took my dogs for their boosters. Now my 7 year old as cloudy eyes but as no problem with them. She had them tested 3 years ago and the vet then said although they were a little cloudy to him tests showd nothing at all wrong. They have got a bit worse but its hard for us to tell with seeing her all the time.
The vet who gave her her booster put her on steroid drops. He asked if she had problems with sight or any discharge to which the answer was deffinitly no.
Im a bit mixed up is there any need for these drops. Of corse if my dog needs treatment Im only too happy to go along with it. The vet wants to see her in a week to see if theres any improvement.

Ask your vet for more information :)  The response to the treatment may be part of the diagnosis procedure.

Dog's eyes often develop a slight cloud as they get older. My Bethany did. I asked Prof. Peter Bedford about it at our eye testing and his comment was, "There's nothing wrong with her eyes, that's just the effects of growing old!" She was about 11 years old at the time though and at 7 her eyes were still perfectly clear. Of course, there is always the possibility of a cataract due to a scratch. The only thing against that is that it would be a bit of a coincidence if it happened to both eyes at the same time!

Were it me I'd take her along to an ophthalmologist and have her eyes tested again for my own peace of mind.

Regards, John

My girl of 11 also has cloudy eyes.  Actually when she had her eyes tested some time ago I was told that if she was another breed she'd be blind, she's actually the sharpest dog I've got and stil loves to go out there and searches etc. and fingers crossed at the moment she doesn't have any problems at all.

How about going to a specialist and finding out more ?  oooh, don't mention eyes, my boys are having theirs checked by Peter Bedford tomorrow :d

Peter's doing our session later in the month Diane. But not Anna, she's clear till our October sessions. (Not that a little thing like that will stop Peter having a little poke around!! (Or feeding her fish and chips later!)

Regards, John

Peter's wonderful, yeah my boys scored 0 and my youngest who I thought may be affected was 0++. Peter said that he had wonderful eyes :d :d  A dog that someone else tested was not totally clear although her onwer was previously told that she was, thank God we took her and got her checked by Peter.  She's still OK to be bred from thankfully as she didnt' have a bad score, now I'll have to take her sister to Peter as I was told that she was clear and was so happy and now she may not be !

Hi Diane
Glad to hear that both your boys are ok too, its so nerve racking until he says yes they're Ok, I was a nervous wreck until he gave Daisy and Abby the all clear, mind you the results that Catherine has had gives something to think about, a score of 2 from clear parents who were both zeros, yet Abby scored zero from parents who were 0- 1 and a 2, doesnt really make sense does it !!!!!. So does this test really give any guarantees at all although I suppose at least it tells us which ones to definately not breed from.

I'll PM you so that you know the correct details !!  OOh, I bet you're wondering now.  Let's just say that Moby is the 0 :d  The test gives many guarantees if you go to the right person who tests the dogs!!  I will never see anyone else now but Peter.

So don't worry a 0 - 0 should provide 0  !  That would have been all we needed to have a breed that was different to the text book, but boy was it good that we did them with Peter.

I am a bit confued here, what are these scores for?  I thought eyes were simply affected or unaffected by the relevant disease???

Peter Bedford gives us an unofficial score for our dogs eyes for tendency towards glaucoma, his testing for this is excellent so much easier than other gonioscopy tests done by other eye specialists, the lower the score the less their predisposition to have glaucoma, so a zero is all clear, he gives a score up to five with nothing higher than a 2 to be bred from, and only then mated to a clear dog.We have only had a couple of cases of glaucoma (correct me if Im wrong Diane) but as this is still a relatively new breed it was decided and rightly so that all breeding stock be tested so as to determine the level of the problem and stop it before it could get any worse.

Shame it ther is no predisposition to note in my breed, sadly we have the Open Angle form crop up occasionally.  We are on schedule 3 for it as there is a definate familial link with some cases, but mode of inheritance unknown.  Closely related dogs of affcteds clear all their lives, tehn dogs generations down the line or not rlated cropped up too.

In many ways it is far worse than PRA which at least is painless.

Was getting a bit confused myself there B/less, wondering what score they talking about?? Glad its been expalined :)
Also wondering whats been happening, if anything, of swd regarding pra, if they`re testing for it or keeping an eye open for it?

*In many ways it is far worse than PRA which at least is painless.*
For whom is it painless for B/less? The dogs?? That in every other way is healthy but has to keep it`s nose to the ground to find it`s way around ever so slowly, taking so many knocks to the head & elswhere because it can`t see what`s there? For owners having to watch all the time to minimise those knocks?
I disagree with you that pra in dogs is painless. The most you can hope for is limiting/anticipating potential dangers to maximise some resemblance of a normal life. 

Christine, Spain.

This is similar to the Flatcoat Glaucoma test although in that breed the condition is Angle-Closure rather than Open-Angle. Unfortunatly Open-Angle is rather harder to diagnose as Gonioscopy does not work so well.

Trouble with Glaucoma Christine, is that the pain is excruciating! The eye can swell to the point where it will in fact burst. A friend's Flatcoat had to have an eye removed when the drain blocked. Unfortunately the vet who did the job did not realise that the other eye was in a similar condition and although it would have been possible to save that eye at that time he left it alone. A few months later the other eye blew and also had to be removed. There is no doubt in my mind that Glaucoma is the very worst of the eye conditions.

Best wishes, John

Precisely John, not only does it involve the dog in a great deal of pain, but it adds insult to injury that the treatment is very expensic=ve and limited in effectiveness and eventually in the long term the dogs eyes need to be removed.

At least wih PRA the dog and owner only have to live and cope with the blindness.  As a person with very limited sight I find this disability far less worrying from a human perspective than say deafness or paralysis say.

Yes, my post was hard, sorry B/less J, shouldn`t have said that! I`m just feeling a bit sensitive right now. Bonnie is going a bit deaf, noticed it couple mths ago.... :(

Christine, Spain.

Hi Christine

Yes as well as the goiniscopy test, SWD are being tested for PRA, MRD etc,an annual test for these like with other breeds if you are breeding from them, there havent been any cases so far but better safe than sorry, hips are also being tested, too early yet to have an average score for the breed, but the more that are tested the better.the lowest has been 8 I think the highest 38, Im sure Diane will correct me if Im wrong.

Jenny

When we first brought the Spanish in we instisted on testing for PRA etc. don't think any have it here in England but I think a couple have cropped up in America, not from the lines that we mainly have here though. luckily.

Hips, I think the lowest so far has been 4, the litter sister of mine who scored 10.  There have been now quite a few scoring 9 or 10, a sprinkling between 11 up to 25, one 38 score and I think 2 now at 42.  Of course we would of like not to have had the 38 and the 42's but it looks as though our average  now is about 15, was 17 a week ago but we've seen a few more dogs scores of 9's and 10's which is great news.

John, don't know whether you can help me on this? My Spanish boy was hipscored in Spain, would I be able to send his Spanish x-rays to the BVA as they have his Spanish KC number on the Spanish x-rays?  He did score an excellent over there but would be interested to see what they are scored as over here.

Sorry Diane, I can't answer that. You could try emailing Nicola Amis at bvahq@bva.co.uk (Taken from their web site) or a phone number I have for information on health schemes is 0171 6366541 (This I think is the old london dialing code and I guess you will need to find the latest one)

Whether the answer will be "No" to scoring because the dog has already been scored I dont know but it would certainly do no harm to ask the question.

Best wishes, John

Thanks John I will send an e-mail and see what they say.

Jenny, you were right, the lowest score is 8, of which 2 have scored this !

It's good that you have achieved low scores early in the days of the breed Diane. Just imagine a few really bad scores which might have given you a BMS of 25! People would have been saying that as a dog scoring 24 is better than the BMS it would be fine to use it! As it is, people know that breeding over 15 is a no no! Really good for the future of the breed! It would only have needed a few bad scores early on and the die would have been cast.

Best wishes, John

John, it's still early days, but the more people that we can get to hip score the better it will be for the breed and for us to see what's happening within the breed.  I'm going to do my other girl near the end of the year and her mother who is 11 hopefully in a month or so, so fingers crossed and everything else :d

Hi Dianne, JennyB, do you know if are they doing any testing over here for it?

Dianne quite a few breeders of diffferent breeds over here use the bva for hip soring :). The vet needs to get the forms from bva, complete them & send them over with xrays, results get sent back. It`s how my older ones were done :)

Christine, Spain.