Boxer breeders answer PDE

Janice Mair of the Glenauld Boxers:

‘At the breed council meeting in May 2011 where Dr Bruce Cattanach reported his findings on juvenile kidney disease (JKD) he named several champion dogs purely on pedigree evidence who in his opinion had produced unconfirmed cases of JKD.
So I ask why my dog was singled out and named and blame by Dr Cattanach in the programme? Was it perhaps because over the years I have openly criticised his experiment of introducing Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeding into our breed for purely cosmetic reasons? Short tails (the bobtail gene) have nothing to do with the health of the breed.
The most important part of my written response to the programme was never mentioned, which was that since Dr Cattanach brought it to our attention – although he had no evidence to back this up – that it was possible JKD was a hereditary condition, we have not used our champion dog, and that is since October 2010. He is 11 years old this week.
Sharon McCurdy who appeared on the programme omitted to mention that her bitch who died from kidney failure had been in whelp and had an anaesthetic for a caesarean section just days before she died.
The health and welfare of our dogs has always been of paramount importance and we take into account a range of factors when selecting dogs to breed from which include temperament, health test results as recommended by the breed council and the Kennel Club and genetic diversity which we now make it our policy to achieve with tools such as Mate Select. We are happy to divulge any breeding records and give bloods to the Boxer breed council health committee to help with any work to find a gene marker to test for JKD.’


Walker and Yvonne Miller of the Walkon Boxers:

‘A full statement was supplied to Jemima Harrison before Monday’s programme. Despite stating that it should be read out and printed in its complete form without any alteration this was not done and we feel that we were unfairly represented and consequently wish to clarify our position.
The health and wellbeing of our dogs is and always has been of paramount importance to us, and for our puppy owners whom we actively encourage to report any problems they may encounter. In addition we check with them on a periodic basis. Consequently the continual positive feedback we receive gives us no reason to believe that we have any ongoing health problems of any kind.
We have been breeding Boxers for more than 30 years and during this time have only had two suspected cases of JKD reported in our breeding and have no reason to believe they are of a hereditary nature.
It has been suggested that we know of more cases that we are not admitting to, which is completely and unequivocally untrue.
A recent check on all litters we have bred from 2006 to 2011 – a period which exceeded that on which Dr Cattanach’s research is based – has not brought to light any further cases.
In the BBC4 documentary it was stated that if Gucci carries the faulty gene for JKD it is most likely he inherited it from a champion Walkon dog who appears in all but two of Dr Cattanach’s cases. Dr Cattanach indicated to the health committee and ourselves that this dog had to be present on both sides of affected dogs’ pedigrees as the gene in question was recessive.
Dr Cattanach was offered the complete and comprehensive breeding records of this dog and was told that blood and semen samples could be made available to the breed, an offer that was dismissed by him as being of no interest.
We were unable to give blood samples from affected dogs as we have had no cases of JKD ourselves and it should be pointed out that other breeders in addition to Walkon and Glenauld were contacted by Dr Cattanach and informed that they too were involved in the spread of JKD. These breeders were not mentioned in the programme and we feel we were unfairly singled out.
We remain concerned that the majority of the JKD cases appear to be based largely on pedigree analysis with little veterinary or pathological evidence having been produced to confirm them. It was stated in the programme that there was ‘no definitive proof that Dr Cattanach was right’ in his assumptions, and indeed a statement by the health committee on the breed council website would appear to agree with this.
When breeding, we apply a range of factors including genetic diversity, temperament and breed council and KC-approved health schemes to ensure we are breeding happy, health dogs. During 2011 and with the help of the KC’s Mate Select tool we have reduced our average inbreeding coefficient of our litters by 39 per cent and are committed to reducing this further on an ongoing basis.
We stand completely behind efforts to understand the cause and prevalence of JKD and welcome the development of any tests for it. Our complete breeding records spanning over 30 years are available for inspection and we are happy to provide blood samples to the Boxer breed council health committee to further any research into JKD’.

Sounds like the same old same old to me.

rune

there is no answer really, the statement is piss and wind.

So it looks like Dr Cattanach is being hung out to dry then.

The bit about the COI shocked me - 'we have reduced our average inbreeding coefficient of our litters by 39 per cent'

What the hell was it before then that you have managed to reduce it by 39%!!!

The fact that these breeders have no 'affected' dogs themselves is irrelevent - one or more of their dogs may be carriers and passing on the disease/mutation.

I posted the uk boxer councils statement earlier..

Thats a good point, after all in any research you need control samples and to look at the population as a whole not just the affected ones.

Worrying they are the 'experts' choosing how much inbreeding is safe and how often to use the same stud - yet they have so little clue about how the genetics works

Saying they've reduced inbreeding COI by 39% is meaningless unless we know what it was or is. It could have been 20% and now it's 12.2%

I am a very strong proponent of limiting the amount of litters any one male can sire and have registered in his lifetime. It's a ridiculous state of affairs when you get 'top sires' in any breed producing sometimes tens of litters and several hundred puppies. Even in breeds with high numbers of dogs.

thats what I thought!