Eye Problems In The Ckcs

[cavvysavvy]

Hello all,

Just thought I would mention further to my last post about PRA regarding my 18 month old cav - Caesar.

In the last 12 months alone I have spend thousands on his eyes.

He had a dermoid that had to be removed

The eye specialist then found that he had Multifocal retinal dysplasia

I discover yesterday that my little man is also suffering from Progressive retinal atrophy...

Thats 3 problems regarding the eye in only 18 months!!!!!

Surely there is something I can do to get the breeder to recognise this without her abusing me......

Would be great to name and shame the breeder also, I dont want anybody going through what I am going through. Ultimately my little fella is going to end up blind!!!!!

[Nadine83]

I just wanted to say that I am sorry your dog (and you) have to go through this

I am not sure how you would approach the breeder about this (I am not a dog owner yet so am unexperienced) but I hope someone can help you out.

[shortstep]

You need a breeder of this breed to chime in.

I took a quick look and did not see any DNA tests for these eye diseases in this breed. Most of these eye problem will be of the type that the parent can be free of the disease but can carry a gene for it. Meaning they can pass it on to their offspring but they do not have the disease. Also the parents may be clear of the disease at the time of breeding but developed symptoms later in life.

Assuming the breeder had current eye exams prior to breeding the parents and they were clear at that time, I do not see what else they could have done. Nothing will assure that a pup will not get these disease until such time as there is a DNA test.

At this point, now she is aware that both of the parents are carriers, she should not repeat that breeding.

However it may be very appropriate that the dogs are bred again, but to different dog. This will depend on the number of dogs in the breed that are carriers of the disease. Removing every carrier from the gene pool, if that number is even as high as 25% of the dogs, will lead to many more health problem by reducing the gene pool and increasing the concentration of the same genes (good or bad and hidden).

What you need to do is notify the breeder of the problems. If the parents were screened prior to breeding, then you can not blame her that it happened. There would be no way she could have known (provided they were not bred together before and produced it). Maybe she should have warned you that the breed in general is prone to these problems, or she may have but it did not really sink in during the excitement of getting your puppy.

There is heaps of information on this breed on line you can check into, much of it about health problems, breeding guidelines and potential outcomes. I am sure others on here will have first hand experince and be able to share some information.

Edited June 23, 2010 by shortstep