigreed and have their family lineage documented with a registry organization, many others are purebred in name only and are without such documentation. Others might have documentation from a breed registry but bear little resemblance to the breed standard.

Among the mixed‐breed dogs in a practice, it is often tempting to identify them based on perceived physical characteristics (e.g., beagle x) but this practice is to be discouraged because it is wrong at least as often as it is right, and it might lead to inappropriately associating risk factors that don't belong and missing ones that do belong [3]. Within the medical record, if the owners don't know with certainty which breeds contributed to their pets and if DNA testing has not been done to determine likely heritage, then the pet should be recorded as a mixed‐breed or other suitable term. This should only be done proactively with new pets, and the medical record not changed for existing clients unless DNA testing has been done and there is a valid reason to change the medical record, with a copy of the DNA results maintained in the medical record to substantiate a medico‐legal reason for amending the record.