Coercion is such an ugly word - Mandatory PRA-testing starting in Finland

Few days ago PRA-testing became mandatory in Finland for oriental and siamese cats that are bred under FIFe (national rule). The decision will also take out PRA-positive cats from breeding (they were allowed to be used with PRA-negative cats, resulting to only carriers).

Finland is one of the few countries where breeders are voluntarily testing their cats against PRA already in huge numbers. Carrier+carrier matings are not done and during the last years the amount of negative cats have increased without any mandatory testing or restrictions.
There were never before a rule that you "must" test your cat for PRA before using it for breeding, only a recommendation.

So what changes?
From 1st of July, 2018 onward, breeder cannot take the sample on their own, but must pay extra to veterinarian to take the swap-test. During this veterinarian visit a form also has to be filled to make it all "official". And yes, it will not be cheap. Only one benefiting from this will be the veterinarians who get easy bucks from just taking a simple sample.

2 out of 3 breed clubs were against this new rule as there were not seen a need to begin the forced testing. Personally, I do also belong to the group who is not in agreement with this new national rule even it does not directly apply to me.

PRA is not a life threatening disease. There are currently only very few cats that have actually become blind from PRA. (and there are also cats who are above 10 years old, are PRA-positive and have absolutely no problems with eyesight).
Even if cat would become blind from this disease, it is not painful. Cats adapt and in the end loss of eyesight is just a minor inconvenience for animal that uses other senses for hunting.

Currently in Finland there is only a recommendation for testing FelV and FIV from cats. These two diseases are the ones causing pain and death if coming to a cattery.
There are also other more threatening diseases in orientals that are barely ever even tested.
Heart issues, FORL, kidney issues... and from parasitic infections also giardia which is very rarely tested in any breed.

What I personally think is that for reasons unknown PRA has now been lifted on the table unnecessarily and it has been made "the root of all evil". We all should really keep in mind what are the real problems in the breed and rather focus on those, than to something that will not cause death on its own.

Do not take me wrong, I do test my cats voluntarily. I do not do carrier+carrier matings and I am working on my own side to improve the health of the breed. BUT, I do this remembering that the cat is a lot more than PRA-test result and quite frankly, if I had a PRA-positive male or female that has a lot of good qualities and excellent health record for few generations, I would use it for breeding. We all really need to remember that cat is more than one test result.

Where this will lead? I am currently just speculating, but I see that this will slowly take carriers out from the breeding, leading to use of only limited PRA-negative genepool. Same names begin to appear more often in the pedigrees and we will be seeing more matador studs (who are PRA-negative) in quite close future.
Breeders will become more hesitant to bring in new blood by exporting, as you cannot always trust the test results you receive from other countries.

Now you might think that what prevents to use carriers? Simple fact, money. Breeding itself is not cheap hobby, and the PRA-testing will fall under extra expenses for the breeder. Also, as the testing will be done officially, the kittens will need to be microchipped at very young age.

I only foresee a lot of problems in next 5-10 years. Genepool growing smaller, other diseases like FORL, heart and kidney issues rising and some breeders just stopping breeding..

I totally understand the outrage this has caused in the breeder population. It is just not matter of having to test their breeding cats (as stated previously, this was already being done), but the fact that most of the breeders feel that they are not trusted and the tests that were taken were not trustworthy as there were no veterinarian form filled when the swap was taken.
In my point of view, this all boils down to one thing and that is that for some reason breeders are not seen trustworthy and now while coercing them to test and retest their breeding animals is a sign of big mistrust. Are we, the breeders, so unworthy of trust that we would fake the test results for our cats? When this would in the end bite us back.

As said, this post I made reflects my personal opinions about this subject as well as opinions of many of the breeders I have talked during the last days. We all vouch for healthier breed, longer lifespan and disease free life for the cats, but not this way as it has been done.
I have to say, that even I am from Finland, I am happy that I do belong to Felis Polonia (FPL) and my breeding does not fall into the new national rules and really my heart goes for the breeders in Finland.

Edit. I still needed to add few words.
The worst thing about this right now is that there is a lot of nitpicking going around, blame is passed on (sometimes very personally) and all this does not do good for the relationships between breeders. There has (and always will be) frictions between breeders, and this new rule and the aftermath of it is doing absolutely nothing to help the situation. I am afraid that breeders will be driven further from each other and co-operation between catteries will become less, as everyone will focus more and more to their own corner. Is this something that will benefit the future generations of oriental breeds? no it will not.
We should work together instead of fighting each other. Anyways, isn't it our passion and love for the breed that should go on the first place. We should focus on the real problems instead of making problems from things that have been under control for very long time.

Fight against Urinary Track Infection

Poor little Agares, our cutiepie has fallen ill to this common disease.

Yesterday when Mommy was spending a day at home with us, she realized Agares is not completely ok. She noted her going to a white box where she stored clothes to pee and instead of telling her to /shoo she decided to let her do her business there. As she told me, she does not know why, but she just stood there to watch. There was only few drops of pee, but it was obvious that there was blood in the pee.

She talked to Daddy and kept and eye on Agares. Aga tried peeing many times, but always only few droplets came out after long tries.

After Daddy got home, he called our vet and Mommy charged out to get medicines for Agares. I have to thank our vets in Hematowet for not forcing Mommy to take Agares there, as she is so afraid of the world and the stress of travel and being examined by strangers would have been too much for her.
After an hour Mommy came back and took injections out from her bag... Those needles were at least half a meter long! I am serious! Daddy was holding Agares while Mommy was being the evil one and stabbing her with those long needles! At evening tho Agares told me that she is not hurting so much anymore, so I think something good came out from all that torture. Mommy just mentioned afterwards that there are still three days of injections incoming for our little Agares.

I hope she will be well soon, and we will keep you updated on the progress of her fight against UTI (Urinary Track Infection).

For those who are not aware what are the symptoms, let me list some of them for you. This disease is very serious for your cat, so if he/she shows any symptoms, please do not hesitate to contact your vetenarian!

Symptoms include :
- blood in urine
- small amounts of urine (if any)
- multiple tries to urinate and it can be painful for the cat
- urinating to "wrong places" instead of litterbox

Remember... this is VERY serious disease for cats, and only person giving a valid diagnosis is your vetenarian. It is also quite common, and if treated fast it will have no long term implications to your loved one. Please... do not hesistate to contact your vet if you think your friend might have this illness. Better to be safe than sorry!

And once more I want to thank our vets in Hematowet here in Warsaw for all their help to cure Agares :) For those not from Poland... the vetenarians there are "english enabled" so you can receive help for your pet while in Warsaw without a problem.