Basenji Health Results

Disease Testing with Health Results

The following is a list of every Basenji bred or owned by myself along with all known health testing conducted on each dog. Click on drop down menu below and then click the sort button to list the results in ascending or descending order. Where a disease has no result it is unknown if the dog has been assessed for that disease and therefore should be considered as not being tested.  A range of tests and screening process are conducted in the Tambuzi Health Management Program:

  • DNA testing for diseases; Fanconi Syndrome, Late on-set Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency
  • Hip evaluation
  • Eye screening; all puppies at 6-7 weeks old, plus adults are tested periodically
  • DNA profiling of every puppy bred with health status
  • DNA parentage verification of every puppy bred. This offers certain assurances to puppy buyers.

Where possible I 'blanket' test dogs bred. This means that whole litters are tested not just the one that I am keeping. I eye screen all puppies at 6-7 weeks. Testing whole litters gives a holistic picture of health issues. Whereas, luck might have it that the one pup kept for breeding is tested normal but does not reflect the results of the litter mates; the pathology of a disease might be present in other puppies. The health issue might have been expressed in other puppies that were not screened.

Testing for disease in a methodical and scientific manner will ultimately uncover health issues if they exist. Recessive disorders can remain 'hidden' for generations. Finding carriers is a good thing. If you don't look you shall not find! If you don't find issues they cannot be managed or eliminated. Finding a health concern in a bloodline is not a slur on the breeder. Breeders that test for health issues should be commended for spending the time, money and effort managing the issue. The same cannot be said of those breeders who do not test, test and do nothing and/or are not educated in the health concerns of the breed. Ultimately, it is extremely important that breeders understand the concept of breeding quality dog who might be carriers of a disease. These carriers can be safely bred to a normal without any of the resulting puppies becoming sick with the disease. Eliminating quality carriers from any bloodline is totally unnecessary and will have a deleterious affected on the gene pool and diversity of the breed.

The table below is a concise list of results. By clicking on the dogs Registered Name link the individuals full profile will be displayed. This will give more information on any 'affected' status.

In the case of PPM the findings in my dogs is extremely minute in some cases amounting to one or two minute strands. Even though the certificate might state 'normal eyes' or 'PPM of no clinical significance', for transparency and correctness, the report below will list these dogs as being 'affected'.

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[pdb_list sort=true fields=reg_name,date_of_birth,litter,dna_profile,fanconi_syndrome,pkd_ha,pra_lo,eyes_tested,ofa_equivalent,pennhip_di,pennhip_djd]

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