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AB Health Issues:
~ MORE INFORMATION COMING
SHORTLY ~
This webpage will contain information
& links
on Health Issues which affect the
American Bulldog,
to help inform & raise awareness of
these issues within the breed.
This page is still currently under
construction.
NCL
Canine Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis
(NCL)
Information on NCL can be found
on the website link below,
with specifics on the American
Bulldog.
A test is now available to identify
if a dog carries
a clear/carrier/affected NCL gene
by submitting a blood test for
sampling....
This is a great breakthrough as
testing
and breeding responsibly will help
ensure no AB's will ever be affected
by the disease
from this particular mutated gene in the future....
www.caninegeneticdiseases.net
Below is a link to
NCL Testing Result Definitions and
Breeding Risk Guidelines
A test to identify the NCL gene is
now also
available at a lab in Europe.
Click on the link below to open a PDF
file
which we have previously been
emailing to people upon request.
It contains information and
submission form
with a translation copy also.
For testing at the Lab at the
University of Hanover, Germany.
NCL Information & Submission form for German Lab
As
the American Bulldog is seen as a rare breed in the
UK,
not all vets are aware of the health issues in this
breed,
If
your vet requires further information on NCL re the
American Bulldog then forward them the links above
and those below...
Further
Reading:
Below are links to abstracts from the latest
published articles
which your vet may have access to acquire the full
versions:
To aid in the
understanding of
molecular genetics the
following
link to a
'beginners
guide to the molecular genetics of the dog' article
and a glossary of
brief explanations of some terms
that dog breeders and fanciers may
encounter
is a good place to start....
HIP & Elbow
Dysplasia
The following is a brief
explanation of the dysplastic joint
taken from the
OFA Website
Hip Dysplasia is a terrible genetic
disease
because of the various degrees of
arthritis
(also called degenerative joint
disease, arthrosis, osteoarthrosis)
it can eventually produce, leading to
pain and debilitation.
No one can predict when or even if a dysplastic dog
will start showing clinical
signs of lameness due to pain.
There are multiple environmental
factors
such as caloric intake, level
of exercise, and weather
that can affect the severity of
clinical signs
and phenotypic expression
(radiographic changes).
There is no rhyme or reason to
the severity of
radiographic changes correlated
with the clinical findings.
There are a number of
dysplastic dogs with
severe arthritis that run, jump, and
play as if nothing
is wrong and some dogs with
barely any
arthritic radiographic changes that
are severely lame.
All ethical breeders will test for
Hip dysplasia
by submitting Xrays to the
following
organisations
for certification.
Hip Scoring and Elbow Scoring
are one of the tools a breeder
will use
to help check the structure of
their dogs.
It must be stressed that this
should not be the
only tool a breeder utilises
before making a decision to breed.
Click on the links below to read
more information
on this issue and these
organisations
systems and criteria for testing
and explanation of results
and breeding recommendations .....
or equivalent in a particular
country
|
OFA
Comparision Chart to other International Hip
Dysplasia Registries
- An
Approximation - |
|
OFA |
FCI
(European) |
BVA
(UK/Australia) |
SV
(Germany) |
|
Excellent |
A-1 |
0-4 (no > 3/hip) |
Normal |
|
Good |
A-2 |
5-10 (no > 6/hip) |
Normal |
|
Fair |
B-1 |
11-18 |
Normal |
|
Borderline |
B-2 |
19-25 |
Fast Normal |
|
Mild |
C |
26-35 |
Noch
Zugelassen |
|
Moderate |
D |
36-50 |
Mittlere |
|
Severe |
E |
51-106 |
Schwere |
|
The above information is
taken from the OFA website. |
The OFA do not issue a certified hip
rating to dogs under 2 years of age,
the main reason being that the dog is
not considered to be
structurally fully mature. There
stance is that HD is a chronic,
progressive disease, so the older the
dog, the more accurate
the diagnosis of HD (or lack of HD).
Other organisations issue certified
hip ratings from 12 months old.
The OFA do not issue a certified hip
rating for dogs which have been evaluated as having
a rating of Mild or below.
After much consideration we have
chosen to
hip score using the American systems
( O.F.A. or Pennhip ) rather than the B.V.A.
the main reason behind this decision is because we
feel
that only a small amount of American Bulldogs
have been hip scored in the UK under the B.V.A.
and to use the American systems would give us
a much more accurate guide
as to whether our dogs hips were good enough
to be used in our breeding program.
The OFA also have an online database whereby any
dogs name / reg no ~ by breed can be in-putted
into their search engine to enable interested
parties to
check the validity of the dog in questions score.
We believe that this is an open approach to
what is an important issue in this breed and we hope
will help to eliminate falsified hip-scores.
We advise anybody wishing to purchase an AB puppy
to request to see the original Hip-score paperwork
from the breeder of the Sire & Dam of the puppy
to ensure they are buying a puppy
from at least breedable hip-scored parents.
MORE INFORMATION COMING
SHORTLY
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