Health Concerns




		Health Concerns

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Choosing a Breeder

Breeding

BEWARE!!

Golden Retrievers, like most other pure bred dogs, have a variety of diseases to which they are predisposed. Reputable breeders screen their breeding stock for health problems such as Hip Dysplasia. Although this does not exclude some problems arising, it does minimise the risk of potentially producing puppies with health problems. (This does not mean that non-purebred dogs are not at risk of developing diseases, but because of their unknown ancestry one is not aware of which disease they may be predisposed to.)

Hip and Elbow Dysplasia:

Goldens, like most large breed dogs, are predisposed to Hip and Elbow Dysplasia. There are 3 roll players in this disease; Genetics, Environment and Nutrition.

Genetics:

To minimise the risk of producing puppies with Hip Dysplasia, reputable breeders have their breeding stock's hips and elbows X-rayed once they reach adulthood (at 12 - 18 months of age). These X-rays are examined and scored by a radiologist. Only dogs with acceptable scores are then bred from. Unfortunately there is room for error as this is not a genetic test but merely states that the specific dog is free from radiographical changes. This does not mean that the dog is genetically free from Hip or Elbow Dysplasia merely that the dog shows no sign of the disease. At this stage there is no genetic test available for Hip or Elbow Dysplasia. See KUSA (The Kennel Union of South Africa) website for grading explanation. (under Documents: Hip and Elbow Dysplasia)

Below is a description of the major hip grading systems used in various countries and their comparison to South Africa & FCI Gradings:

F C I Grade	Description	F C I criteria	Old RSA Grade	OFA (USA / Canada)	BVA (UK / Australia)	SV (Germany)
A1	Excellent hips	No signs of hip dysplasia	0	Excellent	0-4 (no > 3/hip)	Normal
A2	Good hips	No signs of hip dysplasia	0	Good	5-10 (no > 6/hip)	Normal
B1	Fair hips	Near normal hip joints	0	Fair	11-18	Normal
B2	Marginal dysplasia	Near normal hip joints	1	Borderline	19-25	Fast Normal
C1	Mild dysplasia	Mild hip dysplasia	1	Mild	26-35	Noch Zugelassen
C2	Mild to moderate dysplasia	Mild hip dysplasia	1	Mild	26-35	Noch Zugelassen
D1	Moderate dysplasia	Moderate hip dysplasia	2	Moderate	36-50	Mittlere
D2	Moderate to severe dysplasia	Moderate hip dysplasia	2	Moderate	36-50	Mittlere
E1	Severe dysplasia	Severe hip dysplasia	3	Severe	51-106	Schwere
E2	Very severe dysplasia	Severe hip dysplasia	4	Severe	51-106	Schwere

Environment:

Environment and how the puppy is raised plays a hugely important part in whether a puppy will develop Hip and Elbow Dysplasia or not. Jumping over obstacles, in and out of cars, slipping on floors, over-exercising can all lead to a puppy developing these problems. It is therefore essential that you are cautious with a puppy's activities until it is at least 12 months old. If your puppy has an accident at this stage (like falling off something) they probably will develop a joint problem. On the other hand, Hip Dysplasia is by no means a death sentence and most Goldens with this problem cope extremely well into old age. In this day and age there are also many ways of maintaining a dog with joint problems, such as nutrition.

Nutrition:

Nutrition is the other and most controllable variable in this equation. With a large breed dog one has to prevent the puppy from growing too fast and this can be done through nutrition. At Goldenzauer we feed Hill's Science Plan Large Breed Puppy and / or Eukanuba to our puppies and insist that our owners do the same. One of the most detrimental factors for Hip Dysplasia is an overweight puppy or dog. It has been proved that dogs that are overweight are 50% more likely to develop Hip Dysplasia than their littermates at ideal weight.

Eye Disease:

Goldens, once again like many other breeds, are predisposed to many eye diseases as well. To avoid producing puppies with problems, reputable breeders have their breeding stock screened annually. Once again, these certificates only state that the dog in contention does not have the disease/s at the time of the screening. Unfortunately there are as yet no genetic tests available for eye diseases in Golden Retrievers (some other breeds such as Labrador Retrievers, have DNA tests available for some of the eye diseases. Although these certificates cannot assure one of never producing an affected puppy, at least by testing, reputable breeders are not breeding with affected dogs and therefore minimising the risk of producing affected puppies.

Eye Diseases that Golden Retrievers are predisposed to:

Ectropion: Out-turned lower eyelid exposing the conjunctiva
Entropion: In-turned eyelid, with eyelashes rubbing on the cornea
Cataracts: Opacity of the lens or its capsule in the eye
Post Polar Cataracts: Cataract the size of a pin prick, will in 95% of cases not influence the eye sight
Multifocal Retina Dysplasia: Retina with lesions (or folds) resulting from defective development
Progressive Retinal Atrophy: Progressive destruction and loss of retinal tissue.

Hip and Elbow Dysplasia:

Genetics:

Environment:

Nutrition:

Eye Disease:

Eye Diseases that Golden Retrievers are predisposed to:

Other Problems:

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