Frogs & Dogs Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 I have PetPlan health insurance on my dog, and quarterly they send a complimentary magazine called Fetch. I usually flip through it for anything interesting (they sometimes have articles written by vets) and then toss it aside. This month I noticed their "breed health profile" was on (you guessed it) border collies. So to start off, the pictured dog is a barbie collie (I'm no expert and have only seen a few in person, but this one is clearly a barbie) posing next to a rubix cube and a stack of papers. I'm already getting a bad feeling. Then I move onto the text. The health problems they describe are lens luxation, cataracts, hypothyroidism, deafness, and HD. That's it. Where the heck is CEA? Ivermectin sensitivity? And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think HD, hypothyroidism, or cataracts are particularly common in BC's as compared to other breeds (?) Who writes this stuff, anyway? I worry that people are using this information to make decisions on what breed they should get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 HD does happen often enough in the breed. According to WSU's own stats, less than 5% of border collies (owner-identified as border collies) tested for the mdr1 mutation have been found to have it. Compared to the breeds where this is a real problem, the number of border collies is insignificant (right up there with mixed breeds and Old English sheepdogs). Here's the page that lists the stats the folks at WSU have compiled for their mdr1 testing. I've had two border collies who required thyroid meds; one I suspect was euthyroid as he was diagnosed when he was quite sick. I don't have time to do the research online, but I imagine you could find information on the incidence of both HD and hypothyroid. Likewise, with a genetic test for CEA, at least working bred dogs are being screened and the incidence of such eye problems should be declining. If you go to the top of the page on this forum, there is a link for "BC Health" that gives numerous links to border collie health issues. And seriously, if the information works against promoting the border collie to make it any more popular than it already is, I have to say I'm okay with that. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 And seriously, if the information works against promoting the border collie to make it any more popular than it already is, I have to say I'm okay with that. J. My thought precisely! Too many articles extol the "virtues" of a breed (any breed) without a healthy dose of reality, and too many animals wind up in unsuitable situations - and we know what that results in. I do think that more responsible articles are found nowadays, that don't paint everything about a breed as rosy but include more along the lines of needs and potential issues, which may be a good thing (I hope) in discouraging impulse buying of animals into inappropriate situations. Meanwhile, the few breed profiles I've read (while sitting at the vet's office) often seem somewhat shallow. They are oriented towards the pet/companion market, I think, so perhaps that's why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 They definitely missed CEA, as well as OCD, TNS and several other conditions. I've been speaking with a cardiologist who is seeing more and more tricuspid valve dysplasia and other heart problems in BCs. Hypothyroidism and HD are definitely concerns in the breed. If you own enough BCs, you will eventually own one that has HD or is hypothyroid. We don't yet know how to "breed away" from either, aside from only using non affected dogs. Cataracts and gluacoma (and lense luxation, which can be linked to both of those) are not extremely common in Border Collies, but there are affected dogs. I had a foster dog from ABCA bloodlines with those conditions. I hear about other dogs who are affected. I suspect they are just looking at their submitted claims for the breed and basing their health info on them. Of course, we don't know their primary population (ABCA/ISDS vs AKC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogs & Dogs Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 And seriously, if the information works against promoting the border collie to make it any more popular than it already is, I have to say I'm okay with that. Ok, but what if people make the opposite decision? What if, based on this information, the decide that a BC IS for them? The article gave the breed a 4/10 on the "healthometer" (admittedly a ridiculous concept) with 1 being healthiest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 People are making the opposite decision all the time. Look at all the border collies out there. I doubt there's a serious risk of people walking away from the breed in such numbers that all the bad breeding being done to meet the demand will somehow cease to exist. In general border collies *are* a healthy breed. I would think that any breed that is still bred, at least by some percentage of breeders, for a purpose that requires health and athleticism will stay essentially healthy. Blind, deaf, or severely dysplastic dogs can't do a job, so there's incentive to NOT breed dogs with those issues, and others. Of course we can't control genetics completely, so some stuff pops up. But compared to some other popular breeds, I'd guess border collies are still, for now, relatively healthy (generally speaking). Those breed descriptions (for any breed) tend to accentuate the positive and gloss over the negative. They are not meant to be detailed discussions of all the pros and cons of a breed. People who would rely on them to make a decision about getting a dog aren't likely to be doing the in-depth research they should do and so it won't be surprising if they find out later that they made a mistake. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Those breed descriptions (for any breed) tend to accentuate the positive and gloss over the negative. They are not meant to be detailed discussions of all the pros and cons of a breed. People who would rely on them to make a decision about getting a dog aren't likely to be doing the in-depth research they should do and so it won't be surprising if they find out later that they made a mistake. J. Have you been reading my mind today, and putting my thoughts (that were not well-organized) into readable text? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eileen Stein Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Who writes this stuff, anyway? Well, since it's in a publication circulated by a company selling pet insurance for dogs, I assume it's written with the aim of convincing people that they would be wise to take out pet insurance for their dogs. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Well, since it's in a publication circulated by a company selling pet insurance for dogs, I assume it's written with the aim of convincing people that they would be wise to take out pet insurance for their dogs. Just a thought. Oh. Duh. Well, I didn't see that coming but it makes perfect sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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