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Originally Posted by laura877  What kind of health testing should be done on yorkies? |
There will be many opinions on this. First I am going to refer you to the National Club for YT's.
www.ytca.org. There you should be able to find what the club is recommending as the suggested testing.
Another place you c an go is CHIC Canine health information.
www.caninehealthinformation.org. Note: I am using a new computer and I don't have my bookmarks so you might have to search up the correct addy on google. But here you will find what the YYCA requires for a dog to secure a CHIC number and also you will see other tests that some breeders do.
If you go to the Breeders Library here, you can find an article on responsible breeders and practices. This will provide you with more information.
So here we go with what I would like to see in terms of testing;
1. LP - this is evaluated by a vet practioner - and the proper form should be filled out and registered with CHIC. Note: the better the evaluator - ie the more experienced the more accurate the grading. It is possible to get two different grades of LP from two different vetsè
2. PRA must be done by a board certified opthamologist - and a CERF report is created. There is also a genetic test for this that can show if your dog is a carrier for the gene. The genetic test can rule out PRA disease, but not other types of eye diseases such as cataracts for example.
3. BATS - Bile acid testing - is a blood test that indicates if the dogs liver is functioning well. Liver disease in our breed is LS or Liver shunt - and MVD MicroVavluar Dysplasia.
4. Thyoid Function - another blood test - rules out Thyroid disesases.
5. HD and ED - that is hip and elbow dysplasia. Xrays are taken and evaluated by OFFA. Results are posted on
www.offa.org
6. Hyperuricosuria genetic test. Determines if your dog is affected a carrier or clear of the gene.
7. Heart and Ear testing - must be done by specialists and rules out certain types of heart and or ear disease.
There are others as well. But what is important beyond these tests is always to know the health of your lines - as far back as you can. Some breeders have only started testing - some lines you will find only spotty credible information back 10yrs.
Let me give you a for instance. For hip and elbow dysplasia, current thinking suggests that the horizontal lineage is more important then the vertical lineage. This means while it is nice to know that the parents - grand and great grand parents were clear or unaffected; what seems to be a better indicator if your particular dog (even if un-affected by either disease) will sire affected pups is to look at the health of the siblings from the litter your dog came from. So if your dog came from a litter of four pups, that means what is the health of the other three pups Likely they might not have been tested. so you will have only the word of the breeder, who has only the word of the puppy owners. Many mild cases of HD and ED are non clinical - showing no overt symptoms. It is only when symptoms develop would a pet owner have a vet do an xray to see what is happening.
I think you get the drift of the challenge here.
In order for you to make an educated and best informed decision, it is going to take some years of study - a good experienced mentor to help you sort through all the possibilities.
To breed healthy dogs takes a lot of time effort and also luck!