It's is ctive chronic hepatitis that the specialist said was most likely to be genetic

“chronic active hepatitis” is generally found in smaller and some mid size dogs, and in certain breeds there seems to be a under lying genetic cause, that those breeds get it far more often.

It's not a genetic disease. Certain breeds seem to have a genetic reason why they get it far more often.

Also basically any real health testing would have shown it in the parent.

She's a doberman and as she was less than a year old and they could find no other cause the specialist said it was genetics, and lets face it the fact the breeder was uninterested doesn't make me overly confident the paperwork was even legitimate!

FAO LMost

a few articles..

http://www.dobermandata.com/liver-cah.html
http://www.clinics-dobermann.net/dob...isarticle1.htm

i'd never heard of it (and am a bit of an anorak when it comes to dober health) until it was referred to as Copper toxicosis in one of the above articles then it clicked

Ah - Copper toxicosis - is this what Bedlingtons can get ? As a breeder I would want to know about finding this in one of my puppies in order to research, take advice and rethink my breeding programme. I believe the disease is not inherited but the predispositon to suffer from it is inherited which is slightly different. The Bedlington people have been investigating this for quite some time.

I breed in order to improve the dogs not to cause pain and suffering. In my first experience of breeding pedigree cats, despite all my efforts, 2 kittens from my first litter died from an infection from their mother which I didnt know existed. She was immediately spayed and we can not have any more cats until she passes away - which I hope is a long time off. She and the litter cost me thousands but as i say, I am not in this to cause pain and suffering.

Thalice's Mum

This article is from a medic study on it.
http://web-dvm.net/chronicactivehepatitis.html

My boy is due back to the vets in Jan for titre/thyroid/Tn1 bloods so think Ill will ask for a full chem as well. He will be 8 this month so a full mot wont hurt him (just my pocket )

Might be a very good idea since it sounds to be pretty manageable as long as caught early enough, and if you wait till real signs show it's a real battle at that point.