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Greyhound Racing and Steroids: Who Knew?

by on Sep. 02, 2012, under Animal News, Greyhounds, Pet Health & Safety
female racing greyhound

retired female racing greyhound

In this KGUN segment, the general manager of Tucson Greyhound Park says that steroids are used for birth control. Is there some kind of frat house down at TGP that we don’t know about?

Who knew? According to the Pack Mentality Blog, “Why didn’t Barry Bonds think of that? – ‘Hey, I was just trying to not have any more kids. It wasn’t to hit more home runs.’”

If that’s the case, maybe parents of teenage daughters with raging hormones should shoot them up with steroids along with the HPV (cervical cancer) vaccine.

According to the segment, the GM denied that the drug is used for any kind of performance enhancement, and added that the same method is also used on show dogs, and for the same reason:  birth control only.

Show dogs are not shot up on a regular schedule like race dogs. Dogs at Tucson Greyhound Park are allegedly shot up with steroids once a month for their entire racing careers starting at one year old until they retire. Some dogs are still racing at 4 to 5 years old. One female just retired one month shy of six years old.

According to the PAW BLOG re estrus: Is it possible to prevent my dog from going into heat?

“There are drugs that can suppress the heat cycle. However, in most cases the benefit of the bitch skipping a season is outweighed by the many adverse side effects that occur with such drugs. Because of the serious health effects of drugs used to prevent heat, most veterinarians will suggest keeping the bitch locked up for the 2-3 weeks of her season, rather than risk her health.”

Most veterinarians except the ones that work at the dog track in South Tucson.

 

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 2nd, 2012 at 9:43 pm and is filed under Animal News, Greyhounds, Pet Health & Safety. Tags for this post: , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • Anonymous54

    The line about the HPV vaccine is very misleading. “maybe parents of teenage daughters with raging hormones should shoot them up with steroids along with the HPV (cervical cancer) vaccine”. The HPV vaccine is not for girls with “raging hormones” and it was not designed to promote sex among these so-called “daughters with raging hormones”. It is to prevent HPV. People need to realize that the HPV vaccine is not the “sex vaccine”. I’m not really sure why this comment was necessary in this article because the HPV vaccine has nothing to do with birth control or with taming a girl’s “raging” sex hormones.

  • AZnurse

    Thanks to Karyn Zoldan and Tucson Citizen for another great column. Apparently the GM at this abusive dog track knows more than the overwhelming number of veterinarians who denounce the use of steroids for greyhounds.

  • Brandi Q-V

    First there are people complaining about greyhounds not being aloud to run free all day and how they have too much kennel time now you say to lock the females away for 2-3 weeks while in heat…. did you know that steroids occur naturally in any mammals body? Testosterone is a steroid and so is Progesterone (many human birth control products are made with this). There is a difference between the steroids Berry Bonds took and steroid based birth control.

  • SeattleLeslie

    Good wine again tonight, Karen? Or is this just a vent from your “protest” this weekend?

    First, show dogs are not allowed to compete if they are in season. It is also really poor form to bring a bitch in heat or one that is near esterus anywhere near a dog show. It causes the males to be distracted, unruly and the potential for a dog fight to happen.

    Anomoyous makes a good point, CERVICAL CANCER is not something to titter around about. If a family, when presented with medical facts and histories, decide to vaccinate their child, then it is their choice. It should not be open for public discussion or debate. And a woman’s reproductive rights, be it they are 10 or 55, should not be a political discussion, the choice of government or anyone else’s opinion.

    Racing greyhounds live in close proximity during their prime. To race a too young dog is dangerous and, too old, they should be retired to a couch. That means simple birth control needs to be in place to keep accidents from happening. If not, think of all the cute puppies the adoption groups would have to handle! As a canine pack professional in the pet world, I can tell you that a male dogs will “compete” for a bitch in season that are blocks or miles away. To have them in the same compound, even if secluded will put all the dogs at risk of a major pack fight. A high arousal dog fight is not something to make light of. Regardless of what you think, dogs are not humans and the survival instinct is designed to cause mortality. It literally can be a fight to the death. I can’t believe that anyone concerned about the humane treatment of animals would advocate putting dogs at risk of fighting to the death. Sure, muzzles can help but even muzzled dogs can do extensive damage and dozens of dogs going at it with muzzles is just purely ugly. If you have never seen the instinctual savageness that can happen in a true dog fight, I hope you never do. Otherwise it will drive any sane human to nightmares.

    Not all birth control is injected and often it is oral. The challenge with orals is that dogs (and cats, oh my goodness) can be creative at hiding unswallowed pills.

    While I’m not a medical professional, I took birth control for years. I believe there are both side affects and disadvantages. Most birth controls use low dose testosterone. I do believe that if a female animal shows adverse reactions to a certain drug then alternatives need to be found. However, it should be discussed with veterinarian/doctors and is the guardians of the dogs (or humans). These dogs are athletes and any despite what you are your friends believe, are well cared for and are an important part in our lives…as all dogs are.

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