Great News I wanted to share
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I recently sent off a DNA sample from Rhuari to find out his PRA status, after nearly 4 weeks of waiting it came back CLEAR, I now know that none of my dachsies will pass this horrible condition on to their offspring.
I have decided I couldn’t go through this again so will only only buy clear dachsies or use clear studs. At £50 per dog it is very expensive to test a full litter.
Rhona
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May 28, 2008 @ 9:16 am
That is GREAT Rhona… It sounds like that is good!! Could you tell me what PRA status is ??
Just wondering, Thanks !!
May 28, 2008 @ 9:55 am
Rhona that is wonderful news indeed! I didn’t realize you had had problems with PRA in the past.
Any news in the puppy department yet?
Post some new photos of the Clan when you have a chance - it’s good to see you back again!
Laura
May 28, 2008 @ 9:59 am
Great news, Rhona. I just googled PRA because I didn’t know what it was either. Thought others would like to read about it too.
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)
in Dogs
This is a genetic, inherited disease of the retina (the “film” in the camera), which occurs in both eyes simultaneously. The disease is nonpainful, and there is no cure for it. The eyes are genetically programmed to go blind. PRA occurs in most breeds of dogs and can occur in mixed breeds also. It is recessively inherited in all breeds studied, with the following exceptions: PRA is dominantly inherited in Old English Mastiffs and Bullmastiffs, and PRA is sex-linked and found primarily in male dogs in the Siberian Husky and Samoyed breeds.
Clinical signs vary from the dog first becoming night blind in the early stage of PRA (not able to see in low light surroundings) to the entire visual field in all light levels becoming affected, which is advanced PRA. The pupils are usually dilated, and owners often notice a “glow” and increased “eye shine” from the eyes. All dogs with PRA will eventually develop blindness from advanced PRA, and this time frame until the dog is blind varies considerably from dog to dog, but usually takes at least 6 months from the time of diagnosis, and can rarely take years until the dog is completely blind. Although no treatment for PRA is possible to stop the disease, nutritional antioxidant supplementation for retinal health may help slow the deterioration of the retina to “buy some time” before the blindness inevitably happens. Animal Eye Care believes that in many of these PRA patients, specific oral antioxidant nutritional therapy can delay the progression of blindness. Blindness is not avoided, however, in any PRA patients. If oral antioxidants were used, they would be continued until complete vision loss occurred.
May 28, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
None of mine have had a problem but to be taken seriously as a breeder of mini long dachsies over here you need to have your dogs DNA tested, I have put off having Rhuari done because he isn’t as well bred as the girls and his parents hadn’t been tested and pups produced by Rhuari’s sire and full brother,different litter, have been carriers so at the very least I expected him to be a carrier and even worse affected which would mean he may start going blind as young as 4 yrs, it goes bad very quickly.
The disease first was in spaniels and this is what the long hair developed from. Now smooths are being tested as we mixed coats till the 1960’s.
When any dog gets tested now you sign a waiver allowing them to put the result on the lists kept by the Kennel Club regardless of how good or bad the result turns out to be. There are 3 lists, CLEAR,CARRIER and AFFECTED which anyone can access if they want to check the parents of a prospective pup.
Breed clubs now won’t list pups from untested parents, there is talk of non registering pups with the Kennel Club [only registry in the UK]if the parents haven’t been tested. Buyers are now learning about this nasty condition and want to know the status of your dogs.
Thanks for your good wishes. The above article doesn’t mention the dachsie at all and the DNA testing to irradicate this disease by being careful who use to breed from, you can use affected with a clear mate and get all carriers, those dogs would then have to be mated to clears to get half clear and half carriers. The very best problem free is to breed using 2 clears, no more testing will be needed which is the road I will be taking. Checking the lists the other day I was horrified to still see affected pups still being born, the test has been available for over 3yrs now and it also tells you how to avoid getting affected pups in the future.
Unfortunately not many breeders in the US do the testing, plenty have mentioned to me they were going to start but that was as far as it went.
Rhona
May 29, 2008 @ 3:40 am
“PAL” SAY’S THANK YOU AND GOING TO REPOST IT ON BLOGGER I AM THERE AS BUDDYTHEDOXIE AGAIN THANKS BUDDY
May 29, 2008 @ 10:59 am
Rhona you are a shining example of a responsible breeder!
I look forward to hearing about your future puppies!
Laura