PLEASE TEST YOUR MASTIFFS

There are 7 tests that every Mastiff should have done, especially if they are going to be bred.
I am in no way an expert, I just want to share the stuff I had to do at my clinic to get my first mastiff's tests all done and done right. As many of you know, I am a Certified Vet. Tech. Bagheera was the first mastiff to have all of these tests done at my clinic and we were NOT prepared. So my goal here is for you to be able to copy and paste this guideline into note pad or whatever and print it out and take it to your vet a couple of weeks before you schedule these tests to be done. So that they may be prepared and no test needs to be repeated unnecessarily. I will give links at the bottom of this page to all the EXPERTS that I know of so that you may further your education.
Let's start with:
CERF
Only a board certified Opthalmologist can cerf your dogs eyes. You need to get your dogs eyes cerfed once a year starting at 8 weeks old. PPM (persistent pupillary membrane) will sometimes go away after a dog is 9 weeks old so the only true way to see if a dog has PPM is to cerf at 8 weeks. This is a hereditary condition and if a pup has PPM it should be spayed or neutered when of age. PRA (progressive retinal atrophy) is a major hereditary disease causing blindness. PRA may not show up until the dog is a few years old, therefore dogs must be cerfed every year. There are many other eye diseases that are hereditary and should not be bred down in the dog. A lot of these are only diagnosed if an opthalmologist looks at your dogs eyes.
Unfortunately most opthalmologist are from 100 to 200 or more miles away. Fortunately some of the AKC dog shows offer cerfing clinics. Be sure to check the premium lists of local shows to see if there is a cerf clinic there and these clinics tend to be fairly cheap. My last cerf was done at a show for $15.00 total.
Procedure:
The doctor will dilate the dogs eyes and examine them with an instrument that magnifies the retina etc. The procedure is painless and usually takes less than 5 minutes. He then fills out your cerf paper with the normal or abnormal eyes noted. You then fill out the rest of it with your dogs registered name and number, date of birth, breed and your address etc. Then you need to mail it to:
Canine Eye Registration Foundation
Purdue University
1235 South Campus Courts, Building A
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1235
(317)494-8179
fax: (317) 494-9981
The fee for the first eye cerf is $7.50 and for every other recerfing it is $5.00.
von Willebrands Disease
vWD is a bleeding disorder. This test will tell you if your dog is borderline carrier, carrier or normal and free of the disease. This is a blood test. There is a very special procedure for this test including special tubes for blood collection and possible freezing or special shipping instructions. Your vet needs to call Cornell before performing the test to find out if they have the right tubes and supplies to perform the test. This is a one time test and can be done at any age but needs to not be done a month before or after a bitch is in heat. Preferably it should be done before the dog has even had any vaccinations, around 7 weeks old. Here is the address and phone number for Cornell:
Diagnostic Laboratory
College of Veterinary Medicine,
Cornell University
Upper Tower Road
Ithica, NY 14851
(607)253-3900
THYROID
The thyroid controls a lot of body functions including immunities etc. The thyroid test is kind of confusing because the blood gets sent to one place but has 2 different fees and the results get sent to 2 different places. OFA now gives a registration number for normal thyroids. But they only require 2 or 3 tests performed. Michigan University's standard full panel thyroid test performs 7 tests. So...when your vet sends the serum to Michigan they need to request "The FULL Thyroid Panel" then OFA has a form that needs to be sent with the serum with a 30 dollar extra fee, made out to OFA for Michigan to report those 3 tests to OFA. Did that make sense? I know, I screwed all of this up the first time too. If you don't request the full thyroid panel and the serum gets sent with OFA's form than Michigan will only perform those 3 tests. Also, your vet needs to call OFA to get these forms, tell them to request the patella and cardiac forms at the same time. So, to summerize, if your vet sends serum to Michigan and the OFA form, Michigan will send the required results to OFA. You don't have to worry about it. The address and number are:
Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory
P.O. Box 30076
Lansing, MI. 48909
(517)353-0621
OFA
Okay, OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) registers a lot of things including hips, elbows, patellas, cardiac, and thyroid. Lets start with hips and elbows. You can do OFA prelims for hips and elbows at 12 months up to 2 years old. This does not register your dog it just gives you an idea of what the hips and elbows are doing. Only after 24 months will OFA give you a registration number if hips and elbows pass. The vet needs to knock your dog out to get these special xrays. The elbows need to be extremely flexed which is hard to do with a mastiff asleep let alone awake. With the hips they lie the dog on it's back and take a hip xray. The vet twists the feet towards each other so that the femurs are parallel to each other so that OFA may evaluate the head of the femur and how it fits into the socket. There is a lot of twisting involved so the dog must be asleep and relaxed.
Okay, on to Patellas: Patellas are painless and easy. They require no sedation or special testing. As a matter of fact, they can be easily done during a regular exam in an office call. The doctor simply checks the dogs knee to see if the patella is subluxated or tightly fit into the knee. He does this by lying the dog on its side and trying to slide the patella out of place.
Now Cardiac: You do NOT need to see a cardiologist for this, a regular vet can do this. If you have any question about your dogs heart it would be a good idea to see a cardiologist. If your vet listens to your dogs heart and signs it xxxx DVM then OFA puts a "P" behind your registration number meaning a practitioner performed the exam. The vet just listens for abnormalities in the heart and makes note of them on the OFA form.
Thyroid: As stated above, send the serum off to Michigan and they will send the results to OFA. Then OFA will give you a registration number. Don't forget to have the vet send the OFA form to Michigan with the serum. Michigan needs at least 2cc of serum (not blood) for a full thyroid panel. So I always draw at least 6cc of blood to make sure that there is at least 2cc of serum after spinning down. Have your vet call Michigan in case they have special shipping instructions. Last time I did one, they just wanted it shipped overnight first class mail but that was at least 6 months ago. They may have changed the procedure. Okay, with each of these tests OFA has a different form. You need to make sure your vet has these forms ahead of time, or you call them and request them for yourself. There are 5 of them. Hips and elbows, your doctor should at least have these hopefully, cardiac, thyroid, and patellas. You need to fill out the dogs registered name and number on each form as well as sire and dam info and ta too or chip number. The cost, at the time of this writing, for thyroid is $30.00 (doesn't include Michigan's fee or blood draw or shipping), Cardiac is $15.00, patella is $15.00 and hips and elbows together is $30.00 (again not including the price of the xrays and anesthesia). Okay, I've bored you enough, here is the address and number:

Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, Inc
2300 E. Nifong Blvd.
Columbia, MO. 65201-3856
tel. (314)442-0418
Fax. (314)875-5073

Cystinuria

Everything you want to know about cystinuria in Mastiffs is HERE

Okay, onward to the links so that you may find out more info on these tests like what happens if your mastiff doesn't pass. Please, if anyone see's anything wrong with this page or has new addresses or phone numbers or prices for any of these organizations please e-mail me and I will correct it!!!


LINKS

Deb Jones' page on Mastiff STUFF.

Deb Jones' PRA page. Everything you wanted to know about PRA.

OFA home page.

More info on Mastiff Health Issues

Also, let's not forget awards for health mastiffs. Here's a link to find you how your mastiff can recieve AWARDS!!!!


Back to Bagheera's page!