The supplement

Apparently this is very common in the performance horse world to give a vitamin supplement prior to their events. We spent 30 min with a equine veterinary professor yesterday talking about this situation. The supplement was an injectable solution of Vitamin B12 with Selenium, Magnesium, and Potassium. It is not on the market here in the united states, but a compounding pharmacy made this stuff up for them and made a mistake, probably in the selenium, which caused the horses to drop as it was being infused. Very sad, very stupid.

To Erika's point, one of the most commonly used substances in show bitches is Mibolerone, formerly marketed as Cheque Drops. Mibolerone is an anabolic steroid used to supress the estrous cycle in bitches. This protects the uterus from damage due to progesterone incurred during each season she is not bred. Effectively, Cheque drops serve to lengthen the reproductive life of bitches, particularly in those that short cycle (have a season more frequently than every 6 months).

Mibolerone is an anabolic steroid, so when given to a bitch, she tends to build muscle, lose fat, and grow more hair. Same thing happens when given to a dog (or a person for that matter). Because of abuse of Mibolerone by body builders, it is no longer available on the market. Thus for short cycling bitches, chronically in season bitches, or campaigned bitches whos owners want to preserve reproductive life, veterinarians order cheque drops from compounding pharmacies.

So say they do instill blood testing (and who pays for that!!) and a particular animal tests positive for Mibolerone, then the question becomes is that a legitimate use for this drug. IMO, that's a question for veterinarians to conclude, not the AKC.