Genetics Question - Greyhounds At Risk?

[Guest KennelMom]

I know of one direct offspring of GS that had PRA, so he was a carrier. As far as prolific sires, the only ones I'm aware of that had offspring with PRA are Molotov and GS. Perhaps there are additional genetic factors influencing the expression of the PRA gene, because PRA is still pretty rare, despite both of these sires having thousands of offspring and offspring's offspring.

[Batmom]

If it has autosomal recessive inheritance (as most but not all PRA does), then the dam would have to be a carrier too.

[NCGreyhounds]

If it has autosomal recessive inheritance (as most but not all PRA does), then the dam would have to be a carrier too.

 

And the dam would be our beloved Zinnia who passed this summer. I'm glad to see your responses saying PRA is very rare. In browsing, it was all I could find that would cause the severe night blindness she experienced Friday night. Last night Hottie seemed fine.. except that she stayed on her bed when everyone else took the opportunity to go outside at about 9PM. I used a leash to take her out through the kitchen where there are only 2 steps to the grass. She didn't want to approach them, but when I insisted, it didn't appear she couldn't SEE them as it had the previous evening.. It was obvious, though, that she really had to pee and wasn't going to do it on her own through the dog door. Guess we'll be taking her out every night now.

 

Vet's office had their Christmas party on Saturday, so couldn't go in immediately after Friday's experience. OUR vet, doesn't have hours on Monday and I don't want to see the one who does... so Tuesday was the soonest we could see Charlene, who is very open to reading/researching information provided by the greyhound community.

 

Wish there were another explanation for what happened on Friday. We're keeping a close watch...

[sweetdogs]

Very best wishes for Hottie. Make sure they check her blood pressure & her kidney values. There's a recent thread on a hound named Paden who has had some sight problems. Worth a read to save you some diagnostic time.

 

http://forum.greytal...nset-blindness/

[Guest borzoix4]

Without reading all the posts, I will say since I have one of my Borzoi going in for health testing, I am taking my girl Maura in as well, and will let you know the results.

There is no reason by behavior I should suspect PRA, but I do need to know if its possible.

[tbhounds]

If you suspect PRA I would not wait until Tuesday to have your hound checked.

 

Why? I am not an expert by any means but from what others have said I have gathered that there is no cure and its not very fast acting. Just curious as to why you would rush to the vet?

Guess I should have clarified-- just meant any acute blindness should be seen by a Dvm ASAP. The last time I saw an acute blindness the dog (a lab) ended up having Stage 4 lymphoma-she was blind from blood filled eyes. She needed treatment stat (and no you couldn't see the blood - at first glance it just looked like dilated pupils).

[NCGreyhounds]

Very best wishes for Hottie. Make sure they check her blood pressure & her kidney values. There's a recent thread on a hound named Paden who has had some sight problems. Worth a read to save you some diagnostic time.

 

http://forum.greytal...nset-blindness/

 

THANK you! I just read all the posts about Paden. First time I've seen that there could be reasons other than PRA for Hottie's episode with blindness. Strangely enough, I haven't seen her show these symptoms since that night when it was obvious she couldn't see a THING. Could it have been because she'd been in the bedroom where it's totally dark and then came out into the light? Still, lights were on for the half hour I watched her fear and took her outside - and her sight didn't improve...

 

It's appearing more and more like we really need to see an opthomalogist - we'll see what our vet says tomorrow morning. Why is it that everything happens on weekends when our vets are closed? Closest specialists are 5-6 hours away, depending upon whether we go down the freeway or through the mountains. And we're hosting Christmas dinner this year....

[Guest kydie]

this is such an interesting thread,, I am in to understanding genetic disorders,, most all of our rescues (non greys) have come to us due to genetic disorders, from back yard breeders, they could not sell the pups due to issues,,, it has come to our attention,, the whiter the breeders are trying to breed labs,, the more deaf pups are being born, we have had 2 stone deaf lab pups from breeders tyring for the white lab pups,, they get more money for the whiter ones , also lewellyn setters are now proving to be reproducing more and more deaf pups too, lewellyn breeds are completley insane with keeping records and DNA testing,, but still continue to have, more deaf pups in litters;,, point here is even though breeders are very well aware of these inhereted issues they continue to breed for the aesthetics of the dog, and not the well-being or the job they were meant to perform

[Guest Gert]

Interesting.

 

 

I had never heard of PRA until yesterday....watching Pitbulls & Parolees and one of their dogs was diagnosed with it.

[NCGreyhounds]

Hottie had her appointment this morning. Our vet used 3 different instruments, tested her in dark and light. She said everything appears symmetrical and to be reacting normally, but she, too, is concerned about the one occasion of seemingly total blindness. Less concerned than if it were recurring... she has a call into her consulting ophthalmologist and will let me know what she learns.

 

I told her some of you had recommended Oculite, so she spoke with a tech at the ophthalmologist's office who said it can't hurt to use it. But she said it was Ocu-Glo. $75 for 90 gel caps. Is that what some of you used? Is Oculite the same thing? the caps look so BIG on the Ocu-Glo site. Did you use them as is or open them on dog food?

 

As always, your help/advice is greytly appreciated!

[duncan41]

Hottie had her appointment this morning. Our vet used 3 different instruments, tested her in dark and light. She said everything appears symmetrical and to be reacting normally, but she, too, is concerned about the one occasion of seemingly total blindness. Less concerned than if it were recurring... she has a call into her consulting ophthalmologist and will let me know what she learns.

 

I told her some of you had recommended Oculite, so she spoke with a tech at the ophthalmologist's office who said it can't hurt to use it. But she said it was Ocu-Glo. $75 for 90 gel caps. Is that what some of you used? Is Oculite the same thing? the caps look so BIG on the Ocu-Glo site. Did you use them as is or open them on dog food?

 

As always, your help/advice is greytly appreciated!

 

I believe the reference was for "OCUVITE" which is a commonly suggested otc for ocular conditions such as age related macular degeneration.

[JJNg]

Interesting discussion. PRA isn't a problem you hear about much in greys. I'm more familiar with it from when I was more involved with iggies. Given that the original posts were from almost 4 years ago, is there any more info about mode of inheritance in greys? Have there been any more reports of Molotov descendants being affected? Seems that if it's a straight autosomal recessive, and if there are any significant number of carriers in the greyhound population, we would be seeing more cases, especially if Molotov's a carrier. I do have some personal interest in this as Willow is a Molotov granddaughter, and Wiki's sire is a littermate to Molotov.

[Guest KennelMom]

Interesting discussion. PRA isn't a problem you hear about much in greys. I'm more familiar with it from when I was more involved with iggies. Given that the original posts were from almost 4 years ago, is there any more info about mode of inheritance in greys? Have there been any more reports of Molotov descendants being affected? Seems that if it's a straight autosomal recessive, and if there are any significant number of carriers in the greyhound population, we would be seeing more cases, especially if Molotov's a carrier. I do have some personal interest in this as Willow is a Molotov granddaughter, and Wiki's sire is a littermate to Molotov.

 

 

Any time a dog on GT shows up with vision problems, I'm always asking who the sire was. In four years, there haven't any more cases of PRA on GT and I haven't heard of any through the grapevine. I know of a couple dogs that had it, but their sires/dams only had a litter or two and didn't have Molotov or GS in their bloodlines. I agree with you that if it were a straight autosomal recessive trait we should be seeing more cases, so I think there may be some other factors at play that are influencing the expression of the disease. Thankfully!!!!! I don't know of any research and there aren't really enough cases to probably generate any interest in investigating this in greyhounds. I don't know if CG has ever done an article, but their audience is probably wider than GT and may uncover a few more cases. I just don't think it's a huge issue, at the moment for greyhounds. But the gene is definitely in the gene pool.

[JJNg]

Thanks, Heather. Glad to hear that PRA doesn't seem to be more common in the breed. It's a good thing that there aren't enough cases to generate interest in research!