DM Questions

[shepherdbydesign]

I have been doing a lot of reading on the disease and was wondering what other members think and feel about breeding a DM carrier. Although we have no dogs here with this, but we are concerned about this disease and try to keep up on all the latest news. We have tested our dogs and so far we have had our dogs tests come back clear of DM.

My concern is when you breed a dog that has been found to be a carrier to a non- carrier, what is the chance of producing pups that are found to be carriers. If there is a chance of this happening I would not make a practice of it as we do not want to contribute to the problems that come up in our breed.

[doggiedad]

what is DM???

[sgtmom52]

Originally Posted By: doggiedadwhat is DM???

Degenerative Myelopathy

It is a very nasty disease which took the life of my girl Kodi several years ago.

my Kodi Bear

[Schutzhundgirl]

Following basic Mendelian genetic principles, you can expect 50% of the puppies to be carriers if you bred a non-carrier to a carrier.

[FredD]

DM > http://neuro.vetmed.ufl.edu/neuro/DM_Web/DMofGS.htm

[shepherdbydesign]

Thanks for the link, As for breeding a carrier, this will not happen here due to us not wanting to contribute to the disease.

[agilegsds]

Chuck, what DM test(s) have you done?

[shepherdbydesign]

For what I was told and found out OFA has a DM test Aval. and plan on ordering a few test kits for our dogs. As for right now as far as I know we have no carriers here. But like you all know that could change as the tests begin here.

If DM works the same as EPI does than I would think that if 2 carriers breed there is a better chance to produce a pup that has full blown DM. So far what I did read was that even if you breed a dog that is a carrier you can produce carriers in their offspring.

I was just reading about a member on another forum that I go to that has a carrer in her kennel which was the reason I am starting to ask more about this genetic disease. To me it doesn't make any sense to be breeding a dog that is a known carrier

[agilegsds]

The OFA test is part of the research that U of Missouri is doing, I believe. I'm not familiar with how their results are obtained or how they grade them. However, my Starine has very recently been diagnosed with DM and we did the Flash test from the U of Florida where Dr. Clemmons has been researchuing the disease for 20 + years. These are some of the comments in Star's lab report:

" We do not currently know if the DM Flash test becomes positive before the signs of clinical disease are apparent or if the DM Flash test could indicate a genetic potential to develop DM, we only know that it is abnormal in DM dogs diagnosed by our criteria."

As far as someone who is breeding dogs who suspects that their dogs could pass on DM, even generations from now, I am at a loss for words. I am going through one of the worst times of my life right now since getting Star's diganosis, and I can't fathom any reason to inflict this amount of pain upon anyone else, if it could be prevented.

[Andaka]

Quote:For what I was told and found out OFA has a DM test Aval. and plan on ordering a few test kits for our dogs. As for right now as far as I know we have no carriers here. But like you all know that could change as the tests begin here.

But how do you know if you haven't tested yet?