Eye Testing Clinic & Research Day

UNFORTUNATELY THIS CLINIC HAS HAD TO BE CANCELLED

The SHCGB are holding a joint BVA Clinic/Research Day on Saturday 25 September 2010 at The Willows Veterinary Centre, Highlands Rd, Solihull, West Midlands B90 4NH.

All dogs for BVA scheme eye testing must be microchipped or tattooed and the charges are £27 for a general test and £45 for gonioscopy. You will need to bring KC registration certificates with you so the form can be filled in accurately.

The eye specialist is Christine Heinrich who has also kindly offered to gonioscopy test 25 dogs for free as part of a reasearch programme into the Glaucoma condition. The reason this has come about is that a few sibes have developed full blown glaucoma and lost an eye even though they were tested clear at a younger age. Therefore the BVA wish to investigate whether any changes might be occurring as the dogs get older which could impact on advice re age of testing or perhaps whether a second test might be advisable at an older age. As many of you are aware, the gonioscopy test is not an exact science so any help we can give to the BVA to improve testing is beneficial to the breed.

We are looking for siberians who have been tested CLEAR by gonioscopy at least 4/5 years ago (they can have had a general test in the meantime). It would be good to have some dogs who have a family history of predisposition (perhaps siblings or parents siblings) but this is not essential. These dogs do not need to be microchipped and you will get a report from the specialist in confidence rather than a BVA form (so your previous BVA/SHCGB eye result will remain unchanged).

I hope people will be prepared to bring their dogs along to support this as it is good to know what is going on with your dogs eyes and at least if any unexpected problems are identified you can then act on them (plus it is free!)

Please can you email me with bids for either (or both) clinics with details of the dogs and type of test required (i.e. general, full, free research) so I can work out the timings to fit everybody in.

Any questions please email CromartyZero@aol.com or call on 01252 613819 and I will try and answer them.

Date:02 Aug 2010, Author: Cathy Croman