FVC Ethical Breeding Practices

At FVC, our primary concern is for the welfare of our patients. We adhere to ethical breeding practices that ensure the health and welfare of our patients and their offspring.

As per the VSBSA Code of Professional Conduct we must provide services to only bona fide* clients. As such we require breeding animals to have been clinically assessed by a veterinarian within 12 months of any breeding services or recommendations. This can entail a consultation at their annual health check or a specific reproduction consultation.

We offer limited AI (artificial insemination) services, in house progesterone testing (for timing of breeding and whelping) as well as Caesarean section surgery based on availability or prior arrangement.

FVC reserves the right to decline offering reproductive services** for any animal that fails eligibility criteria*** for ethical breeding. Each patient will be assessed and discussed on a case by case basis.

*Bona fide client means the animal owned by the client is under the care of the treating veterinary surgeon such that the animal must have been seen for the purposes of diagnosis, or the premises on which the animal/herd is kept visited recently enough to have an accurate picture sufficient to enable accurate diagnosis, treatment and must be recorded in clinical notation.

** Including but not limited to artificial insemination and progesterone testing.

*** Criteria include, but are not limited to, behavioural (anxiety, aggression), conformational (certain extreme body conformations such as chondrodysplasia, brachycephalopthy (BOAS) etc), musculoskeletal (such as medial patella luxation, angular limb deformity, hip/elbow dysplasia etc).