Doggie DNA test reveals mutts’ canine heritage

[AJE]

Growing availability, decreasing cost means more dog owners using test

The growing availability, and declining cost, of high-tech DNA tests are giving dog owners long baffled over the makeup of their mutts something to do besides shrug and speculate.

Roadmap of breeds
The tests, which cost as little as $65, are the result of several years of work by scientists who gathered a large pool of DNA samples from thousands of dogs to create a sort of genetic roadmap of breeds.

For years, owners have been able to get dogs tested to prove they are the offspring of parents that breeders said they were. In the new testing, DNA markers that help tell breeds apart are checked against the thousands of DNA samples to find out Fido’s ancestry.

A new test unveiled late last month by Virginia-based Mars Veterinary uses DNA from blood samples taken by veterinarians and sent to a lab in Lincoln. Within four to six weeks the genetic puzzle is solved for the dogs’ owners.

Doggie DNA test reveals mutts’ heritage - Pet Health - MSNBC.com

[CarolsCritterCare]

I have been reading all about this in my veterinary magazines. It's a great tool that can be used in treating mix breeds of unknown nature. Some of the results were even coming back suprizing the vets of the mix....

Carol

[Tinkdedoodle]

First of all, No, I don't work for this company and don't get paid for this endorsement... but I do use them and feel that for less than $50 per dog it's a very good deal.

For that price you get DNA fingerprinting, genetic disease testing, parentage verification and trait color testing specifically designed for canine & feline breeders and pet owners.
Since I breed dogs, I need to know what if any genetic problems each of my dogs has so that I can produce only healthy pups. Through the use of DNA technology and the VARISNP™universal screening procedure, Pawsitive I.D.™ can screen for dozens of inherent, genetic diseases. Some are breed specific but some can be detected in many pure breeds and mixed breeds.

Dog Diseases

* Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)
* Hypothyroidism with Goiter (HTG)
(Congenital Hypothyroidism)
* Cystinuria (CYST)
* Globoid Cell Leucodystrophy (GCL)
* Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (NCL)
* Phosphofructosokinase Deficiency (PFK)
* Von Willebrand Disease (vWD)
* Congenital Stationary Night Blindness
* Narcolepsy (NARC)
* Cone degeneration (CD)
* Canine Leucocyte Adhesion Deficiency (CLAD)
* Hemophilia B (HmB)
* Muscular Dystrophy (MD)
* Myotonia Congenita (MC)
* GMI Gangliosidosis (GMIG)
* Retinal Dystrophy (prad)
* SCID (DNA-PKc & DNA PKc2)
* Mucopolysaccharidosis Type VII (GUSB_NOSVVIII)
* Thrombasthenic Thrombopathia (THROM)
* Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration (PRCD)

Cat Diseases

* Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD)
* Mucopolysaccharidoses Type VI &VI Mild (MPS)

I think it's a great tool for any responsible pet lover.

[Scarberry2003]

I for one would love to applaud you Tink for doing such reasearch on genetic problems with your dogs, you truly work to improve the breed you have selected to raise, and by testing you are doing your part to help eradicate some inherited diseases that some breeders do not seem to worry about. When I breed dalmatians, I had each pup checked for hearing problems, and each parent checked for any hip problems and any other problem associated with that breed. Paid 400 bucks for a really pretty liver bitch once, only to have her spayed because of potential health issues. She made a wonderful pet though, had to be put down at a fairly early age of 9 due to hip problems,, but no pups were ever whelped by her that would have had those problems too in the future.

Kudo's again,,,,,, and btw,, what breed of dog do you have?????? Just curiouse. We have collies now ourselves.

[Tinkdedoodle]

Scarberry2003, sorry I missed your post until now.
I breed Labradoodles. There are so many genetic problems being let slide by careless breeders of purebred dogs that it makes me ill to think about it. Labs have their issues... Poodle have theirs... but since most genetic defects take both parents carrying the gene to pass it on, I feel safer going with the hybrids. While the 2 breeds do share some of the genetic problems, the ones they don't share are eliminated from the list of concerns when you hybridize them. As you most likely know, even dogs that don't have HD or JRD can be carriers of them and pass them on. So while the tests help, they're not the end all.

For this reason I am working on getting my own dogs tested, then keeping female pups from them to use for future breeding so I will KNOW that I'm not breeding more problems down the road. It's costly and time consuming and of course I end up spending a lot to raise pups long enough that they're ready to breed... but for me it's worth it to know I'm doing the best that I can to ensure the health and well being of the pups I sell. I guarantee my pups and I still sell them for considerably less than most of the Labradoodle breeders I network with. I'm not looking to make a living off my dogs... they're my hobby and my furkids now that my human kids are grown. I retired early so have the luxury of spending my days playing with puppies which is about as ideal an existence as I can imagine. In return it's up to me to make sure they're well cared for and well bred.