Quote:
Originally Posted by MyFairLacy  These I feel ought to be done on every adult dog before being bred:
A very careful and thorough physical exam
Complete Blood Panel
Bile Acid Test
Brucellosis Test
And these are the Health certifications available. I'm always impressed when breeders officially clear their dogs for various health issues.
Patella and hips cleared & certified by OFA
OFA: Patellar Luxation OFA: Patellar Luxation
OFA: Hip Dysplasia OFA: Hip Dysplasia
OFA: Legg-Calve-Perthes OFA: Legg-Calve-Perthes
Eyes checked & cleared & certified by CERF
CERF - Canine Eye Registration Foundation CERF - Canine Eye Registration Foundation
Heart checked & cleared & certified by OFA
OFA: Cardiac Congenital Disease OFA: Cardiac Congenital Disease
Thyroid checked & cleared & certified by OFA
OFA: Thyroid OFA: Thyroid
Ears checked & cleared & certified by OFA
OFA: Deafness OFA: DNA Testing
(personally, I think this probably isn't needed for our breed..)
and of course...research into the pedigrees of the dogs for any past health issues in the lines.. |
This is a very good list...right now the YTCA only requires CERF and Patella certification for CHIC and I think they should have at least also required hips with the incidence of LCPD in toy breeds and hip dysplasia in all dogs. (this is not just a large breed dog problem).
We always have our vet do exams several times before being bred, and blood work is a must. We do not give our own vaccines so our yorkies are in the vet on a regular basis for that too. We have not yet done the OFA Patella certifications but have had the exams done just not certified. We do have the certification on three now to send in and are working on certifying everyone. We also plan to have everyone's hips certified for both dysplasia and LCPD in the future. It is a step in the right direction...when we first started in yorkies several breeders talked us out of the health certifications stating they were not needed for yorkies and through education and experience it is very much needed and I think too many were just trying to hide problems and continue on with what they are doing. It is our goal to breed yorkies that not only uphold the breed standard but more importantly to develop a line that is as free of LS, LP, LCPD, PRA and other common problems in yorkies. I do realize that no matter how hard we try problems can occur, but the chances of them occurring are much less from healthy parents.