Health testing in parents does it matter?
We are often asked if health testing in parents is important.
We also see many litters of puppies on the free adverts bred from parents that are not health tested and unfortunately an increasing trend of purchasers aiming to buy for convenient timing and price rather than considering the future health and quality of the dog they are purchasing.
Health testing for particular breeds is based on the historic cases of health conditions within that breed and the recommendations that are made to prevent these conditions prevailing.
So what would these health conditions that we test for mean to you?
Hip dysplasia is a condition where malformation of the hip joints occurs.
The testing Breeders use is an x-ray taken over dog age 12 months or over to assess the shape and function of the hip joint and rule out serious abnormalities.
A puppy bred from parents with hip dysplasia themselves has a much higher chance of developing hip dysplasia than a puppy whose parents do not have it, for an owner this can mean a debilitated dog who cannot walk and who requires hip replacement surgery costing thousands of pounds or in some cases euthanise on humane grounds.
Elbow dysplasia is malformed elbow joints and again is tested by x-rays at 12 months of age and can cause the same debilitation that hip dysplasia can and requires the same invasive expensive surgery to correct.
Eye testing is relatively new to the breed and we are recommended to perform Gonioscopy to test for glaucoma, glaucoma is an extremely debilitating eye condition which causes intense pain for the affrected dog and often results in the removal of the affected eye/ eyes.
Parent dogs can be screened by an eye specialist who checks the eye and gives a grade of 0- 3
Grades can increase in subsequent tests as a dog ages.
Dogs with a grade 0 and 1 are absolutely fine to be bred from those with scores of 2 consideration should be given to the age of the time of testing and steps to be taken to ensure any prospective mate has a lower eye score.
Dogs with an eye score of 3 should not be bad from.
Here at the Gunfield Kennel we take all health testing very seriously and perform all the necessary health tests on the parents of our puppies prior to breeding.
I perhaps should take the opportunity to point out that unfortunately even the best Breeders of any breeds can be unfortunately enough to still produce a health condition in a puppy that they breed.
This is the nature of breeding a living animal and there will always be cases that cannot be prevented.
All responsible breeders can do is their best to make sure we reduce the risk.
As a Puppy purchaser you have a responsibility also , you have a responsibility for making sure that you make ethical buying choices and that you have checked that the parents of the puppy you are buying have been correctly screened for health conditions as not doing so would be encouraging a market for puppies who are born into a life to potentially suffer from Life changing health conditions.
Thanks for reading
Yorumlar