eye testing

homer141 · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:34 pm Post subject: eye testing

Hi All,

Was speaking to someone at work about labs regarding health checks, I was wondering with eye testing if both parents and grand parents etc all have clear eye certificates done yearly and optigen tested clear, does that mean all puppies in a litter will also have clear eye certificates for the rest of their days or is it again multi factorial like hip dysplasia???????

Stupid question I know was just wondering

Fiona_M · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:26 pm Post subject:

Hereditary Cataracts seem to show up mostly at either 2 years of age or about 7 - 8 years. They will always be found in a 2 year olds in the breeding programme, but many people stop testing after the dog's breeding career has finished, and if that happens at 6 years old then any late onset HC will not be found.

IMO, the only way to be sure about HC is to test both parents right throughout their lives, and almost no-one would do this with all their old stock.

MRD on the other hand can come and go, and the best time to spot it is when puppies are 6-8 weeks. Again, unless someone suspects a problem, most breeders are unlikely to look for it as young as this so it could be there without it neing known.

If all the family were Optigen clear for GPRA then the pups will at least never fail on that condition, nor produce affected offspring.

So problems can lurk away, but they are genetic and IF there was a DNA test for each condition, like there is for GPRA, then we would have a better idea of how widespread each condition is within the breed.

Diana · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:13 pm Post subject:

Its not a quick thing to explain and Xena has done a fab job. I will probably only say the same thing just round a different way Wink

There are three main problems the eye certificate, as Xena says, looks for in OUR breed:

GPRA
HC
MRD

All can come on at any time in a dogs life but are most likely to show up around 2 - 5 years of age.

The inheritence pattern for GPRA is known absolutely. The inheritence pattern for the other two is pretty much nailed but has not yet been completely established. Chances are it works JUST like GPRA just because the two conditions are slightly less serious not quite so much research has gone in.

Optigen testing is ONLY avaliable for GPRA. And yes on that nasty one, if both parents are Optigen clear of GPRA all resulting puppies will absolutely not be anything other than Clear of GPRA all their lives. This is because Optigen tests the DNA of the dog it is testing. An eye examination tests only the status of that dogs eye on the day they are looked at. SO therefore the dog could at 2, 3, even 4 eye test clear by examination then fail when tested at 5.... but the DNA Optigen test can look at the dogs genes even at 8 weeks old and see that fail coming and show it up immediately as the dog being 'affected'.....do you see what I mean? You don't have to wait for physcial symptoms to onset, the DNA test gives you that info straight away.

SO when a DNA test is established for MRD and HC then we will, like for GPRA know for certain the lifelong eye status of the dogs tested. Till then the manual paper yearly eye certificate is all we have for those and so no, two parents with clear eye certificates will not necessarily never produce the problem in their offspring because they could be clear today, be mated, have pups, and then the problem show up in them, and therefore be already passed along to their offspring for a later date.

So why eye test? because you can only do what we can do to breed healthy dogs. The majority fail on these 100% hereditary conditions around 2/3 as Xena says, so therefore the paper certificate usually IS pretty accurate and these nasty 'later on fail' shocks rarely happen. But I would not say they never happen.

So no, a pedigree with clear eye certificates on mum and dad and grandparents could still throw up potential problems in the offspring. Optigen testing is the way forward for GPRA so you know these things for definate and roll on a DNA test that covers all three so there are no 'blind spots' if you pardon the pun.

Di

Fudge69y2k · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:14 pm Post subject: Eye examination

Dear Animal Lovers

Please could help me, My dog fail on a eye examination. It failed on (MRD) MULTIFOCAL RETINAL DYSPLASIA, And i am going make appeal. Anyone got a list of vets in west yorkshire, you do eye examination

Diana · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:16 pm Post subject:

Have you an email address, I can send you the list...

Di

Diana · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:19 pm Post subject:

D HABIN BVMS DVOphthal MRCVS
Calder Vet Group, 159 Centre
Huddersfield Road, Mirfield
West Yorkshire WF14 9DQ
Telephone 01924 492155

Only one listed in Yorkshire, but there are many surrounding him so do email and I will whizz you the whole list over. Are you just looking for a second opinion?

Di wylanbriarlabs@aol.com

JohnW · Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:19 pm Post subject:

Hang on a minute before going to anyone else, that is not the correct procedure. The procedure is:-

An appeal must be lodged in writing with the BVA to be received not later than 30 days after the original examination. (Proof of posting will not constitute proof of receipt!!) The owner THEN takes the dog to another panellist, together with the certificate issued by the first panellist to another panellist. The second panellist will charge the normal fee.

If the second panellist agrees with the first then thats it, you are at the end of the road.

In the event that the second panellist disagrees with the first then the case goes to the chief panellist for a further examination free of charge and the decision there is final.

The final result MUST be with the BVA within 90 days of the first examination or that result will be sent to the KC for publication.

Regards, John