Re: [pyrnet] Pyr eyes

["Janice Swenson" <janices@austin.rr.com>]

Maybe Darrell should publish a more extensive article on eye 
problems and breeding recommendations in the bulletin.  The 
opthalmologist who checked Sonny's eyes is also a researcher at 
A&M and he was very interested in the problems that were being 
seen and talked to me and told me some things.  

PPM in some breeds has become such a problem to be 
considered a major inherited problem.  Sonny has iris to iris which 
is not considered a vision impairment but as he said keep breeding 
PPM to PPM and they've seen the other forms start forming and in 
other breeds start becoming a major inherited disorder.  This is not 
something to be complacent about and it's not recommended to 
breed a PPM to PPM dog.  

In multifocal retinopathy there are detachments of the retina.  Why 
would you breed together dogs with detachments in their retinas?  
This does create holes in their field of vision whether visually 
impaired or not.  As he said we can't give these dogs eye tests and 
we can't ask them what they can and can't see.  There may be 
more going on that they don't know yet.  He said they're also 
seeing other forms that's similar to what's in pyrs in other breeds 
showing up.  Only research is going to give them the answers and 
finding a marker in pyrs may help other breeds at a future date.  

And Darrell is correct keep this up and you'll have something 
similar to collie eye anomaly to where there are few to no clear 
pyrs.  

And having more than one problem like this and the activity that 
goes with it could be why the spots are there that say he may 
develop cataracts.  



Janice, janices@austin.rr.com
Lana & Linsey (newfs), Sonny (pyr)  
http://home.austin.rr.com/janices
Hutto, TX