CTCV Health Watch Committee Report 2016                                                     30/1/2017

Thanks to everyone who sent in their reports.

Confidentiality

All reports are treated as confidential unless the box, on the Report Form, has been ticked indicating that the owner agrees that identifying details may be shared.
Number of Reports Received

We have received only 7 Litter Reports this year and one Medical Report.

Litter Reports

All the Reports received this year showed normal bile acid test results. It is regretful that the poor response to the reporting of both Litter results and Medical results appears to be prevalent in most Cairn Clubs globally

Medical Reports

The medical report received is from a pet owner who lost their female cairn to Cancer at age 11. The owner was initially alerted to the condition by a small, (and seemingly insignificant), lump on the dog's leg, and, sadly within a couple of months the disease spread to other organs. Three cases of Portal Shunt were unofficially reported

Other News

The Southern Cairn Terrier Club in the UK have reported that the UK Cairn Terrier Health Group will reach the 10 year anniversary of the recording of Health Report Data and they intend to publish the information they have collected later this year. It should make interesting reading and will be found on the SCTC website.

With regards to Heath Surveys, during the middle of 2016 the Kennel Club (UK) published the results of their last Health Survey conducted in 2017. As seems to be the "norm" these days, the response was quite poor, (across all Breeds). 300 living and 38 deceased cairns were reported. You can read all the statistics by following the link - http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/media/749188/cairn_terrier.pdf

Portal Shunt (Liver Shunt)

After years of research by a number of Veterinary Universities around the world, it does not appear that any further definite information has come to light as to the mode of inheritance of Liver Shunt. No DNA test has been developed despite the work done at Cornell (USA) and Utrecht (Netherlands). However, most of the Cairn Terrier Clubs, worldwide continue to strongly recommend testing of all litters, and many Clubs will not refer puppy buyers to breeders who are not testing. Therefore it is imperative that all our breeders here in Australia continue with testing every litter and sending in Reports to the Health Watch Committee.

An interesting article, with a totally different view on Portal Shunt was recently published at: http://www.doglivershunt.com/causes-of-dog-liver-shunt.html The author puts forward an interesting argument that shunts may be caused by diet. This does not appear to have any medical support but it certainly makes for interesting reading

In conclusion

Please continue to send in both Litter and Medical Reports in a timely manner and remember that eligible breeders can still claim a $10 rebate per puppy on litters reported by sending a copy of each pup's pedigree to Graeme Ferbrache.

Lyn Barclay - 20 Outawood Rise, Gisborne, Victoria 3437
Email: lkbarclay@bigpond.com Tel: 03 5428 4739

Bile Acid Test Scores

LITTER TESTING 2016 - BILE ACID TEST SCORES

Download Health Watch Committee Report Form

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