Liz P

I make recommendations based on what is best for the pet's health, not based on what I think the client wants to hear. Just because you can't see disease with the naked eye does not mean there is absence of disease. Dental infection smells. The dog was not lacking in symptoms and she was my own, so I can do as I please. Like I said, we were a pilot hospital they asked to use the test strip to see if they worked well. They did. We found a direct correlation between the score that the strip gave and periodontal disease.

Says who? If you are not a vet, how do you know? I see dogs all the time suffering from severe dental disease. The bacteria from their rotten teeth can damage their hearts, kidneys, brain, etc. I've seen dogs with such rotten mouths that they had fractured jaws. I've done countless dental cleans and extractions on old dogs. Their owners call me back a month later and rave about how they are acting like a puppy again, that they had no idea how much pain the teeth must have been causing the dog.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3500115/ https://www.drugs.com/vet/orastrip-quickcheck-canine.html

I did dental radiographs on my own dog because her breath was a bit stinky, plus we were one of the hospitals selected to try out some new test strips that detect periodontal disease in dogs. Her test strip showed high grade disease despite nearly pristine looking teeth (virtually no tartar and her gums looked pretty normal too). I was skeptical, but sure enough, when we took pictures, she had bone loss. She had her teeth cleaned plus had an antibiotic gel injected along her gums. Since then I've kept up with regular cleaning and antibiotic treatments. I tell my clients all the time that a visual inspection of the mouth can only go so far. Too often I've found teeth that looked great were in fact badly infected below the gum line.

Veterinarian here. Dental health and the rate of tartar buildup in dogs are largely influenced by genetic factors such as the amount of saliva they produce, enamel strength and how the teeth line up. Brushing daily with an enzymatic toothpaste absolutely does help. Raw fed dogs do not magically have perfect teeth. I see plenty with bad periodontal disease that is invisible unless you take dental X-rays. Crunchy kibble does not clean your dog's teeth. If that were true, I could eat lots of ginger snaps and have a perfect mouth. Not going to happen.

Do you know if testing for addition diseases is added in the future, will owners will automatically get those results? For example, if someone were to order their test now, prior to the EAOD test being released, would the owner get the EAOD results once the test was available?

Do we know yet what other DNA tests will be offered in a package with the EOD gene and what that panel will cost?

Take her to the vet. More likely she has a urinary tract infection.

I’ve produced at least 10 pups with rear and double rear dew claws plus one polydactyl pup. They happen in some lines. I generally remove the non articulated and double rear dews at 2 days old.

Which company will be offering the test when it becomes available?

If he can't get to visitors and everyone is safe, you are at an advantage. Just have a bucket of treats ready to go. Have visitors ignore him (do not talk to him or make eye contact). When visitors show up, toss him extra special treats. He will associate visitors with getting treats. As he gets better, specifically toss him treats when he is quiet, praising him for being calm/quite and giving him a gentle lie down command if he starts to bark or bounce.

I just submit an estimate, they pay directly. Our local ECC hospital also accepts Trupanion, so I only have to come up with a little money for their deposit in case of a major accident or illness. My dogs wear their insurance ID tags on their collars, so if they are ever lost and end up in a clinic, they know all expenses would be covered. I have no per incident or annual maximum. Sorry to hear about Kenzi. I had a dog needing $5,000 in ortho surgery about 10 years ago. Wiped me out financially at the time, which is why I now have my dogs insured.

I like TruPanion because they have direct pay, meaning I don't have to come up with 10s of thousands of dollars to pay a bill then wait for reimbursement. I like that their 10% pay after the deductible is based on an incident or diagnosis, not per year. So if my pet has a chronic condition that will cost $2000 a year to treat, I am liable for the first $1000 then only 10% after that, for the life of the pet. I like that they allow for genetic conditions such as HD, OCD, epilepsy, etc as long as the dog is insured prior to diagnosis. I like that they do not exclude working or breeding dogs and will even cover reproductive emergencies (if the dog has a breeding rider).

Trupanion

Given that the average American doesn’t have $400 in case of a medical emergency of their own, I think insurance is a fantastic idea. (Info stolen from a report on the state of human insurance in the USA.) Of course, I also understand this means those people aren’t super likely to have a lot of disposable income to spend on their pets. I pay about just over $100 a month for 4 dogs. Sports/working injuries covered. Breeding emergencies covered. Genetic conditions covered. I also have a higher delectable, but doG forbid I had a $40,000 bill for some spectacular injury or illness, I would only be liable for about $5000 of it. (I used to do ECC and handed out estimates to clients averaging a few thousand but as high as $60,000.)

You knew your post would start a fight, therefore, the only logical conclusion people can draw is that you wanted a fight. If you don't have at least a basic understanding of genetics of the breed already, you should not be planning to breed. I would give that same advice to ANYONE wanting to breed, including those who have all the best intentions and are planning a mating of top notch working dogs. You do that research BEFORE you make the decision to breed your bitch. It takes years of studying not only genetics but also pedigrees to make informed breeding choices. Otherwise, you are flying blind. Inbreeding? Funny you brought that up since you say your bitch is merle. Do you know the history of the color in the breed? Do you know that virtually all merles in the world are line bred on the dogs from Sadghyl kennel? Have you read the essay that the breeder behind that kennel wrote lamenting the high rate of epilepsy she was producing? I have friends who breed sport and show Border Collies. They are good people trying to produce good dogs. They do their thing, I do mine. I will not, however, buy a pup from them or refer a buyer to them who wants a real Border Collie. Too many people sell color bred pups to people wanting/needing a working dog claiming that because it has ancestors who worked that the pups will work. That just isn't the case. Please do not deceive people and sell your pups to working homes. Be honest and sell them as pets. There is a huge difference in having the right to do something and something being morally right. You have the right to free speech. Yelling racist, derogatory or hateful remarks is, however, morally wrong. You have the right to breed your dog. Breeding her without approaching it in a responsible manner is morally wrong.

I’ve got a bitch and her niece who play the exact same game. No idea why, but they are not hurting anything...

Yeah, that’s a Sheltie looking puppy.

http://www.animalabs.com/shop/dogs/canine-dental-hypomineralization-raine-syndrome/

I've got 3 generations of head spots at my house. I think they might be good luck.

I realize I haven't posted here in a very long time. I've been busy with work, training dogs, taking care of the farm. I have a new pack member, Gilly, aka Gillyflower, Gillyweed. She is sired by my Open dog, Tweed, and out of an imported bitch. She is adorable, devilish, intelligent and goofy. I am looking forward to starting her on sheep this fall.

In ten years of prescribing it, I've never seen a dog experience side effects. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on my own pets. That said, you can't use the higher dose meant for motion sickness more than 5 days in a row (or you will see side effects). I would do a lot of work getting her happy in the crate in the car with it not moving and have faith that she will eventually outgrow it. At 2 years old, Holly still drools excessively when she realizes she is going on a car ride, but she never vomits and she genuinely wants to go. I think it's just excitement at this point. Gilly hasn't drooled on car rides in months. (OMG, another bad person who hasn't shared photos of their new puppy!)

My Sage started to really struggle while working at 7 years old. He was diagnosed with mitral valve disease via an echo done by a cardiologist. He is 11.5 years old now and takes enalapril and Vetmedin. While he is a happy, active pet, he has been retired since he was first diagnosed.

Eileen, I had already let you know that when I went to submit Freya on the web page I had no response. I tried again, still no response. That is when I had contacted you via PM. It was implied I did not get a response because she did not fall into one of the listed categories on the web page of desired dogs. A few months ago I tried twice to submit another dog. Didn't hear back. My laptop was dying at that time, so thinking that was the issue I tried again. Never heard back. I know two other people (don't want to publish their names here but initials are TM from the southwest and PP from New England) also tried to submit via the web page with my urging and had no response. I am bringing this up because there may genuinely be an issue with the submission process. Most people won't be as persistent as I am.

Yes, and I did send you samples from the first dog to your home address since I had no response from the ABCA web page. I hope those samples have been taken to the lab are helping with the study. I tried to submit a new dog via the forms on the web page. No response. Tried to submit again. No response. Encouraged someone else to submit, no response. He tried again, no response. I am hearing the same from others on Facebook. Perhaps there is an issue with the web page? Is there an actual human reading those forms that people send in requesting their dog be included in the study? I have been encouraging people to submit samples. I even paid for several dogs I don't own to be tested to see if they were going deaf and could contribute to the study. I test my dogs annually to track their hearing so, God forbid, if I have anymore issues I can submit samples from clearly documented dogs.