Genetic Tests vs Inheritable Disease Screening A little bit of history. Back 25-30 years ago there was no such thing as true canine genetic testing. But just like in human medicine there has been an explosion of canine medical research, and today we have some more true genetic tests available to the dog breeder. The importance of a genetic test can not be under-rated. It lets the breeder know with confidence that if they breed a clear dog to another clear dog, that all their off-spring will be clear of a specific genetic disease. How-ever there are limitations and there are many. Many debilitating or life threatening diseases do not have a known at this point in time genetic marker, and or they are thought to be polygenetic and or recessive. That leaves the breeder with the less ideal, but still usefull Health Screenings for Inheritable Diseases. This by the way was the only thing we had many years ago, and through the veterinary medical community, breeders, and dog fanciers, giving time/money, a concerted effort was made to establish health registries, educate breeders, and begin to record important health issues with-in the canine world. A health screen indicates that this dog is free of a particular disease, it does not guarantee that any litter produced will be 100% free of the disease. So in todays world, genetic screening of the breeding animals is still limited and breeders tend to use the more well known and familiar Health screenings. Some reasons are that for many breeds your options are limited as to what if any true "genetic" tests are available for your breed. Some either lack of information by breeders as to what is available to them, the necessity of doing the genetic test, the accuracy of same, and the list goes on. So at this point in time Genetic screenings for many breeds are not in high usage, but Health Screenings are the more acceptable standard of practice. For our Yorkies (after all this is a Yorkie Board), health screenings available to the breeder are for; eyes, hips, elbows, knees. Heart, thyroid, ears, bladder. Genetic tests are available for eyes*, bladder*, CDA*, ears*. * Nb: not all inheritable eye diseases, not all types of bladder stones, not all ear anomalies. |
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