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Eye Tests
What is PRA?
PRA is short for Progressive Retinal Athropy a posh word for the thin layer of tissue at the back of the eye which has millions of sensors that process light. If a dog has this whilst it does not cause them pain it does mean they will eventually become blind.
This is a standard DNA test as it has been quite common in the UK but through this test we have been able to remove it, like all tests A is clear, B is carrier and C means they have it, when breeding we make sure that we make sure that either dam or stud are A and the other one is B, ideally we match A's where we can and Emma and Arwens mum and dad are both A, which the entire litter were an A, we have tested our girls quite simply for the peice of paper to prove what we already know.
What is Glaucoma
Glaucoma is slightly more complicated as this can develop with age and needs to be tested on a regular basis, this is something that in recent years has cropped up, so we test annually, PRA it can develop into blindness of the dog, it is however treatable.
Glaucoma is caused when the dainage of the fluid of the eye does not flow as normal.
The test is a very simple test where a lense is placed into the dogs eye and the vet looks into the eye to see if there are any blockages.
Cataracts
Cataracts is where the lense of the eye becomes cloudy and you can start to see this cloudiness in the dogs eyes, again this is another one which can cause blindness in the dog, towards the end we noticed Billy was developing cataracts, we chose not to operate as going under sedation with his condition meant he might not make it through and since it did not impact his lifestyle nor cause him pain we decided to leave this option.
The test for cataracts like glaucoma should be done on a regular basis, this involves the vet popping eye drops into the dogs eyes to widen their pupils and then the vet looks at the lense of the dogs eye.