[Ellie May]

I'll preface this by saying JMHO.

I'm a biological sciences major and pre-veterinary student. I wouldn't be aiming for vet school if I didn't love animals. And I just do not see any way that animal testing can be eliminated. It is impossible. Yes, some of it may have to do with money. And certainly there is cruelty going on that is avoidable and that has to do with money. However, there are many things that just can't be tested by machines. I applaud the companies that have found a way, but it is not always possible.

It seems there is a lot of emotion on this thread over this, but I don't see any suggestions about what companies could do to avoid testing on animals. Going back to heartworm disease - could we inject heartworms into pigs and then inject a heartworm drug and then euthanize and send for necropsy all while expecting that the results would be the same in the dog? No we can't. I'm not really sure why pigs are so much less important than dogs anyway. Yes, I prefer dogs, but in other countries people eat them. Pigs are very smart animals. Cows are amazing animals. Dogs being better than pigs and cows is really a personal belief.

I'm casual about it not because I like it, but because it's a fact of life. There was a time when I would have gotten totally upset (and I'll be the first to say I couldn't work in a lab with dogs), but I believe this is how my animals lead good lives. I would rather the drugs that my dogs take weren't given to them first. I'd call that unacceptable. I'd rather my heart meds were tried on animals (even dogs) before I take them. Usually the animal chosen is chosen for a reason. You can't test a rabies vaccine made for dogs on pigs. Then what? We know it works or doesn't work for pigs and have no idea if it works for dogs. So just start giving it to all the dogs that have owners and hope for the best? And if the vaccine kills these owned dogs, the company will be sued.. And if it fails? Then the dog ends up getting bitten and then bites a person - person is now dead. Look at the Rabies Challenge Fund. Dogs will be euthanized after given a dose of rabies to be tested. If we don't go through with the study, then our dogs will have to receive the rabies vaccine every 3 years for all time.

BTW, I have a very serious medical issue (not fatal - nobody freak). The "fix" is being tested on dogs. For whatever reason, the extremely intelligent researchers in this country have decided that dogs are the best option. It is not something that a machine could possibly do. So I say no testing on dogs because a machine should be able to do it (which is impossible) and not accept the fix if there is one someday? Apparently the pig isn't as good for this (and even if it was, they are still living things). Or should I just let them experiment on me? If they get it wrong, I'm in a whole heck of a lot of trouble in this case.. ??