Questions about hip dysplasia and collie eye anolomy

[BC Betty]

I am interested in getting a BC from a breeder,but how can I be sure that the parents and the puppies were tested for hip dysplasia and collie eye anolomy? How can I be sure that the breeders are not lying?

[Barb Scott]

Ask to see their paper work.

Barb S

[BC Betty]

Barb S,

You said,

Originally posted by Barb Scott:

Ask to see their paper work.

Barb S

What would I look for on the paper work? Could you type up a sample on here?

[deafbat]

not having gotten my bc from a breeder, i couldn't tell you with certainty, but it seems logical to me that the paperwork you would want regarding CEA and HD would be from the vet. Actually, whether you decide to go through a breeder or a rescue (which I strongly encourage btw), you would want to see the vet paperwork anyway, to make sure that whoever you're getting the dog from actually takes care of them.

 

if I'm mistaken about the CEA/HD paperwork, I hope someone can correct me? (as this would be useful information to have in the future)

[Eileen Stein]

BC Betty,

 

Puppies are not checked for hip dysplasia because all puppies' hips are fine when they're born. It is the parents who would be checked. If the parents were evaluated free of dysplasia by OFA, the breeder should have an OFA certificate for each of them to show you, and the dogs themselves should be listed together with their rating on the OFA data base ( http://www.offa.org/search.html ).

 

In contrast, it's the puppies who should be checked for CEA; if the pup is checked, it doesn't matter one way or the other whether the parents have been checked. CEA can be detected in a pup any time from about 6 weeks on, so if you check between the ages of 6 weeks and 12 weeks or so and the pups are free of CEA, they will be free for life. (If the pup is older than 3 or 4 months when checked, then so-called "go normal" CEA might be present but not detected.) If the breeder has checked the pup, s/he should have an examination report form from the canine ophthalmologist to show you. If the breeder has not checked the pup, you should have the pup checked yourself. You can make the sale conditional on a satisfactory eye check. But be aware that the pup could have such a mild case of CEA that it would not affect his/her vision in everyday life. In that case, you might just as well keep the pup as long as you will not be breeding him/her.

 

Ideally, you should know your breeder well enough so that you don't have to worry that s/he's lying to you, because there are many things not as easy to verify as hip and eye checks.

[Tassie]

Hi BC Betty

 

My little bitch was found to have mild CEA at the 6 week test. Her breeder called me straight away to tell me, offered for me to pull out if I wanted to, and arranged for me to talk to the veterinary ophthalmologist for more information. As Eileen suggested, his advice was that the mild CEA would not preclude any of the activities we wanted to engage in. He was concerned that she not be bred from, obviously, but this wasn't an issue for me, as I had no intentions of breeding and was always going to spay before first heat. She has a marginally greater risk than a normal dog of detaching a retina - but that tends to happen in puppyhood.

 

And I totally agree with what Eileen says in her last para.

[Barb Scott]

When we had our BCs CERFed (eyes checked), we were given paperwork from the eye specialist to send in; I'm sure the same would be true if the parents were OFA'd--we don't breed so our dogs aren't OFA'd. That's the paper work I was talking about.

Barb S