Health testing before breeding can dramatically reduce the prevalence of heritable disease in companion animals. Understanding what good health testing looks like — and where it falls short — helps welfare advocates engage with breeding reform.
Companion animal health testing is one of the most impactful welfare interventions available within the breeding community because it addresses the root cause of suffering rather than its management. Dogs and cats with heritable conditions suffer throughout their lives from pain, disability, and progressive disease — suffering that proper breeding selection could prevent. The challenge is that health testing is voluntary in most jurisdictions, and even where breed clubs recommend it, enforcement is minimal. Puppy buyers who request health test certificates from breeders create market pressure that club rules cannot. The welfare opportunity is significant: connecting consumer demand for healthy animals with breeding standards that deliver them, supported by regulatory frameworks that set minimum expectations rather than leaving welfare entirely to voluntary compliance.